The season is knocking on the doors of Eintracht Frankfurt and Real Madrid. The Bundesliga will start first, a few days before the match between the Teutonic team and the Spanish for the definition of the European Super Cup. Rafael Santos Borré was a fundamental piece in winning the Europa League title, while the merengue team reached its fourteenth Champions League.
Eintracht arrives with the advantage of having already played an official match like the German Cup, which was a comfortable victory for the ‘Eagles’ 0-4 against Magdeburg. Rafael Santos Borré had a lot of mobility and participation, in fact, he assisted in a goal. The man from Barranquilla spoke with Diario AS about what is coming.
The media asked him mainly about the game against Real Madrid, ‘it’s a special game, beautiful, one of those that you always want to play and in which you want to compete, one of those that you dream of playing as a child. Madrid throughout its history has shown that it is one of the best, that makes it special. We want to show what we can do.
In the club they transmit to us the history that they have had throughout history in Europe, like in that 1960 final against Madrid, but above all I see that it is a wonderful opportunity to continue growing as a team, as a group. It comes to us at a good time, with a good group of players who can give the institution the plus it needs to continue winning titles, to continue in this process we are in’.
In turn, they asked him about the match against Bayern Munich that will open the Bundesliga for Eintracht Frankfurt, ‘the start of the season is going to be quite busy, very competitive, it will show us from the first moment how we have to be to play such important matches. Bayern comes and then Madrid, which being a single game means a lot of things’.
Regarding Real Madrid’s impressive season, he commented, ‘I had the opportunity to follow him a lot and it gave me the same feeling as the rest, but my analysis with Real Madrid, and I have had the experience of suffering it firsthand when I played in Spain, It’s always the same: it’s a team that doesn’t need much to hurt you, because of the quality of its players and because of that mystique that is needed in games like the Champions League. With two or three moves, he takes you out of the tie. With Madrid you always have to be attentive and prepared.
Total admiration for his colleague, Karim Benzema, ‘a lot of admiration for Karim. He is a total striker, I love his way of playing, of competing, he always appears in difficult moments, he was seen a lot in the last Champions League. The team received hard blows and it seemed that they could not get out of there, and Karim, with his impudence and his rebelliousness, with his mobility, created play and occasions to give the team air, to give it strength. He deserves all the admiration in the world.’ In turn, he maintains that they should give him the Ballon d’Or, without a doubt.
Of that Europa League, Rafael Santos Borré did not hide his joy and even more so against Barcelona, ’it was something special. I feel like it happened because we knew how to take advantage of the moments in each tie. We had a really bad time against Betis and we were able to qualify at the last minute. The emotional blow against Barcelona made us believe much more in what we had been doing, it gave us confidence for what was to come. With these players and with that confidence, in the end they end up giving the results’.
They also asked him about his time in Spain, ‘I have good memories, it helped me train a lot as a player, I arrived very young and from a very different kind of football like Colombia. I landed with a coach like Cholo who had great alternatives in attack, obviously it was going to be difficult to get minutes in a team like Atleti, but at Villarreal I got to know European and Spanish football, and I was able to prepare myself for what was to come’.
Finally, he assured that the team and fans of the mattress want Eintracht Frankfurt to triumph in the European Super Cup, since it is their city rival who is in the dispute. ‘I know, I know, I also know that rivalry. Hopefully that support will serve us to beat a very tough rival, with a history on a par with the best’, concluded Rafael Santos Borré. The match will be in Helsinki, Finland on Wednesday, August 10.
