While the centre of attention was on Real Madrid captain Raul and his record-breaking 308th and 309th goals for the club, one of the team’s emerging youngsters, Marcelo, had an equally memorable game in the white shirt.
The Brazilian, who has been receiving his share of stinging criticism every time he plays at the Santiago Bernabeu, put in one of his better performances last night against Sporting Gijon and he even capped off the evening with a fine strike.
“This is my first goal with Real Madrid and I am very pleased. [Gonzalo] Higuain provided a great pass and I managed to beat the goalkeeper. Thank God I scored a great goal,” he said during the post-match interviews.
“I am continuing to work hard and I hope I can build on this. The coach [Juande Ramos] has given me a lot of confidence and I believe I have done well today. I want to play football and I want to help Madrid,” he added.
Despite the crushing 4-0 scoreline, Marcelo assured that it was anything but a straightforward victory.
“It wasn’t easy to win in Gijon, but we achieved the result because we played with the same mentality we showed in the past few games.
“Before the match, we knew that we wanted to win because we were aware we could close the gap [on Barcelona]. Now, the atmosphere in the squad is phenomenal and all the players are thrilled to have completed the objective,” he explained.
The 20-year-old reserved his final words for Raul: “He is an example for all the players. He helps us in everything and in addition, he is a great captain.”
Los Blancos have now cut the deficit to Barcelona to just 10 points after the Blaugrana only managed a 2-2 draw at Real Betis on Saturday.
KS Leong, Goal.com
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