I can’t believe Esteban’s cute little face was not enough for him to be called up for tomorrow’s game…
Madrid held their last training session of the week (and the first one open to the press) this morning before taking on Levante tomorrow night at the Bernabéu (20h). All 23 of the available players worked out together, including Iker Casillas, who won’t play this weekend as he is serving a one-game suspension for his red card in the game against Espanyol.
José Mourinho called up 19 players for the game, including Tomás Mejías to take over Iker’s place. Meanwhile, Pepe was “reserved” for the Lyon game, and didn’t make the cut either, along with Esteban Granero and the more habitual Sergio Canales and Pedro León.
Goalkeepers: Adán, Dudek, Tomás Mejías.
Defenders: Carvalho, Marcelo, Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Albiol, Garay.
Midfielders: Khedira, Xabi, Lass, Gago, Kaká, Özil, Di María.
Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Adebayor, Benzema.
At his press conference, José Mourinho didn’t want to talk about the Champions League as “the game on Saturday is the most important one of my career, because it’s the next one.” He also confirmed that Cristiano, Sergio, Carvalho, Albiol and Marcelo will start, and said that Pepe is not playing because “I’m simply protecting a player that hasn’t played for a month” and because “Carvalho is more used to playing once every three days.” Mou said he doesn’t believe it necessary to rest Cris because “the other day, he ended the session running 50 meter sprints.” Mou also complimented Levante (and rightly so, because their record against Madrid this season is 1-1-1), saying that they’re a dangerous team.
I thought he was supposed to shave every day?