It’s finally the day of the derby, el clásico, Barcelona vs. Real Madrid! But first, let’s take a look back at all that happened yesterday.
Training session
The players held their last training session before the game yesterday afternoon. José Mourinho had everyone at his disposal, with the exception of the injured Kaká and Gago. This meant that Sami Khedira and Gonzalo Higuaín, who had missed the last game against Ajax, trained normally with the rest of the group. Ezequiel Garay also made his return, three and a half months after injuring his right knee in the friendly against Bayern Munich back in August.
It was very cold in the afternoon, and it always seems like Marcelo is the one who suffers the most!
And Cristiano had a grand old time, but I would like to remind the photographers that there are 22 more men on the team whose photos they could have shot yesterday.
The call-up
Mou decided to bring 20 men on the trip to Barcelona, ruling out Garay, Canales and Mateos. The final list looks like this:
Goalkeepers: Casillas, Adán, Dudek.
Defenders: Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Albiol, Carvalho, Marcelo.
Midefielders: Lass, Diarra, Khedira, Granero, Xabi Alonso, Özil, Di María, Pedro León.
Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, Higuaín.
The press conference
My favorite Mou quotes/Mouisms from the press conference the míster gave yesterday afternoon.
– we don’t change our style because we’re playing against Barcelona… we respect all our adversaries equally.
– I hope my team will have the ability to continue to have confidence in itself and continue with their feet on the ground even if they lose. I don’t want us to our self esteem to change because we win or we lose.
– each point that you lose in games can be decisive, but after the clásico there are still 25 games. It’s an important game, but not a decisive one.
– [he ended the press conference by repeating] if Madrid wins, the next day will be Tuesday. If Madrid loses, the same.
Mou also revealed the starting line-up, which is not a surprise, since it’s the habitual one: Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Carvalho, Marcelo, Xabi, Khedira, Di María, Özil, Cristiano and Higuaín.
Zidane was also there in the room listening to Mou!
In Barcelona
More than 2,000 Madrid fans welcomed their team at El Prat around 20h, both inside the terminal and out. The team then took their bus to the Hotel Juan Carlos I, where more fans were waiting for them. Also waiting for them were some Barcelona hooligans, who decided to throw rocks at the bus, taking advantage of a lack of police presence. According to press reports, the rock hit the window alongside the seats where Arbeloa and Albiol were sitting. The bus had to circle around once to allow the chaos to die down, but the players still ran into the hotel once they got off.
Why is Cristiano’s tie so short? And I’d like to remind everyone that the man on the right is the one who literally and figuratively brought the World Cup to Spain.
The two Diarras were tasked with signing autographs and posing for photos in the customary fan session at the hotel. They were kept busy signing shirts, photos, scarves and posters.
The tweets
And with each day, I love Álvaro Arbeloa more, especially as he was the only one to tweet yesterday. Left: “the reception in the airport in Barcelona was impressive!” Right: “We’ll be there! RT: in the hotel of Madrid! With aarbeloa 17, I think tomorrow I’m going to the game!” For those of you who don’t remember, Gonzalo Coca is Álvaro’s cousin, the one who lives in Barcelona and for whom Álvaro was trying to find a girlfriend. There’s a photo of Gonzalo on his twitter page, and I can definitely see the family resemblance.
