Note: After a long, and exhaustive revision and edition process, this fantastic fanpost on Raphael Varane has been promoted to the frontpage. Managing Madrid would like to encourage the whole community about writing this kind of posts. You could be the next one!

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After the Champions League match against Manchester City at the Santiago Bernabéu, José Mourinho was lyrical over the players' effort. It was a long time since he saw his team play so convincingly for 90 minutes.

This team showed that they have Real Madrid's DNA. The key is not the celebration, the important thing is the game. Those who love football have enjoyed.

- Jose Mourinho

Resting in the dressing room is Raphael Varane. He had his season debut in the Champions League match against a club like Manchester City and the French defender left the pitch beating the Premier League champions.

Jose Mourinho only had good things to say about the young Frenchman before the press gathered after Real Madrid's thrilling comeback.

Why did nobody mention Varane about a week ago when you talked about depression and frustration? He's only 19 and he has been given the responsibility to step into a match with great significance doing a fantastic job.

- Jose Mourinho

The defender didn't hold back when he finally met the journalists.

It felt really good and I'm happy for the team's victory. I have not played that much, but I am quiet. I know I have the coach's confidence. It was tough at the end, but to win 3-2 in a difficult match is good.

- Raphael Varane

It was not written in the stars that Raphael Varane would be a football player and that he would one day end up at Real Madrid.

Raphael Varane grew up in Lille, where he soon got involved in football. As early as the age of seven, he began playing for a local team in Lille. Two years later, he moved to Lens which became his club right up until the move to Spain more than a year ago.
When the young football player was growing up, he had both his mother and father at his side. His father has always been the one who supports him about football and he has always been at his side off the field as well. When the player took the flight to Madrid for the medical, his father was with him every step along the way.
His mother, English teacher, is the one who made ​​sure that Varane held his head up high and passed his tests.

In fact, his mother Annie described how determined her son was regarding his studies and how much time he puts into schoolwork.

Football is an important part of his life, but that's not all.

- Raphaels Mother

When Varane signed for Lens, he jumped out of school because of the training schedule. The solution was that he had to start being taught by the club's private teachers.

He got up at 06:30AM, ate breakfast and studied two hours of German and even two hours of mathematics if the training was canceled. His favorite subjects still are Economics and Sociology, something he can talk about for ages. The fact that he speaks English so well is because of his mother, who soon talked to him about the power of knowing different languages

On summer 2011, Manchester United and Real Madrid fought over the young center back's rights. Sir Alex Ferguson saw the potential and wanted to make a deal for him before any other team could get involved.

For a long time it seemed that the Frenchman would go to England, but then Zinedine Zidane stepped into the scene.

In an interview June 24, 2011 Zinedine Zidane talked about Varane.

I have seen him play many times and he plays just as Blanc did. He is intelligent, quick, and is a big defender, too.

- Zinedine Zidane

Both Florentino Pérez and José Mourinho were convinced. Zinedine Zidane got in touch with the player and invited him to Madrid for a guided tour.

When the player arrived, he did not only meet Zidane. Coach Jose Mourinho spoke to him about Real Madrid's potential and convinced him to move to Spain's capital.

Varane's case reminds to Sergio Ramos', when Florentino Pérez payed more than 30M€ for the Andalusian player to Sevilla.
Sergio Ramos nearly silenced the fans at the Santiago Bernabeu when he in a very relieving and almost disrespectful way, stepped into the starting line-up and showed that he was there to play.
We find the same passion in Raphael Varane's eyes when he plays, like when the kid Ramos got to play in central defense or in midfield. All sliding tackles, header duels and runs have shown a lot of confidence.
The future is spelled Varane. And the people at the Santiago Bernabéu have understood that.

With all due respect to Blanc, but Varane is much faster. Right now he is just a kid but I hope and believe he will be better than the Blanc when he is 26-27 years old

- Jose Mourinho

All credits goes to HASSAN ALAVI.
I just translated his document at http://www.svenskafans.com/spanien/realmadrid/