the news round-up

In this news post:  a bit more on the Espanyol game, off-day activities, lots of nostalgia and more.

ONE. More from yesterday.  Iker warms up, and tosses the captain’s armband at Chendo.  He shouldn’t treat it that lightly.

Meanwhile, Marcelo said he ran past all his teammates when celebrating the goal because he was “very thirsty” and so his mission was to get to the sideline for some water.

According to Cuatro, Cristiano reproached him (on the right) for not celebrating with his teammates.  I don’t know why Marcelo responded by lifting his shirt, but I’m not complaining.

And hugs all around for Antonio Adán.  Of note:  after the game, Mourinho said, “Antonio played like a veteran.”  This is of note because José Mourinho hardly ever calls his players by their first names, so this is the highest praise.

As you could see from the end of the game, Mou was the first one to go into the locker room on Sunday night, which he did while pumping his fists and shouting, “¡vamos, vamos! ¡Así, así, así!”  Iker was right behind him, so that he would be able to give his teammates high-fives as they filtered in one by one.  When Marcelo entered – unsurprisingly, Pepe and Cris were stuck to his side – Mou told him, “congratulations.  You played for two people, for yourself and for Di María.”

I have to admit that I never saw Marcelo as captain material – especially since he always looks like an overgrown kid out there – but he was simply enormous on Sunday night.

And I like these quotes from Emmanuel Adebayor after the game:  “I’m playing for more than the three titles, but the most important thing is the team” and “I failed three times in front of the goal, but I worked until I could work no more.”  He also expressed satisfaction with his adaptation to the team, and said, “I want to stay here, because in the less than one month that I’ve been here, I’ve been able to confirm that this is the greatest club in the world.”

TWO. Madrid has decided it will appeal Iker’s red card against Espanyol, as they believe it was not deserved.  The club is hoping that Competition will not sanction the goalkeeper with a one-game suspension, and that he’ll be able to play this weekend against Levante.  Competition will announce any sanctions today, and if Iker is slapped with a suspension, Madrid will appeal.

THREE. José Mourinho took advantage of the two-day break he gave his team to travel to London, where he was seen watching the game between Fulham and Chelsea, along with JM Jr.  The game ended 0-0, so it wasn’t too exciting, as you can tell by JMJ’s reaction, below.

I like the matching hoods.

FOUR. Summer plans:  according to AS (where this wonderfully dorky photo is from), Madrid will once again hold their pre-season training camp at UCLA, and play three games in the U.S. before heading to China, where they will play one game in Beijing and another in Shanghai.  Next season’s pre-season will begin at the start of July, with the U.S. stage taking place in the third or fourth week of that month.  Madrid will then travel to China in the first week of August, and return to Spain to play the Supercopa against Barcelona, assuming that one of them wins the Liga, of course.

For new Madrid fans:  the photo is from 2005.  From left to right are Rubén de la Red (now an assistant coach with Juvenil A), Álvaro Arbeloa, Juanfran (now with Atleti) and Roberto Soldado (now with Valencia).

P.S. – no wonder Álvaro is always trying to make his hair stand up now.

FIVE. Gracias, fenómeno.  The original Ronaldo announced his retirement yesterday, saying “I can’t take anymore.  I wanted to continue, but I couldn’t.  It’s very hard to give up something that made me so happy, and although I was mentally prepared to continue, I lost the battle with my body.  I’ve had a beautiful, marvelous, emotional career… I’ve made many friends and I don’t remember making a single enemy.”

Is there any of Milene in Ronald?  He looks exactly like his dad!!  I can’t believe how big he is now; I still remember when Milene was pregnant.  And how cute is little Alex?

Here are the reactions of several madridistas:  Kaká, via twitter, thanked his former teammate for “everything you did for the sport, soccer, Brazil  and for the thousands of people around the world.”  Emilio Butragueño called him the “best center forward I’ve ever seen” and “a constant threat.”  And his former coach Vicente del Bosque remembered him as “a happy man as a person and as a player.  He made everyone who was by his side happy; he’s a charming kid.  We shared a locker room for a while and I don’t have any complaints, only good words to say about him.”

Meanwhile, Becks called Ronaldo “an amazing person” on his Facebook and said it was “an honor” to play with Ronaldo and “become his good friend.”  And Sergio tweeted that he wanted to send his regards to his ex-teammate and friend Ronaldo, adding “thank you for all those years of football, for me, you were the greatest!!”

SIX. And another former Madrid player, Raúl, is back in Spain, as his Schalke will play Valencia tonight in the Champions League.  Raúl was the first person to pass through Manises, where he was met with fans, some of whom were wearing Real Madrid shirts and holding up signs that proclaimed things like “Raúl, artist, always a madridista” and “we’ll always be with you, the eternal ‘7.’”

Raúl received the visit of his good friend and former Real Madrid teammate Fernando Morientes last night in the hotel where his team is staying.  Raúl and Fernando, reunited!!!

SEVEN. And “El Larguero” traveled to Istanbul, to Guti’s house to interview him.  We find out that Guti would like to be a coach when his playing days are over, concretely in the cantera of Real Madrid.  I can’t imagine this, unless he matures a bit, no?  He also said that he misses Real Madrid, and would have loved to play for this current team.  In addition, he praised Marcelo, saying, “he gives it his all during the games, and it’s a pleasure to watch him come up the wing,” and Özil and Di María for “adapting very well.”

As for his life in Turkey, he lives alone in the Asian section of Istanbul.  His daily routine consists of “getting up at nine, going to the training grounds to have breakfast, training at 10h (I don’t know how he doesn’t wait between eating and training?), eating lunch there (a lot of Turkish food but he doesn’t mind), going home and going online, playing a bit of guitar of watching movies.”  His lunch yesterday consisted of chickpeas with sauce, lamb and a bit of rice.  We also found out that he has erased two tattoos:  one that he got when he was 18, and the other the name of a person (Arancha?).

Have a listen here.