Real Madrid coach Pellegrini welcomes Kaka back
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Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini said on Friday he was delighted to be able to recall midfielder Kaka for Saturday's key La Liga match away to Zaragoza.
Kaka returned to the Real Madrid squad after missing the past six weeks with a reoccurrence of the groin injury that caused him so many problems at the end of 2009 and speaking in his pre-game press conference, Pellegrini highlighted the 65-million-euro (87 million US dollars) player's importance to the team.
"The team has been missing Kaka's assists and goals. He is a very important player. The important thing is we haven't suffered because of his absence. The same goes for when other men were injured too," said the Real Madrid coach, who criticized some comments in the Spanish press implying that the player had been saving himself for this summer's World Cup finals.
"I think the speculation surrounding Kaka's injury is unfair. He is a great professional and has always been on a squad list when he hasn't experienced any pain," he said.
Pellegrini also defended himself from criticism that despite all of the big money signings at the club, Real Madrid sometimes adopted an over-cautious approach and won matches because of the ability of strikers Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain rather that through good collective play.
"Our style is suited to our characteristics and virtues," he said.
"We have straightforward players. We combine teamwork with individual efforts. People say we don't use the wings enough, but I think that's not true. We wouldn't have been able to score so many goals if we hadn't made use of them," commented Pellegrini.
