Marcelo: Real Madrid taught me to fight to the end

  /  autty

On the third anniversary of Real Madrid's Champions League final win against Juventus, which secured the club their 12th European Cup, Marcelo has revealed that Los Blancos taught him to have a fighting spirit.

By beating Juventus, Real Madrid lifted their third Champions League trophy in four years, and they would make it four from five - and three in a row - one year later after emerging victorious against Liverpool in Kiev.

"The most important thing is that when we win a trophy, we don't think about stopping and letting time go by," Marcelo told Real Madrid TV.

"We always think about winning more, even if we've won three in a row.

"When I arrived, Madrid taught me to fight to the end. You win the finals.

"I've learned a lot with Real Madrid about this.

"When we think we've won everything, we want to win again. That's our way of thinking."

That 4-1 victory against Juventus in Cardiff is regarded by some as being the peak moment from Zinedine Zidane's first spell as coach at the club, and Marcelo offered an insight into what playing in the match was like.

"We knew we were going to face a very solid defence that hadn't conceded many goals in the Champions League," he explained.

"We always knew we could score goals and concede them.

"We had to be stronger than them to be able to hold on.

"In football you can't only think about scoring goals and the simple things.

"In the end, the player who can handle the pressure in a final stands out more.

"We held on at 1-1 in the first half when we were together, and in a final you don't play, you win. That's how Madrid will always be.

"In the first half we were very good, but in a final, things are never easy.

"We saw that there were spaces and the coach always told us to be patient because if there were spaces, we could score. A shot from distance could go in.

"We were able to dig in, it seemed easy and we were well on top of Juve, but it was difficult. We were patient, tight and very united."

Real Madrid often perform well in finals, and that has been particularly true in Europe's premier club competition over the last few years.

"Real Madrid grow in finals," Marcelo said.

"We have a mentality for this kind of match and at the end you see your friend giving everything and you have to give it too. The coach is the same.

"Motivation makes you feel good, you grow in the match and when you play a final you have to win it."

The return of LaLiga Santander is around the corner and Real Madrid will resume the 2019/20 campaign at home to Eibar on June 14, as they look to cut the two-point deficit to leaders Barcelona.

"We're improving, we've had a hard time without training or playing football, without contact with our teammates," Marcelo noted.

"We have got 11 finals and we have to give everything to win.

"We are playing for a very important trophy; we will try to win everything [remaining].

"We are excited to be able to train again and to know that we are going to play in LaLiga again, too."

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