Zidane has tried to get me to improve. Anticipating, reading the play, putting myself in the defensive balance, I know how to do all this. So he expects the same finesse in an attacking sense.
I think I felt ready and I really wanted to go to Real Madrid. Some are ready and others aren't. I thought about it carefully and I made the right decision.
Basically, I played football to share with others, to excel together, to achieve a goal. After, we all have our ego, our pride and our personality. But all alone, in football, it does not work.
Ronaldo is a bon vivant, he is friendly, he always has something to help you progress. He wants to be the best around. It infuriates him when he loses, he cannot stand it. It's true that sometimes, in the dressing room, it's fun to lose just to make him mad!
It would be wonderful to spend my whole career at Madrid. But my early days taught me to enjoy every moment because everything can change very quickly - I saw that with Euro 2016.
I am super nice, I am great, even in the dressing room. I am also quite shy. But when there are difficult times or when you have to show your character, you can count on me. The players who have known me for a while know this.
Everybody knows that there are quality players at centre back for Madrid and for me that's the day-to-day challenge. That's why it's important to be ready to take advantage of every chance that comes up.
Being able to get some games under my belt and feeling the confidence of the gaffer is something very important to me. That way I feel good on the pitch.
Depending on the day's training intensity, we stretch, work on mobility, everything to prepare myself well. Later, we train, and depending on the day we do more physical work, more technical or more tactical. The duration also varies between 45 minutes and an hour and a half.
It was the craziest period of my life: I was getting ready for the baccalaureate, the phone was ringing off the hook, I visited the Real facilities, I met Alex Ferguson.
Don't call me an intellectual. After all, there are a lot more people taking their A-levels each summer than signing for Real Madrid. I was just a good and serious student.