Raul: “This is comparable with some of the biggest moments I experienced as a player”

Yesterday’s historic win over Benfica’s youth team marked Real Madrid’s first ever UEFA Youth League championship.

Recap | Florentino Perez post-game quotes

Head coach Raul spoke to the media after the win:

“This is an extraordinary team and we were very hungry to win this tournament,” Raul said. “This is comparable with some of the biggest moments I experienced as a player. It’s wonderful and I’d like to congratulate the lads because this is a huge step in their careers”.

“It’s a historic day for all of us. I’ve been lucky enough to experience many beautiful things and this is another one of those. The warmth of all these lads, how they’ve competed in all four games despite not being used to playing so often, they should be immensely proud”.

Raul also spoke about the team’s fitness:

“It was their third game and it was our fourth in nine days after Juventus, Inter and Salzburg. Benfica are a great side with very good players and the guys had to dig in. We were the better team but we suffered more in the second half and we knew we would. It was always going to be tough from a physical point of view but I’m thrilled for my players because they fought hard. It’s been a ten-out-of-ten tournament, I wouldn’t change a thing”.