this week’s easy weekend reading

It’s Friday again, and you know what that means – El Macca!

– [2002 Champions League final]:  “César came off with a foot problem, and Iker Casillas came on and made about five acrobatic saves in four minutes.  He was in the air more than he was on the ground… He won us the final, he was named Man of the Match in certain newspapers and he was only on for about twenty minutes.  After the match, he was on the floor, crying his eyes out, poor lad.  He was overcome.”

– “Ronaldo arrived and everyone’s thrilled… you don’t know the geezer but you know he’s a nice bloke.  He’s infectious.  Luis, who’d played with him at Barcelona, said he was fantastic… no one had a bad word to say about him, and everyone knew what kind of player he was.”

– “Ronaldo arrives… his face is welcoming with trademark gap-toothed grin and warm friendly eyes.  He shakes hands, and smiles in gratitude at being steered clear of a chair recently vacated by Kaká, who left it discoloured by a vast pool of sweat.”

– “In early September [2002] McManaman had the prestige of captaining a Real Madrid side [and is responsible for the coin toss at the start of the game]… ‘I’m thinking to myself beforehand, “Heads is cara or cruz, but what is tails?  What if he says blah blah blah and I’m like, “What?””  There I was, running through my future tenses, you know, “We will kick in this direction, we will attack that goal,” and the referee just points and nods.”

– [Ronaldo] “said the Bernabéu crowd was like a woman, and he had to find a new way of pleasing her every day.”  [me: I love that quote!  It’s so true.]