all set for Almería!

The things I didn’t get around to yesterday…

The training session

Madrid held their last training session before tonight’s game against Almería in Almería.  Twenty players trained yesterday afternoon, with the absences of Mesut Özil, who worked out in the gym, as well as the injured Higuaín, Pepe and Dudek, and Mahamadou Diarra, who is still in Mali.

Some players showed coordination with each other, while others didn’t.  Those who didn’t look like they would be the least popular boys at the school dance (if they weren’t famous, hot footballers, that is).

And while I was extremely fascinated by Iker running, his little jog looks boring in comparison to Cris’, since he turned his into a little dance.

Meanwhile, Esteban Granero was looking yummy from the front, and Sergio Ramos from the back.

And of course there was time for disagreements – Sergio shoving Iker – and fun – Xabi’s smiles.

The convocatoria

José Mourinho called up twenty players for the game, leaving out Lass and Mateos, and including Pachecho.

Goalkeepers: Casillas, Adán, Pacheco.

Defenders: Carvalho, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Arbeloa, Albiol, Garay.

Midfielders: Gago, Khedira, Canales, Granero, Xabi Alonso, Pedro León, Di María, Kaká, Özil.

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema.

Fernando Pacheco did not train or travel with the team, because he was playing with Juvenil A yesterday afternoon, a game which they lost 0-1 to Las Rozas.  He took a later flight to Almería to meet up with the team.

Mou’s press conference

In his press conference after the session, Mou talked about several things.  He was asked about the possibility of Ruud van Nistelrooy coming over in the winter transfer market, of which he said, “if he comes, I’ll be happy, but we’ll see what happens.  I know him well as a player and a person.”  By the way, Raúl and RvN were spotted chatting after playing each other yesterday in the Bundesliga.  Apparently, the conversation went like this.  RvN asked Raúl what he should do, and Raúl replied, “return!!”

Of Karim Benzema, Mou told the journalists that the whistles of the fans as Karim was subbed out against Atleti were not directed towards the player, but were motivated by the substitution:  “the stadium was whistling me, because when it was tied at 1-1, I subbed out a forward.  They wanted the team to continue playing with a center forward.  I don’t mind if the stadium whistles at me.”  He went on to say, “I’m happy with Karim.  He’s working harder than ever, and making a strong effort to change his personality as a player and to get to the high level demanded by Real Madrid.  He’s not scoring many goals, because he lacks the mentality of a player that wants to score a lot.  A forward should have this desire, which is almost like an obsession, to score.  If another forward comes, it’s not anything against Karim but rather because the team needs another ‘9.’  He’ll improve, and we support him; he’s going to play a lot of games whether another forward comes or not.  And he’ll score.”

As for MFC Álvaro Morata, Mou remarked, “Real Madrid has their forward for the next 10 years, but they have to be patient (or as Sergio would say, be patience), he will continue working and score a lot of goals with Castilla… We have the hope and the conviction that he will get to the first team and he will write his history in Real Madrid, the same as Canales.”

He also criticized the canteranos, the press and the players’ entourages a bit, saying that “the first division is full of former Real Madrid players who didn’t triumph here because they didn’t know how to wait… who gets to the first team at the age of 17?  Maradona, Zidane or Raúl were phenomenons.  The rest need to be patient.  The fault lies with the agents, the parents or the players who have their head in the clouds.”  With all that said, Mou concluded with “Morata will be more of a man next year, when he should be on the first team, so we should leave him alone for now.”

And when he finally got around to the game – remember that? – Mou said that Ozi will play if he recovers from his problem, but if he can’t, Kaká will start.  Lass was not called up for the game because “I have all the midfielders on the team at my disposition and I prefer to have more offensive-minded ones on the bench like Canales or Pedro León.  I continue to count on Lass though.”

To Almería

After all that, the team traveled to Andalucía.  The four musketeers came off the plane together, as did the inseparable duo of CR and Marcelino.  Thoughts on Sergio’s facial hair?  Good thing it’s there, since it’s a nice distraction from the thumb.

Fernando Gago and Ángel di María were tasked with signing autographs at the team hotel.  Neither Fer nor the fans could raise a smile at one point (why in the world would Real Madrid’s web site choose this picture to represent the autograph session?) but Gago could when it came to posing with Di María, along with their thumbs.  And how cute is Ángel with the little baby?

Other stuff

– fun fact of the day:  Cris, with his 23 goals in the Liga, has scored more than eight teams in the Liga!  Those eight are Hércules (22); Levante (19); Zaragoza, Sporting and Osasuna (17); Almería (16); Depor and Racing (15).

– Franz Beckenbauer has denied making the statements in which he called Mourinho “rude and uneducated.”  He spoke by phone with Emilio Butragueño yesterday, said that he doesn’t know where those words came from, and that he admires Mourinho, one of the best coaches that he knows of, and that they have a good relation.  Butragueño said he would pass on these sentiments to Mourinho.

– and at the request of reader R, Álvaro Arbeloa has confirmed that the following people DO NOT use twitter:  Albiol, Granero, Pedro León, Canales, Özil, Adán.  So if you see any accounts by these players, they are fake.

So far, the only Real Madrid players with confirmed accounts are: Álvaro himself, Xabi, Sergio, Kaká, Cris, Higuaín, Gago (with his girlfriend).