Two of our canteranos have made big splashes recently, Álvaro Morata after scoring a hat trick with Castilla, and Antonio Adán, who debuted in the Liga on Sunday.
MFC, the super adorable Álvaro Borja Morata Martín, was the special guest on RMTV’s lunchtime news program yesterday, along with the ball he scored a hat trick (his first ever with Castilla) on Sunday vs. Depor B. The ball had been signed by all his teammates, whom he thanked for their confidence in him, along with the coaches.
On the program, MFC talked about how his three goals came about, what has changed since Alberto Toril’s arrival (since he also came up from the ranks, he knows how to deal with us and he has the right experience to teach us things) and the goal of Castilla, which is to ascend to the next division. Álvaro also said that when he first received the call informing him that he was to travel to Los Angeles to spend the pre-season with the first team, he thought it was his teammates playing a joke on him, and once he figured out it wasn’t, he had to drive six hours back to Madrid, since he was on vacation in Andalucía at the time.
I love his little mumbly voice (and those lips that it comes out of)!!! Plus, he’s still in that awkward stage, no? He looked quite uncomfortable there in make-up.
Bonus picture from the video: MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín (I think I’m going to start referring to him as MFC ABMM because his full name, which I absolutely, absolutely love, just takes too long to type out) back in his younger days. Look at the hair!!!
I just want to pat him on the head.
Watch the video here.
Meanwhile, Madrid also has another video on their web site of the hottest canterano at the moment, Antonio Adán, after his star turn in the game against Espanyol on Sunday.
Included in this video was footage of a young Antonio Adán. I love seeing Iker’s former jerseys in miniature! And like Iker, Antonio is left-footed.
The article accompanying the video talks a bit about Antonio’s history with Real Madrid. He signed with Madrid’s alevín team in 1997, at the tender age of 10. In the subsequent 14 years, he’s risen through the ranks, spending time on each team, until he became the official third goalkeeper of the first team this year, as he had spent the previous season between the first team and Castilla. This season has seen Antonio make his debut in both the Champions League and the Liga, although he celebrated winning the Liga with the first team back in the 2006-07 season (below).
According to Madrid’s former goalkeeping coach and Iker’s football father Manuel Amieiro, Antonio was meant to be a goalkeeper, because he had certain qualities that other children didn’t have. Meanwhile, another of his former coaches, Emilio Álvarez, said Antonio stood out from the rest for his “reflexes, aggression and blocking skills, as well as his strong personality and ability to impress that on the locker room.” And Juan Carlos Mandià, his former coach at Castilla, described him as “cordial, educated and respectful.” He added that Antonio doesn’t like to talk about football off the pitch.
Off the pitch, Antonio is involved with his Nuevo Mejorada kids football team, based in his hometown of Mejorada del Campo (Madrid), and the tournament of the same name. And his little brother Alfonso is also a goalkeeper; he currently plays for the Cadete B team. He’s 14 and is already 1.85m tall (Antonio is 1.90m tall) and says his favorite player is his brother.
Watch the video here.
The choice of music for this video is much, much better than anything we’ve seen in the past. The song is Dani Martín’s “Mira la vida.” I love Dani (and El Canto del Loco), even though he’s a colchonero.