the Friday news update

Have a great Friday, and hopefully Madrid will have a wonderful Saturday!

ONE. Marcelo is now Spanish!  Last week, he went to pick up his new Spanish passport, meaning he now has double Brazilian and Spanish nationality.  In terms of football, this means that he no longer occupies a non-EU spot on the squad.  That leaves Ángel di María and Ezequiel Garay as the sole non-European Union players on the team, since Kaká and Fernando Gago hold Italian passports, Higuaín and Adebayor French and Pepe Portuguese.

TWO. Jean-Michel Aulas, president of Lyon, has given us another wonderful quote about Karim Benzema.  Last year’s was of course the statement about how Karim lives alone in a house with no furniture.  This time around, Aulas said, “I was with him [after the game] and the truth is that he’s in much better shape than he ever was here.  He has incredible abdominals.” He went on to say that he believes this is due to Cristiano Ronaldo’s influence, since he and Karim are good friends and Karim has copied what Cris does to stay in shape.  Perhaps Cris can work on Ozi next?

THREE. The final of the Copa del Rey between Madrid and Barcelona will be at 21:30h on April 20 at the Mestalla.  Both clubs had wanted it to start at 20:45h, while the RFEF had wanted a 22h kick-off time, so I guess this is sort of a compromise.

FOUR. Cristiano’s bruised left ankle has improved (no surprise there, since he seems to always manage to recover quickly – knock on wood) and he was able to take part in yesterday’s training session.  It will be up to José Mourinho to decide whether to play him in Saturday’s game against Dépor.  Cris and Andoni Iraola are the only players in the Liga to have played every minute; however Iraola is suspended for Athletic’s next game against Valencia due to accumulation of cards.

FIVE. Israeli president Shimon Peres passed by Valdebebas on Thursday (he was concluding a four-day state visit to Spain), where he got to meet with the team.  Accompanied by Florentino Peres Pérez and Emilio Butragueño, he toured Valdebebas, watched the team’s training session and got to meet all the players and José Mourinho.  Iker, in his role as captain, was tasked with the introductions.  According to The Jerusalem Post, Peres had an “particularly warm handshake and congratulatory comment” for Karim Benzema, who of course scored against Lyon on Tuesday.  He also “exchanged compliments and small talk” with the other players, “asking them about their positions on the team or telling them how good they looked on the field.”  Hey, I would do that last part too!

Thoughts on the vest Mou wore over his training sweatshirt?

Iker then presented Peres with a jersey with his (Iker’s) number and the president’s name on the back.  Peres in turned called them “symbols of peace” and invited the entire team to Israel as his personal guests.  Previously, he had also received a replica of the Santiago Bernabéu in silver, to which he said, “that’s where you win your games.”  He also specifically requested a photo with Cristiano, which to the Portuguese player of course means just not him, but also his besties Marcelo and Pepe.

(I wonder if Iker and Sergio got a chance to practice their English on Peres as well as their English listening skills?  And just like with Ochocinco, I’m sure some of the players were wondering who in the world that man was.)

SIX. While the first team was busy being symbols of peace, the youth teams were receiving a lecture on the benefits of good nutrition.  The players received advice on how to improve their general health, such as which foods have anti-inflammatory effects and which help to prevent muscle tears.

I’m only including this because MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín was there and looking a bit bored in the moment when the photographer snapped this photo (I’m sure the players were fighting to sit in the back).  The only other interesting thing about this is that if you go see the other photos on Madrid’s site, you’ll notice that some players are wearing cleats, others are wearing normal sneakers and others are barefoot.

SEVEN. Iker may no longer be able to wear his neck muffler anymore, at least in CL games!  The International Board, at FIFA’s request, will meet in Wales next week, and one of the subjects they will debate is the neck mufflers that players wear to protect their necks.  They’ll take a vote on whether to prohibit the accessory, since some believe there are risks involved.

EIGHT. According to AS and Marca, the following players are on Madrid’s summer agenda (I don’t usually write about rumors, but I just wanted to keep you informed on these players, since they are all canteranos and I would love to see any, all or a combination of them back):

José used to have normal hair.

Dani Parejo (Getafe): Madrid has already told Getafe that they want Dani back this summer, and FP himself has confirmed that the team is considering this.  Madrid would pay €5 million to bring him back.

José Callejón (Espanyol): the other name mentioned by FP.  He went to Espanyol from the youth ranks of Madrid (he never debuted with the first team) in 2008 for €1.2 million (Ramón Calderón’s doing), and the option to buy him back has already expired.  However, there is a clause in his contract that says that Madrid can match whatever is offered for him.  His buyout amount is €8 million.

MFC (Castilla):  he’ll make the move from Castilla to Madrid, as Mou has already stated several times.  Álvaro has scored 11 goals this season, including a hat trick.

David Mateos (AEK): Mou approved his loan so that he could get some playing time, but wants him back in Madrid.

Borja Valero (Villarreal): Mou likes him a lot, and he had a great game in the Bernabéu against Madrid (and yesterday against Napoli).  Borjita (as Álvaro Arbeloa calls him) is a former socio of the club, where he spent 11 years out of the 25 of his life.  Last year, he said, “my heart belongs to Madrid.  I dream of wearing this shirt again.”  Valero debuted with the first team in 2006 in the Copa del Rey at the hands of Fabio Capello.

The current canteranos on the team are Iker, Antonio Adán, Esteban Granero and Álvaro Arbeloa.  The last two had to leave the white house to make their fortune before returning to the club.

NINE. The variety of tweets we got yesterday:  Xabi supports twitter in Basque, Álvaro and wife Carlota have dinner with the hottest couple in town, Kaká is charitable and Sergio celebrates his saint’s day.

TEN. To end, a couple of pictures of a younger Karim Benzema, from a Marca video.  Once he got past a certain age, that hairstyle didn’t work anymore.