One. A new book about legend and honorary president Alfredo di Stéfano, Di Stéfano. Historias de una leyenda, was presented yesterday at the Bernabéu, in the presence of La Saeta Rubia himself, FP and other club and city officials. Also present were three of the four Argentines, Gago, Di María and Garay, and the honorary Argentine (?), Sergio Ramos (if you remember, he was also with the Argentines when Diego Maradona came knocking). Or perhaps it’s because he’s the second captain. Anyway, this is the third book in a series, with the first two about two guys named Cristiano Ronaldo and Raúl.
Thoughts on Sergio’s bright blue jeans? They really catch your eye in the photos, since everyone else is wearing mostly neutral and/or dark colors! Sergio seems to favor bright colored pants – see here or here. He also seems to really like piping, and his shoes are very shiny! And yay, a new book for Sergio to read; hopefully he’s finished Poderosamente by now!
Two. The team held a closed training session yesterday, with Cristiano once again staying in the gym, although all signs point to him being fit for the Valencia game, which is good since Gonzalo Higuaín has been ruled out. Cris is expected to re-join the team in today’s session, along with Iker Casillas. Iker had the permission of the club to travel to Zurich on Wednesday night to support Iberia’s 2018 World Cup bid, and returned yesterday afternoon. He headed straight for Valdebebas after landing in Torrejón de Ardoz, and got his own private training session with goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro.
I prefer it this way, because Real Madrid’s site posted pictures of the session and even included a video! If Iker had participated in the normal session, we wouldn’t have seen anything, since it was a closed session, and this way all the pictures we get are of Iker!
Three. Other changes to the line-up against Valencia include Raúl Albiol and Álvaro Arbeloa coming in for the suspended Ricardo Carvalho and Sergio Ramos (which means Raúl will get to play against his former team). With at least three changes to our usual starting line-up, this game is a good chance to prove what Real Madrid is all about, and that includes a lot of heart.
Four. Meanwhile, Pipita headed to Barcelona yesterday to get that second opinion about his herniated disc. He went to see Dr. Enric Cáceres, who had operated on Villarreal player Santi Cazorla last season for the same injury. Dr. Cáceres said that if Gonzalo is currently receiving epidural injections, and he has to get better in three days in order not to have surgery. If he does get better, he can rejoin the team next week. But if by Monday, there are no improvements, then he should be operated on, with the recovery period from four to six weeks.
Five. And in other news, Iker and FP are expected to help read out loud the Constitution this morning in the Congreso de los Diputados. They also participated last year. Constitution Day is Dec. 6 in Spain, and it’s a holiday, yay puente!