Khedira sees Madrid rallying

Sami Khedira believes that Real Madrid have turned a corner and are ready to string together consistent results once more.

Last season’s champions have struggled in the League this term to replicate 2011-12’s form, falling 15 points behind Barcelona in the title race.

However, following on from an impressive 5-0 win at Valencia, Khedira believes that the capital club have put in the work necessary to reaffirm dominance on the fixture schedule.

“We were in a rough spot. We weren’t doing well. We talked about it together and we’ve seen everything that went wrong,” reflected the German international, taking today’s Press conference.

“We’ve worked hard these past weeks and I think we’re moving in the right direction. We’re playing well, really tight, and I think it’s going to give us future results.

“When games are lost you have to do a lot of things better. You have to play more tightly and above all the defence has to make sure we don’t let so many goals in.

“There’s been an improvement there and in our offence as well, we’re pressuring the opposition well. When the forwards are playing as well as they have been it’s easier for the entire team and also for the defence.

“We’ve dropped points in La Liga but we’re going to try to do the best we can in the rest of the competitions. We also have the Champions and the Copa del Rey and we’re going to try to win them.

“We’re going to do everything we can to win every trophy. We have a lot of challenges ahead and we’re going to fight to win.”

Madrid are back at Mestalla this midweek for a third consecutive meeting with Valencia, this time for the second leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final.

Los Blancos lead 2-0 from the first leg and still have the 5-0 result fresh in their minds, but for Khedira, it is important to treat Wednesday’s game in its own right.

 “We’re going to have to start all over as if it were 0-0. We have to show the same aggressiveness to play well and win as we did on Sunday.

“The last match was for La Liga and this is for the Copa. It’s different and we have to go all out to try and win. We won the first leg 2-0 but it’s not a definitive result. We have to go for a goal there.

“We haven’t conceded any goals in our last few matches and that makes us stronger. We have to win the match and to do that we have to play on the offence.

“It will be a difficult match because Valencia is a great team. They’ve got a solid defense and good players on the offence. It’s important for us to win. We have to defend well and try to score. We want to move on to the next round.”

Khedira was picked out by assistant Coach Aitor Karanka for his performance during the first leg win at the Bernabeu last week.

“I feel really good on this squad and I want to stress that. I think what [Karanka said] was really nice and it’s important for me to have the support of the coach and coaching team.

“I’m doing well, in top form just like the team, and we’re all happy. The most important thing for me is that the coach and coaching team are happy with me and my teammates.

“I’m surprised because lately I’ve been getting really positive feedback and the press is speaking highly of me. I always try to do my best for the good of the team and to play as well as I can. We’re all going to try to maintain this level and be consistent.”

The midfielder returned to the primary message of the Press conference, in assessing how Madrid have begun 2013.

“When you’re not getting the results you want you have to change things, and what we’ve done is be harder on ourselves. The winter break was good for recharging and for working hard both physically and tactically.

“The time off was a good opportunity to review and recover. We’ve tapped into our strengths. The strengths that Mourinho has taught us and those that we demonstrated last year.

“Maybe some of the players weren’t in top form but we’re doing well now, applying what we work on day-to-day with the coaching team.

We’re playing together, helping each other out and giving all we have to play at our full potential.”

Tags Khedira
La Liga - Club News