Real Madrid's Butragueno joins Cuban youngsters on pitch

Former Real Madrid Football Club star Emilio Butragueno joined dozens of Cuban boys and girls on the training ground here to talk about leadership, respect, discipline and team work.

Butragueno, now an executive with the club, travelled to Cuba on Wednesday for Campus Experience, a five-day course for around 100 budding footballers sponsored by the Real Madrid Foundation, reports Efe.

"Our idea is to make soccer an educational tool and to convey to children the values that Real Madrid has upheld and demonstrated on playing fields throughout its history and which have allowed us to win many titles," he told reporters at Havana's Eduardo Saborit sports centre.

Now 53, "el Buitre" (The Vulture) led the Spanish first division in scoring in 1991 and was a key part of a Real Madrid squad that won five league titles, two Copa del Rey trophies and two straight UEFA Cups.

The aim of initiatives such as Campus Experience is the "comprehensive education of the child by means of football," a sport that "improves interpersonal relationships, teaches one how to win and how to lose, discipline and respect for teammates and the coach," Butragueno said.

"It's a very nice and interesting experience," 10-year-old Cristina Borrego, one of the 28 girls taking part, told EFE.

"Above all, it is very instructive because it has helped us to relate better with each other and we have learned about values such as leadership and comradeship," she said.

--IANS

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