Ivan, welcome. Thank you very much for accepting the interview. You joined Real Madrid in 1999 and were part of a very iconic period at the club. What memories do you have of that time?
"Oh, very good, because it was a dream for me to be able to join Real Madrid, wasn't it?.. It was always the dream that I wanted since I was a kid, to play for Real Madrid.
"Besides, as you say, it was a wonderful time, with very good teammates. There were a lot of Spaniards, we understood each other very well. And, well, we had a very, very good time. To be eight years in Real Madrid is not easy for any player, and I think I'm the 35th or 36th player with the most games in the history of Real Madrid, and I'm proud. Those were wonderful times."
What was the most demanding thing about playing for Real Madrid?
"Well, the most demanding thing is when you arrive. As soon as you arrive you know what it means to wear the Real Madrid shirt. And at the beginning, I had a lot of pressure, didn't I? I was very young, and it wasn't easy. Besides, I was with a lot of very, very good players.
"At the beginning, you are very cautious, with a lot of nerves and with a lot of difficulties. But little by little, you gain confidence, you see that they are all... human, that they are all very good people. They all practically helped me, and, little by little, you just have to flow with your football and things work out."
I wanted to ask you about those players, because they were great players like Raul, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, Iker Casillas. What was that dressing room really like? Was it healthy?
"Well, I arrived when there weren't many of these players. I arrived with Lorenzo Sanz as president, who is the one who signed me. And there were also a lot of stars, but maybe they weren't so much talked about. But (Clarence) Seedorf was a star for me. Fernando Redondo was a star. Fernando Hierro, Raul, (Fernando) Morientes. I think that certain players who have done a lot for Real Madrid are also a bit forgotten.
"And the type of players you're talking about, well, obviously Figo was world class, Zidane was incredible, Ronaldo, Beckham... Yes, it's true that people remember a lot about the era of the Galacticos, because bringing all those players together was incredible, but there have been other players who have been impressive, like the ones I'm telling you about, and they don't get mentioned so much, right?
"I think that... many of the players I'm talking about, when I arrived at Real Madrid, have done more than others who are more talked about."
Were there groups, Ivan? For example, I don't know, Brazilians with Brazilians, Spaniards with Spaniards...
"Yes, there were, but that's normal. It's the same as when I arrived in Italy. It's normal that Italians speak Italian and get on... more or less, better, because they know the customs, they've lived certain moments in Italy, they've been there since they were young and a bit when they're older. It's the most normal thing in the world for them to get on better with each other.
"It happened with the Spaniards, it happened when there were a few Brazilians. There was Baptista, there was Robinho too, eh? Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo. Of course Brazilians get together, it's the most normal thing in the world. But that doesn't mean they didn't get on well with the others, does it? It's just that it's a bit natural."
I suppose you went to a lot of parties and things like that, celebrating titles too? Is that possible?
"Yes, but that's normal. We were young people and we liked to go out.
"I, in fact, have gone out as much as others, but you know the times when you can go out and when you can't... I mean, we were playing on a Saturday, we won, so of course you could go out for a drink if you weren't playing the Champions League on Tuesday.
"What happens is that people immediately confuse the terms, don't they?' I've seen you go out.' Yeah, but I can go out, obviously, because I'm young and because it's no problem for me to go out on a Saturday if I don't have to play until the following Sunday."
Kylian Mbappe's situation with Alvaro Arbeloa and the front four... From your experience, how should a coach manage this situation?
"It's not about how you've managed this situation or how you're going to manage this situation, sorry. It's how you've managed the team before. What has caused this to happen? It's that you didn't manage very well before. From my point of view, everything has always been fine; Arbeloa has always been to blame...
"But also, whoever put Arbeloa there, Arbeloa was in a reserve team, right off the bat, and had been there for five months. It's not like he was doing too well. We can't know if he's good, bad or average as a coach. And right off the bat, he manages a team like Real Madrid.
"So, I don't think it's just Arbeloa who has managed badly, I just think he's never faced these things and he's obviously made mistakes. And a lot. But also those who put him there, right?"
Do you think it's more difficult to manage Real Madrid now than before, for example, in your time?
"No, no, the same... The egos, the behaviour, the way the players are, it's absolutely the same. History always, not only in football, tells you how we're going to act and how - what's going to happen in the future. And... in the past, Real Madrid's dressing room was just as difficult as it is now."
Maybe you don't want to get involved, but your candidate, your number one favourite to coach Real Madrid, who would it be?
"For me, without a doubt - but I don't think he's going to want to coach - it's Jurgen Klopp. Because tactically, I like him a lot, because he puts a lot of intensity into his teams, he knows how to manage this type of thing a lot, he has shown it in many good teams and not so good teams. For me, Jurgen Klopp would be the ideal coach."
There is a lot of talk about Jose Mourinho possibly returning to Real Madrid. Is such a coach, with a stricter style, what the club needs at the moment?
"This kind of thing has always happened, that a coach hasn't had, in inverted commas, a strong hand. I don't think you need a strong hand, it doesn't come into it.
"It has always happened: when the team is doing badly in February, physically the team is very bad and so on, because they lose games, right? These are cliches that we should get rid of. Hey, because if you win, the physical training doesn't even exist. But if you lose, then physical preparation (is a problem)...
"We need a good coach who can manage the great team we have and who knows how to do things well, no more and no less. It's not that now no one will be able to move and everything will be military.
"And Jose Mourinho, he has been a great coach. He has proved it in many places, but it's true that he hasn't coached at a top level for many years. So, that worries me a bit.
"And that they want him to have a strong hand - well, I don't think that because Mourinho is coming, he's going to have to have an iron fist with everything that happens in Real Madrid. You have to manage the group well, and that's it. Can he do it? Yes, because he's coached in many places.
"But it's also true that he hasn't coached at high levels for a long time, and... Well, in that respect, I don't know if he will be suitable now."
And what has to change first? The tactics, the style of play, the dressing room?
"No, you can't change Real Madrid now, OK? The coach can't change Real Madrid. You have to know what Real Madrid is. Real Madrid is a team and a serious club that knows at all times that competing is the most important thing, and winning is the most important thing, but it has certain values and principles. You can't now get involved with the iron fist.
"We're going crazy, in inverted commas, because Barcelona have won. No, there's nothing wrong. Real Madrid always come back, and Real Madrid have gone thirty-odd years without winning the Champions League, and it's always been a dream of Real Madrid at all times. Playing well, La Quinta del Buitre (the homegrown generation of the 80s) did not win the Champions League... But we were proud of that team. They fought, they worked hard, but there was a great AC Milan, there was a great PSV, but we were proud of those semi-finals that Real Madrid made. That's Real Madrid too, even if they don't win. That is being lost right now.
"From my point of view, then, you have to have certain principles and certain values that Real Madrid have always had, even without winning."
Let's talk a little bit about the national team. The 2010 World Cup generation was wonderful, do you see similarities with the current one?
"Look, from my point of view, Spain have one problem: That, for me, they are too much of a favourite.
"Spain, for me, is by far the best team in the world. In terms of their style of play, pretty much the same. On top of that, all the players get on quite well, as far as I can see, because the coach knows how to do it quite well. In other words, everything points to it being a World Cup in which Spain can do something important. And that, in my opinion, is the problem. The pressure, the fact that we let ourselves get carried away because perhaps it seems, in inverted commas, that we haven't been drawn in a difficult group.
"In the end, a World Cup is very difficult. Just one bad game and you're out. So you have to be very good, but Spain has a very good team. In my opinion, right now, perhaps the best team in the world."
If we take out Lamine Yamal, because we know he's a star, which Spanish player excites you the most?
"There are so many, there are so many. For me, it's a shame that (Nico) Williams is injured. For me, he's another very important player, because there are no players now who get away from full-backs so easily, right? That gives you a lot.
"Players like Vinicius, like Williams, like Lamine Yamal, there are very few nowadays, because tactically they have improved a lot. There is a lot of help for the full-backs. But even so, these players have a very, very great ability and I like this type of player very much."
Do you see Pedri as the successor to Xavi and Andres Iniesta as the conductor of the orchestra?
"It's not that I see him, it's that he already is. Pedri already is.
"Maybe Pedri was overpraised at the beginning; he was very young and had very good ball control, but, in my opinion, he wasn't Iniesta or Xavi, OK? So, he was overpraised. I think that's where a lot of Pedri's injuries came from. Because, as well as playing a lot of games, he was under too much pressure. He wanted to be Iniesta and Xavi when he was 20, didn't he?
Now he's in a calmer state. Now we are really enjoying Pedri. Now he really is that Iniesta or Xavi, eh? But I think a lot of pressure has been taken off him by many players who have come from the youth system, and that's very good for Pedri, because before everything had to be done by Pedri, and I think he was under too much pressure."
How do you see the competition in goal for the national team? Who do you consider to be the number one?
"I mean, they are all very good goalkeepers, aren't they? But from my point of view, I think Joan (Garcia) has had an impressive season. (David) Raya too, but Arsenal have dropped a bit more in the last few games and Barcelona haven't.
"I think that Joan (should play), simply because of the season he is having, because in the end, the one who is doing well this year is the one who should end up playing, from my point of view. But, well, all the goalkeepers who are going are fantastic."
Q: How far can Spain go in this World Cup?
"Without a doubt, they are one of the favourites.
"Anything can happen in a World Cup; the draw is very important. You meet Brazil, and they play very well too, don't they? I think Spain, in terms of control and level of play, are a lot better than Brazil, but they're very good on the ball too, aren't they?
France and Germany, you can never count them out. I've always liked England, but in the end, they never make it.
"It's not easy, a World Cup is not easy. In one match, you can go to ruin or you can be world champion. But Spain is one of the best by far."