Marcelo: It's hard to tell your son that the coach doesn't count on you

 The Brazilian reviews his career in an interview on ESPN's Bicycle Diaries

Marcelo reviewed his career in an interview with ESPN journalist Martin Ainstein, who in his programme Bicycle Diaries got the Brazilian to open up about his 15 years as a Real Madrid player, with special emphasis on his last season and his farewell.

The Brazilian also chose his three best teammates and the ideal coach, among other anecdotes.

The players who surprised him the most

"I've been lucky enough to play for Madrid and I've seen the best players. At every training session I said 'how did he do this?'" he said.

"The ones who have surprised me the most are these three: Toni Kroos, Rodrygo and Modric. Kroos, because I don't know what's going on in his head, he seems to be in his own world and makes some incredible back controls.

"The other one is Rodrygo, the typical player who was born with natural gifts, he dribbles with his body. He's the false slow player, because he's very quick on the ball.

"And the other one is Luka Modric, there are no words. You can't imagine what Luka will do with the ball. One day we were on the bench with Rodrygo, Lucas Vazquez and myself and Luka comes in through the middle and comes to retrieve a ball, in the corner, in the box.

"He dribbled without touching the ball and whoever was marking him didn't know where he was."

The best coaches he has worked with

"The best talks are those of [Jose] Mourinho, a coach who specialises in getting inside your head. He changed me in terms of being aggressive, fighting..." he said.

"In terms of group management, I choose Zizou [Zinedine Zidane], because there was a time when Kiko Casilla played 25 games and Keylor Navas was laughing on the bench. He kept everyone happy.

"From Carlo [Ancelotti] I choose his calm way of being. We scored a goal and we were always calm. It was good for me to have him in the situation I was in.

"He was the captain of the team, but he preferred someone else to play, and that's normal, and he's helped me with that."

His final season at Madrid

"I knew I wasn't the starter and I said: what can I do to help the team? Of course, I was pissed off because I wasn't playing," he said.

"There is no player who says he is happy to be on the bench. And if he says so, he's lying, it's impossible. I was training at my best because I always clashed with Carvajal and Lucas and I said these bastards are at their best and they won't go over my head, I'm going to dribble them any way I can.

"I helped my team-mates by competing in training and I felt very useful. My way of being and my joy brought a lot, too. I felt like a winner too. It's tough to be captain and not play. And to tell your son that the coach doesn't count on you, but this season was the best because I learned a lot as a human being."