all set for Hércules!

It looks like they had a great time, no?  And I love how in the picture on the left, Mou has joined in the fun, and the players are practically a rainbow.

The team completed their last training session before tomorrow’s home game against Hércules (20h).  Nineteen players went out on the grass at Valdebebas, joined by my favorite canterano Álvaro Borja MM.  Rejoining their team were Ricky Carvalho, Eze Garay and Álvaro Arbeloa.  Still inside and presumably injured were Cris, Peter Lion, Kaká and Gago.  Gonzalo Higuaín was also outside, but doing his own thing.

Has someone been getting posing lessons from one Xabi Alonso???  And when the captain speaks, all the young players pay serious attention!

After the session, the list of players called up for this game was revealed.  All of the players at the morning session were called up, with the exception of Carvalho.  Lass made his return after sitting the last game out due to suspension, as did Arbeloa, Khedira and Garay, who came back after recovering from their specific injuries.  It looked like Mou had decided to reserve Cris and Carvalho for Lyon, with the former already back in game shape after the injury to his left leg in the Málaga game.  The players will meet at 21h tonight at the Bernabéu to begin their concentración.

Goalkeepers: Iker, Adán, Dudek.

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

Midfielders: Lass, Xabi, Khedira, Granero, Canales, Özil, Di María.

Forwards: Benzema, Adebayor, MFC.

How cute that Álvaro BMM wore his Castilla shorts to train with the first team!

As much as I’d like to see Álvaro BMM play, I hope he’ll be reserved so that he can play with Castilla on Sunday (12h, Di Stéfano) in their derby against Atleti B!  I think they probably need him more than the first team now, no?  After all, they only managed a tie last week without him.  Many peñas have decided to attend the game, so Castilla should have double the number of supporters they usually have.

In his press conference, Mou talked about the now famous hug between him and Iker, affirming that it was because Iker was happy that Mou would not be requiring the players to be concentrados before next week’s derbi madrileño.  But at the same time, he used this anecdote to talk about the scheduling of games (concretely, Madrid playing Atleti three days after the Lyon game).  He basically said that if some people are trying to end the championship now (by making life hard for Madrid), he’ll make it easy for them, perhaps by not calling up any of his starters, including Iker, which is why Iker won’t have to attend the concentración.  He also said some other things, but I’m tired of that topic.

As shown by the available pictures, Mou scowled his way through the entire press conference.

Mou also said he has changed his policy for press conferences and will no longer be revealing his starting 11, that Ozi was a great investment, because he was very cheap for Madrid and that he believes Cristiano will be ready to play on Wednesday against Lyon.

Meanwhile, Esteban Granero spoke to bwin, and the point of me mentioning that is just to post these adorable pictures, which are so adorable that I can even overlook the pose on the right.  El Pirata said of Benzema, “it’s clear that he’s improved a lot… he’s an important player for us.  We also hope that Higuaín recovers soon.”  As for the cantera, Esteban said that the first team is counting on Castilla: “when I played in Castilla, we hardly ever trained with the first team.  Now we often see the boys called up to play games against us.  There’s a lot of potential in the cantera, even though the players obviously have to mature.  They’re very lucky that they’re being counted on and that they’re keeping an eye on them.”

P.S. – his official FB is up and running!

And back to Iker’s posing: it came into use this afternoon, when Iker went to an event to honor fathers (both the religious and non-religious kinds) sponsored by the electric shaver that he endorses, the Philips SensoTouch.  There, he said that the hug between him and Mourinho was really nothing, but since this is Madrid, “everything gets magnified” and it appeared that “we were hiding something.”  He affirmed that the hug was because they had finally agreed that the team wouldn’t have to stay in a hotel before the Atleti game.

And since the event was to honor fathers, Iker said he was very grateful to his own, since “my father had to take me from Móstoles to Madrid in a 124 that consumed a lot of gas.  No one could guarantee him that everything would turn out well, and many people have been left behind on the road to stardom.”  He also confirmed that one day, he’d like to have kids.