The Pride of Vallekas

You can follow Rez on Twitter here . A bit about yourself and your background I am currently in my junior year of high school in Iraqi Kurdistan. Watching and playing football are among my predominant hobbies and the sport makes up a big part of my daily life. How long have you been a fan of Real Madrid and what made you support them in the first place? I initially started watching football eight years ago. I grew to admire the Spanish national side which accomplished so much during their so-called “golden generation,” and upon learning that the likes of Ramos, Xabi, and Casillas played for Real Madrid, I decided to watch a few of their matches. It took a while, but after enjoying emphatic victories and defeats in several Clásicos and other big fixtures, I became emotionally invested enough to consider myself a Madridista. Given the transfer windows and the squad that was assembled at the start of the season, is Real Madrid where you want it to be? In this club, the only m...

I interviewed Mikel Alonso in December 2015, where he opened up about his hiatus from professional football. You can read it here . He agreed to a second interview, where I ask some more questions about his experiences as a footballer. This is that interview. Before Real Sociedad, you were playing for Antiguoko. This is an academy that has produced amazing footballers such as yourself, your brother, Mikel Arteta, etc. What is it that differs it from other academies? Did you see anyone play there who you knew were going to be playing top level football - apart from yourself, of course! We worked a lot on technique and skills. It was a different kind of academy. The coaches made all the difference - Iñigo Santin, Pitu, Txurun, Oscar, Kepa Estebanez and many others. They loved this game and show us how to love it and understand it. We tried to look at the big picture of various game situations. They were inspirational. The managers were really passionate and tried to pick the b...