Van der Vaart: Me too fat? Preposterous…

Rafael van der Vaart looks back at his first season in Madrid. After a glorious start, there was the setback. “It’s clear that I’ll have to fight to make my way back into the team. It won’t come easy.”

Real Madrid wins the Spanish Super Cup over Valencia and in the competition Real led after the first twelve matches. But now, there’s a 12 point gap with rival Barca, coach Schuster is gone and there was a double defeat against Juve in the Champions League.

How do you look back at your first half year?
“The first two months, I did well. I had a phenomenal start with the Gijon game in which I scored three times. And then it died down a bit. And when Real loses games, it becomes very tempestuous in Madrid. I’ve played 24 official games, though. I would have signed on for that! But you need to critical always and you can never be satisfied. This was a tough year. The EC with Oranje was emotionally and physically challenging. I only had 13 days rest and the transfer from Hamburg to Madrid was also impactful. We moved into our new home only a month ago.”

The sportspaper AS published a story on your weight and motivation and claimed Real wanted to dump you already.
“What can I say? I heard it through someone else, I don’t read the papers. I want to concentrate on my work. I’ve been a player long enough not to care about that stuff. I’d be overweight… It’s laughable, really. I know Real measures every player’s fat percentages almost daily. I’m way within the limits. It’s not fun, these articles, but I can’t change it.”

Since Wesley is fit, it seems you relegated to the bench.
“Real wanted to sign me for next year. But Wes’ knee injury forced them to make the move. I played every game when he was injured and now he’s fit it’s logical that he gets to play his games. Under Schuster, we played with three midfielders and Wesley, Guti and myself competed for two spots. But it’s not like Wes and I are rivals. We can play together and we did many times, no worries.”

With Schuster gone and Juande Ramos on board, Real will switch to four midfielders: two holding midfielders centrally and two attacking players on the flanks. I can imagine that you – as a central midfielder with offensive skills – won’t be his first choice.
“I can surely play on the flanks, if I can play my own game there. I can also play in the holding role, I did so for Oranje a couple of times. It all depends, on the opponent, who’s fit, the form of the day, etc. I do know it won’t be easy, but I will fight for my spot.”

How do you look at 2009?
“Being at Real Madrid is being at the highest echelon in world football. When I get my minutes and opportunities, I’m happy. I worked hard to get there and I am proud to be here. If you’re good, you can make it anywhere.”

It’s remarkable that youngster Palanca got the nod to come into the team against Barca, while Ramos also had you on the bench…
“No, Palanca is a right winger, I’m not. He played well before and I can understand the coach picking him for that situation.”

What has changed under Ramos?
“For starters, we train much harder, although I don’t think we were in a bad physical condition. But, training tougher and harder will bear it’s fruit. Ramos is a more social coach than Schuster. The latter hardly ever talked to us one on one. I’ve spoken more with Ramos in the short time he’s here than with Schuster. He also seems to give more responsibilities to the players.”