Caroline Weir: “I’m at Real Madrid to compete for the league title”

Caroline Weir has adapted well to life in the Finetwork Liga F with the Scottish player helping her Real Madrid side to second place in the domestic competition with the team set to play Villarreal next week in the Copa del la Reina quarter-final. The BBC caught up with the Dunfermline native as she reflected on her new life in Spain and acknowledged that: “Barcelona is the best team, but I think we’re getting close. We saw it the last time we played them in the Super Cup and I’m here to help us compete in the league,” she said.

She added that under coach Toril she has added freedom from that at Manchester City: “Here I feel that I can play with a lot of freedom in our system. I have a fairly free role, which is quite different from from City, where there was a fixed structure, you had to fit into that and play in a very specific way”, she stressed. “Things have gone well for me so far and I’ve been able to contribute by scoring goals”.

The 27-year-old also reflected on the intensity with which football is played in Spain, especially in games involving the big matches: “Beating Atlético in my first derby was really great and I really enjoyed El Clasico, I’ve already played in two already and managed to score once. The atmosphere, everything related to those games, is something that I have never experienced before. Weir also praised the fans: “The fans here are very passionate and loud, it’s a different atmosphere when you play in those matches. It’s very exciting to be a part of them.”

Adaptation to Madrid

Weir loves life in the capital of Spain: “I live here with my boyfriend and we go out in the evenings, walking around Madrid. We live next to this amazing park and are having a lot of fun here, getting to know the city and living that Spanish lifestyle.” All our family and friends have been desperate to come to Madrid. Many of my friends have come out and they come to the games and to see the city. It is a good excuse to spend a weekend, a bit of football, a bit of tapas”.

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Of course, the worst thing, especially at the beginning, is the language: “That is definitely the biggest challenge”. “You don’t realize until you’re living it every day how hard it can be when you don’t really know what’s going on,” she observed, explaining: “that was something I didn’t expect: that feeling to be isolated. It’s gotten a lot better since then, but it can be hard... the feeling of: “I don’t understand them and they don’t understand me”.