Inter training was boring – Kovacic

Mateo Kovacic is happy with life at Real Madrid and said he does not miss the “boring” Inter training sessions.

Kovacic, 21, moved to Real Madrid in the close-season after Inter sold the youngster due to financial fair play restrictions.

The Croatian midfielder has made nine appearances under Rafael Benitez and is content with life in Madrid.

“It was an honour and very nice to play for Inter, but Real is a dream, higher level, no doubt,” Kovacic told Sportske Novosti.

“In Spain each team wants to play, to score, teams are technically better than Italian ones, and that suits me because I have more space. I am happy with my performances for Real so far, but of course I can do better.

He added: “Training in Real is great, we do everything with a ball, it is never boring. They are shorter than in Inter, but with higher intensity.

“In Italy it was more boring because we had some training sessions just practicing formations, with no ball play.”

Kovacic had compatriot Luka Modric to help him settle into life in the Spanish capital and said, despite the stars in the team, they are just simple people.

“[Cristiano] Ronaldo first approached me in the locker room and started to make jokes in Italian,” he said.

“And after that he explained to me what kind of pressure Real players face. He is very funny, likes to joke, and of course he enjoys special status, he is the best player in the world.”