Cicinho backs Real to return to form
Brazil defender Cicinho was officially unveiled as a Real Madrid player on Thursday and said he was confident the team would get back on the winning trail.
Brazil defender Cicinho was officially unveiled as a Real Madrid player on Thursday and said he was confident the team would get back on the winning trail.
Cicinho posed for photographers in the white Real Madrid number 11 shirt once worn by Paco Gento, who made over 700 appearances for Real Madrid in the 1950s and 60s, winning a record six European Cups.
Real Madrid signed Cicinho, a 25-year-old attacking right back, on a five-year deal from world club champions Sao Paulo after a disappointing run that has left them fifth in the Primera Liga.
"Real Madrid is the best club in the world and we all want to be part of this team," Cicinho was quoted as saying by Europa Press news agency.
"The squad is excellent and although it's going through a difficult period and has had no luck, I am sure this phase will pass and that Real Madrid will go on being a winning team," he added.
He said he knew that Real's Brazilian former coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo influenced the club's decision to sign him, but said would work hard to gain the confidence of caretaker coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro. Lopez Caro was appointed until the end of the season when Luxemburgo was sacked three weeks ago after 11 months in the job.
The presentation was tinged with sadness because Real Madrid great Alfredo Di Stefano, usually present on such occasions, is in a Valencia hospital recovering from heart bypass surgery.
Di Stefano, Real Madrid's honorary president, suffered a heart attack at the weekend.
"It's the first time since 2000, when I had the privilege to become president of this club, that our honorary president has not accompanied me at the presentation of a player," Real Madrid President Florentino Perez said.
"So I feel a bit lonely today because, as everybody knows, Alfredo is our living history," he said.
Perez said he had just returned from visiting Di Stefano in hospital.
"Fortunately I think our honorary president is going to stay with us for a long time to come," he said.
Cicinho, who has an Italian passport and will not take up one of the three berths permitted for non-European Union players, joins fellow Brazilian internationals Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Julio Baptista and Robinho at Real.
Spanish media reported that the defender, part of the Brazil side that crushed Argentina 4-1 to win the Confederations Cup in June, had signed for a fee of around 4 million euros ($4.75 million).
Real now have a surfeit of right-sided defenders with Spanish internationals Michel Salgado and Sergio Ramos and Uruguay's Carlos Diogo all competing for slots in the back four.