Hierro met with the Spanish journalists during the conference. He was very honest and answered many questions.
What does Madrid have that no other club has?
The first thing, the story, something that cannot be bought. Madrid is the most successful club in the world and with the best attitude in the world. And second, a gene, that winner in which, while in other clubs the good game, the tactics are exposed a lot… In Madrid it is to win. And how does Madrid win? Well, sometimes you don’t even know, but he has that gene that raises the demands of everyday life and the greatness of the coat of arms. It is something that is inherited since you are a kid and the elders teach you. You see it. In Madrid you win the most important game in the world and the following season, you’re back there, competing. Here you don’t live from a result. No matter who they play against, even sometimes having the unavoidable feeling that the rival is superior, Madrid feels that they can win; and that is something you either have or you don’t have.
Is it hard to bear the pressure of playing for Madrid?
I’ve had excellent teammates, magnificent players, who surely couldn’t handle that pressure. It is that Madrid plays to win, it is in their mentality. He goes out to the field thinking that he will win no matter where he competes. Look, the day I made my debut, in Santander, the elders approached me and told me “we are Real Madrid and we don’t even lose in preseason”. And that is a gene. There is one thing that I talk about with many colleagues, not only from Madrid, but also from other clubs or countries: it is that Real Madrid has won seven Champions… How difficult is that! And us against Juventus or Valencia, for example, we didn’t arrive as favorites. Well, Madrid, in all the finals it has reached, has competed. You today see that and, inevitably, you respect the shield.