I can’t believe we’re at the end of March already, as April is going to be a key month for Real Madrid! But first, someone had a birthday yesterday…
ONE. Sergio shared these two shots of his birthday celebration yesterday via twitter. On the left, he’s having his birthday dinner with his sister and his cousin José. I wonder if Álvaro Arbeloa has that shirt? No, it’s probably too loose for him. And on the right, Sergio shares a shot of his bedroom (!) as he found it upon return from Lithuania, the work of his siblings. Hands up, how many of you have filed away how the room looks for future fantasies? However, I’m sure you’re not going to include a stuffed eagle head in that fantasy… what’s up with that? It looks very strange and out of place… but then again, we know that Sergio’s tummy tattoo includes a pair of wings, no? Perhaps there’s some connection? By the way, I really have never thought about what Sergio’s bedroom looks like, but I wouldn’t have imagined it as this. I would have expected more color!
And Guti took to twitter to congratulate Sergio on his 25th birthday, calling him “the greatest in Madrid” and his “brother,” and telling him he has a great family.
TWO. News agency EFE tells us that our internationals traveled a total of 35,000 kilometers during the international break, played 1,382 minutes (Iker and Álvaro were the only ones to play the maximum number – 180) and suffered two injuries, to Marcelo and Karim Benzema. The rest of the players made it back safely, and trained yesterday, with the exception of the two Argentines, who will return today.
THREE. Karim Benzema returned to Madrid yesterday and went directly from the airport to Sanitas La Moraleja for tests; he was picked up and accompanied by Javier García Coll. Karim had felt pain in his left thigh while playing for France against Croatia on Tuesday, and had to be substituted out. The tests showed that he has a strong contraction to his thigh and he’ll be out for about a week, ruling him out for this weekend’s game against Sporting.
FOUR. Looking ahead to that game: don’t forget, (original) Ronaldo will be honored before the start of that game. He will receive a shirt, then go onto the field while a video of his highlights play and he’ll receive a commemorative statue. Then Ronie will will take the saque de honor.
FIVE. Sporting forward and former canterano David Barral spoke with Unión Madrid’s program “El Silbato” recently, and he talked about his former club: “playing in the Bernabéu should be special for any player. It’s a football temple, the best… I support Madrid for all the years I spent there. I’ve dreamed of becoming a footballer since I was small, and thanks to Madrid I became one. I have a lot of affection for them and I wish them the best. I have very good memories of Madrid.” Despite that, David also said he hopes to score against Madrid on Saturday.
That’s the good thing about us having practically none of our canteranos – each time there is a game, we get former players reflecting on their time in Madrid.
SIX. Other injury news: in news that (unfortunately) surprised no one, Tottenham’s Jonathan Woodgate will miss the first Champions League quarterfinal game against his old team, although he will attend the game, because, according to his coach, “Real Madrid is his former club and this game means a lot to him.” Woodgate arrived here in the summer of 2004, but didn’t play – due to injury – until September 2005. In his debut with Madrid, he scored an own goal and was expelled. He ended up only playing nine games with Madrid, although the fans have good – but brief – memories of him.
SEVEN. The LFP has released the dates and times for jornada 31, and Madrid is once again playing at 18h on a Saturday. They’ll be playing at San Mamés, against Athletic. I’ll be cheering for Madrid, but my eyes will be on Javi Martínez (!!!)!!!
EIGHT. If you’ve been studying Pipita Higuaín closely lately, you would have noticed that he’s now wearing Nike boots! He signed an endorsement deal with them for about one million euros a year (!) and he’s been trying out various models the past few weeks.
I actually wrote down a breakdown of who wears which brand boots on Madrid a while ago, and it looks like this:
Adidas: Carvalho; Adebayor; Kaká; Benzema; Granero; Adán; Xabi; Canales; Arbeloa; Pedro León; Di María; Dudek
Nike: Sergio; Gago; Cristiano; Marcelo; Albiol; Higuaín; Özil; Khedira
Umbro: Pepe; Garay
Reebok: Iker
Unknown: Lass (he wears black boots and I can’t see any marks)
How funny that both the Germans are sponsored by Nike!
NINE. In an interview with Madrid’s site, Tristán Celador had this to say about his assistant coach Rubén de la Red: “Rubén played an important role in all this [winning their division]. He knows how to get his point across, and he’s connected well with everyone in these months, and he takes pressure off of them… He predicted we would win in Parla and we did.” When asked if his boys respected him for having coached many players in the first division, his response was, “many great footballers have passed through this club. The best example is Mata, because he’s a world champion. But there’s also Roberto Soldado, Javier García, Miguel Torres, Dani Parejo. I tell my players now what their virtues were, and what they did to improve to get to the highest level. I use these examples so they’ll know what they need to do.”
TEN. Former canterano, Pignoise lead singer and Guti’s good friend Álvaro Benito told “Punto Pelota” the other night that Guti is very much alone in Istanbul, but in a good way, because his life is very tranquil, nothing like the previous life he had led in Madrid, and that Guti is happy and content with his life, although not so much with how the team is doing. Álvaro also added that this move has allowed Guti to realize who his true friends in (the city of) Madrid are.
ELEVEN. In other Gutiérrez news, Guti tweeted this the other day: “I will return to (the club) Madrid one day, I would like to work for the club of my life but right now I’m only focused on “Besktas” and next year I’ll go to another country.” I wonder where?
TWELVE. And finally, I’m sticking this in here because I don’t want to make it an even bigger deal than it’s become. I would like to apologize to everyone who was offended by the readers submission post. With this blog, I try not to censor anything, because I believe that everyone has the right to his or her opinion, even though it may differ from my own. But in this specific case, I can see why some of you objected to what was written, and with good reason.
On a lighter note, I’d also like to add how disappointed I am in all of you, because nothing I write generates that much reaction! What do I have to do, run onto the field of the Bernabéu at the next game, simultaneously avoiding security, ripping off the shirts and shorts off of Iker, Sergio, Xabi and co., and taking photos?