La Liga: Ricardo Carvalho talks about Jose, Chelsea and the English Premier League
Ricardo Carvalho, in the summer transfer window of 2010, made his move from the English Premier League side, Chelsea F.C to Real Madrid in the Spanish Primera Division, both teams are heavy weights of their own categories within
their own rights but Ricardo says that playing in the English Premier League was much harder for him.
Carvalho told the media that his move to Chelsea presented him with more challenges than the transfer to Real Madrid. Ricardo Carvalho was one of the first signings that Jose Mourinho made while the Portuguese manager was at Stamford
Bridge. Ricardo plays as a central defender and is known as one of the best players in that position. He represented the Portuguese national team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and is currently at Real Madrid, where he hopes to win the UEFA Champions
League under Jose Mourinho, who took over at Santiago Bernabeau in the summer of 2010.
The central defender spoke to the press about his career and what experiences he had in English football. Ricardo said that, he grew up in Portugal and the football in both Portugal and Spain is quite similar. He said that it is
tougher to play in the Premier League because English league players are very physical and give defenders a hard time. He said that in that sense, it was harder for him to play for Chelsea and put in the same performances week in week out as compared to Madrid
up till now.
At Chelsea, Carvalho won quite a lot of silverware as Chelsea captured three F.A Cups, three English Premier League titles and a UEFA Champions League final appearance with Carvalho in central defence. Ricardo commented on his
move away from Chelsea by explaining that he had an agreement with Chelsea which meant that he can leave the club after spending five years at Stamford Bridge in case a “big club” came calling for him. He said that he had a great time at Chelsea and left the
club with a host of great memories.
Carvalho has started in every league game and European Cup game for Madrid in the 2010-2011 season and is set to start for Madrid in their mid-week tie on Tuesday as well. He told the press that the pressure on players at Real
Madrid is always high. He added that, if Madrid don’t play well the crowd starts booing which means that the players have to try and play better. The Portuguese defender also said a few words about his manager, Jose Mourinho who brought him to Real Madrid.
He said that, Jose is a man of his own style and he remains that way whether he is at Inter or at Madrid.
Speaking about Chelsea, Real Madrid’s defender said that, the London club had a lot of problems couple of seasons ago when Scolari came in for a few months and then Guus Hiddink took over to manage the team to an F.A Cup win. Ricardo
added that was a bad time for Chelsea because of the frequent change of managers. He said that right now, Chelsea are a happier club because Ancelloti has taken over. Carvalho also spoke about Avram Grant, the only Chelsea manager to take them to a UEFA Champions
League final.
He said that, Grant did a good job for Chelsea as he led the team to the UEFA Champions League final. He said that under Avram Grant, Chelsea also fought till the last match of the English Premier League season. Ricardo Carvalho
admitted that his former employers Chelsea will be a tough proposition in the UEFA Champions League for Real Madrid. It will be interesting to see how the season plans out and whether or not Chelsea or Real Madrid meet each other in the UEFA Champions League’s
knockout stages, one thing is for sure, if that tie does come into place then it will be one of the most anticipated ones in the history of the tournament.
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