HE won three Champions League winners’ medals and a La Liga title as a player, but Aitor Karanka claims securing promotion with Middlesbrough would tower above all those achievements because the effects would be felt for a whole season.

Karanka’s five years with Real Madrid coincided with a hugely successful period for the Bernabeu club, and also featured a senior cap for the Spanish national side, but as he looks ahead to the final five games of the current Championship season, the Boro head coach is eyeing a prize he would regard as one of his greatest.

Boro take on already-relegated Bolton Wanderers today knowing a victory would leave them needing to win just three of their final four games to guarantee promotion.

Having coming so close last season, only to miss out in heart-breaking fashion in the play-off final, making it to the Premier League would fulfil an ambition Karanka has held from the moment he agreed to move to Middlesbrough in November 2013.

And with promotion offering the opportunity to swap trips to the likes of Bolton, Charlton and Rotherham with away days at Old Trafford, the Emirates and Anfield, Karanka claims the long-lasting effects of a top-two finish only heighten the importance of getting the job done in the next five games.

“When I was a player, I always thought to get promotion would have been amazing,” said the Spaniard. “When you win a title, you enjoy the title for one week or two weeks. But when you get promotion you enjoy it for one year.

“I never had the chance to get promotion as a player and for that reason I hope to get promotion here. It's really nice - the Champions League you can celebrate for a couple of weeks, but getting promotion you celebrate it for a year.”

A successful promotion campaign would represent a major feather in Karanka’s managerial cap, particularly as the 42-year-old has had to stabilise a chaotic situation that had threatened to completely derail Boro’s promotion push.

Since the training-ground bust-up that saw him prevented from taking charge of last month’s defeat at Charlton, Karanka has overseen a run of five successive victories that has restored his side to the top of the table.

He deserves considerable credit for his role in the recovery, but would rather turn the spotlight onto his players, who have also successfully regrouped after an extremely rocky spell.

“When you're a manager, you're happier for the players,” he said. “I know that one day, hopefully, I will get promoted and the following day I'll be thinking about the next season.

“The players will have two months to enjoy their holidays and to think about how well they've played that season, but as a manager it's completely different. If we can get promotion this season I'd be really pleased as these lads deserve it.”

The collective character within the Middlesbrough squad was once again highlighted by the dramatic stoppage-time winner that secured Tuesday’s crucial 2-1 win over Reading.

With time ticking away, Boro’s players somehow summoned the collective resolve required to fashion a 94th-minute winner, with Adam Forshaw’s finish following hot on the heels of a similarly decisive stoppage-time strike from David Nugent in the recent win over Hull.

Such moments hint at a powerful will to win, and Karanka is hoping his players’ never-say-die attitude will continue to prove crucial in the run-in.

“It’s good for the players when things like that happen as it encourages them to keep trusting in our way,” he said. “I always tell them to believe in the way that we play and the way we move the opponent.

“Now, in April, everyone is tired, and at the end (of the game), if you play that way, you can have a lot of chances. With the quality we have, we will score - even if it's after 92, 93, 94 minutes.

“Sometimes when you’re tired you get disorganised, sometimes you’re playing for nothing like Reading (were), and you can lose your concentration for one second - and we can take advantage.”

As ever, it is difficult to second guess Karanka’s team selection for today’s game at the Macron Stadium, especially with a potentially pivotal trip to Burnley just three days’ away.

The Boro boss has never been afraid to chop and change his players in an attempt to prevent fatigue – the absence of a long injury list throughout the season suggests his policy has worked – but with only a small of number of matches remaining, he admits there is an increased temptation to keep things largely as they are.

“It’s more difficult (to pick the team) now,” admitted Karanka. “In February or March when I'm rotating, I pick the XI thinking that it's the best XI and we have more games to play.

“But now, sometimes I have doubts. Sometimes, especially when we are winning games, I don't know whether to stick with the same players or to change, as eight games in one month is impossible to play. Now it's more difficult (to choose), but the momentum the team has is making it easier.”