Brace yourself – there’s not too much cheer in this post.
One. This is from last night’s “El Larguero.” According to the radio program, there are problems between Iker and Cristiano Ronaldo. It all started back in September, when Sara Carbonero – Iker’s girlfriend – used the words “egoísta” and “individualista” to describe Cristiano Ronaldo. This upset Cris, and so he sent a text message to Iker expressing his sentiments. Iker responded back (also via message) that Sara’s a journalist and is free to say whatever she wants. Their relationship deteriorated from that point, and several days later, before Madrid’s game at home against Espanyol, FP took them both to an office, along with Jorge Valdano and Miguel Pardeza, played the video and tried to explain to Cris that Sara didn’t mean anything by the comment. However, Cristiano was still not placated.
He was also upset because he didn’t feel supported by his teammates – whenever he got fouled, no one came to his defense, while over at Barcelona, every player would start yelling as soon as Messi got fouled. In addition, there was the matter of the goal celebrations. He felt alone, and the relationship with Iker was also deteriorating even more. The team was affected, because it was hard to be a piña when there are two heavyweights opposed to each other. Compounded to that was the recent possibility that Álvaro Arbeloa could usurp Sergio Ramos’ starting position, with the team fearing what Sergio’s reaction would be. Mou was reported to not want to get involved.
After all this was said, the program spoke to Iker, who denied that there was a problem, and said that everyone’s relationships are good, and that any problem there was in the past has already been solved.
Well, we will never really know what goes on in the locker room, and while I’d like to believe all that is agua pasada, I can see parts of it being based on fact, especially Cristiano feeling alone, and Iker taking Sara’s side and refusing to believe that she could do anything wrong. But if Iker really is captain material – and I believe he is – then he should really step it up and quash all these rumors right away (using a stronger tone than he had), and support the teammates that he’s the captain of. No harm will come from doing that, and it will also send a message to the press to stop speculating and creating rumors which we all know they are guilty of.
(I’ll be honest, I liked the Iker of several years ago more than the Iker of today. Something in him seems to have changed in recent years, and not for the better.)
Two. In an interview yesterday, Álvaro Negredo criticized how Madrid treats their canteranos, pointing out that in particular Juan Mata shouldn’t have been let go. He said, “they didn’t give me an playing opportunities, and back then I didn’t know if it was a mistake or not. Mata’s case is the worse I’ve seen, for the conditions in play. We all knew what it was like for him while playing for Real Madrid Castilla, where they didn’t even think about resigning him. I think that’s the biggest mistake they’ve made.”
Tiene razón, and I hope Madrid has learned a lesson from this – after all, Juan Mata is now a world champion – and that they don’t let any other talents go. I doubt that will be the case, but I still hope that it will be, since we have so much talent in the cantera.
Three. Pepe’s house was robbed during the Auxerre game last week, while he was sitting on the bench. Luckily, no one was in the house at the moment (Pepe lives with his girlfriend and her brother) but items worth €50,000 were taken, including cash, jewelry, appliances, computers, gadgets and two shotguns used for hunting. I’m not deliberately trying to be mean, but I hope that the thieves took Pepe’s scarf collection, and that everything is recovered except that.