Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough have been promoted to the Premier League after finishing second in the Championship.
The Teesiders drew 1-1 with promotion rivals Brighton and Hove Albion in the final round of games to deny the Seagulls the chance to go up automatically, ‘Boro finishing in second place, behind champions Burnley.
“When I arrived here, some people thought I was crazy to say I wanted to get this club in the Premier League again,” the former Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid defender said after his club returned to the flight following a seven-year absence, the Mirror reports.
“But now, three and a half years later, Middlesbrough Football Club is going to be in the position where this club deserves to be. You can’t be more proud of this group of players, this crowd, this chairman.
“It is more than deserved. I just want to say thank you once again because it’s amazing for me. We knew it was going to be difficult. We had won a lot of games but Brighton and Burnley had been really with us also. In the Championship it always goes to the last second. When you achieve something like that even in those difficult moments it is better.”
