Sports     

Kaka thanks Mourinho for return to form

Xinhua, October 8, 2011

• Real Madrid midfielder Kaka this Friday thanked coach Jose Mourinho for showing faith with him over the past season.

  Following two seasons spoiled by various knee and hip injuries, Kaka has recently shown glimpses of the form that made his momentarily the most expensive player in the World when Real Madrid paid 67 million euros for him in the summer of 2009.

  He was man of the match in the 3-0 win in the Champions League at home to Ajax a week ago and produced another solid display in the 4-0 away win to Espanyol last weekend.

  Speaking to Real Madrid Television, the midfielder admitted his return to form had changed his way of thinking.

  "I am enjoying football again. Before now it seemed as if the pitch was very big and it was not enjoyable, now I am enjoying myself again," he said.

  Kaka put a large part of the responsibility for his return to form down to coach Jose Mourinho.

  "All I can say are good things about him. He had everything he needed to kill me as a player because if you have a lot of responsibility with a player and if they are not in form you normally sell them and bring in another, but in the end he helped me," said Kaka.

  "It is normal for a coach to have confidence in his players, but you win that confidence on the pitch and in training. Now I think I have earned his confidence, but it was not easy, because I had some disastrous sessions, but it was not a problem for him and he always supported me and helped me and told me to be patient," added the Brazilian.

  "I am happy playing football, training every day and although that is hard at times, if you can't do it, you start to miss it. I was unable to work well for six months (because of a knee injury) and I felt strange. I always wanted to be a footballer," added Kaka.

Copyright © China.org.cn. All Rights Reserved