a gala, a visit & some special fans

A round-up of Madrid news from yesterday!

One. The Real Madrid Foundation handed out their Premios Alma last night, in recognition of the work of people or entities that are an example to others, and have a connection with sports.  Among the recipients were Alfredo di Stéfano (for his sporting career) and Rafa Nadal (extraordinary award).  There was also a performance by José Mercé.

The entire first team was present, including Mou, but not Karim Benzema, who had permission from the club to travel to Paris to make a statement in the Zahia case.  As captains, Iker and Sergio were award presenters.  Iker got to present the extraordinary award to his friend Rafa:  “he’s quite possibly the best Spanish athlete of all time.  A great person.  A great friend.  I think he has all the values that Real Madrid has.  For being an extraordinary person, he deserves an extraordinary award.  Congratulations Rafa!”  I’m a bit disappointed that Iker and Rafa didn’t hug – they just shook hands.

During his acceptance speech, Rafa thanked the Foundation, said it’s an example for others, and that his own foundation tries to emulate it.  He also talked about how two weeks ago, when he was in India, he really experienced life in a part of the world that doesn’t have the luck that they have here, but which deserve to have a lot more.

(Oh wait, Rafa was the honored guest at the gala?  As much as I love Rafa, Iker was fantastic!!!  Look at him strut across the stage!)

When Sergio went up to present the National Project award to the Instituciones Penitenciarias of the Ministry of the Interior and to Horizontes Abiertos, he started off by saying, “despite the pressure placed on me by my teammates as a presenter, I’m going to try and be brief and improvise.”  Cris was seen taking a picture of Sergio on his mobile and showing it to Kaká while Sergio was speaking.  Share on twitter please, Cris.  Oh I forgot, you don’t personally update it.  Sergio also gave a little wink at the end of his little speech.

The best part of course was seeing the players, all nicely dressed up, interact with each other (like schoolboys on a field trip).  From what we can see, they sat in two rows, with the four captains, Carvalho, Pepe, Gago, Cris and Kaká in the front, and Dudek, Özil, Khedira, Pedro León, Di María, Higuaín, Garay, Albiol, Arbeloa, Canales, Mateos, Adán, Xabi in the back.  They all arrived together on the Real Madrid bus.  How cute that Kaká and Cris sat next to each other; it was totally expected.  They also came in together, so I’m assuming they sat together on the bus as well.

Iker looked a bit bored while Sergio was talking, and David and Sergio C. were busy whispering to each other.

And it looks like Iker and Sergio repeated the suits that they wore to the Príncipe de Asturias awards, but with different ties/shirts.

And Mahamadou Diarrá was wearing quite the original jacket, and though you can’t see it in the pictures, Sergio Canales was wearing jeans.  Cris was wearing a black jacket and black pants, but finished off the outfit with white shoes.

The reception afterward looked fun too.

The gala in tweets.  Álvaro called the gala “impressive, emotional and very fun” and congratulated the winners.  Meanwhile, Kaká said, “this duo will take on (former Brazilian tennis players) Fernando Meligeni and Gustavo Kuerten!”

The duo in question, via Kaká’s tweeted picture, was this one:

Meanwhile, Cris (or more likely his PR person) has brought the safari theme to his twitter.

Two. Sami Khedira played host to Stuttgart’s U-17 team, which visited the Bernabéu and took the tour yesterday.  Among the Stuttgart players was Sami’s younger brother, Rani.  Rani’s team was in Spain to play a friendly with one of Getafe’s youth teams, and Sami also went to that game, and even spoke with some fans in Spanish.

Three. Sergio Canales made futebolfinance.com’s list of 30 most valuable under-21 players in the world.  He was number 26.

Four. More Mou from the Milan game.  Watch out for how he ignores Pipita at the end.  Pobrecito.  Video here.

Five. Marca’s latest Real Madrid promotion.

Six. After an absence of one week, Sergio finally tweeted!

Left:  Everyone on the team is happy that Rubén de la Red will continue with the club and that he will be able to work closely with us as a coach.

Right:  Yesterday my good friend Jesús Navas had his ankle operated on.  I wish him a quick recovery.  Hugs, Jesús.  ¡Ánimo!

Seven. Khedira and Özil fans, head here to read an interview with this duo on their first 100 days with Madrid.  Thanks to Karin from the Sami Khedira Fanpage for the translation!