In case you missed it – Sevilla vs. Real Madrid [2011-05-07, Liga jornada 35, 2-6].
I had no idea the Feria de Abril (go here if you don’t know what that is) would extend all the way to the Sánchez Pizjuán last night, between the women in flamenco dresses in the stands and Real Madrid, especially Cristiano Ronaldo, dancing their way around the Sevilla defense.
ONE. Prior to the game, Sergio C., despite not being a starter, warmed up, while Gonzalo Higuaín and Raúl Albiol preferred to warm up just their hands by making “V” signs and touching each other. Eze and Esteban are looking on like, who are these two immature kids, and how did they end up on the Madrid bench?
TWO. What a fantastic photo, no?
THREE. Six goals once again on the road! How come Madrid doesn’t enjoy that same success at home?
Sergio Ramos, who opened up the scoring last night, didn’t celebrate his goal, out of respect for his former fans (however, he couldn’t ignore his teammates, who wanted to congratulate him). That was nice of him, but I’m disappointed there were no somersaults and no shirt removal. Sergio said after the game that he felt bad that his ex-team lost because they’re fighting to play in Europe, but “I’ve spent many years defending the shirt of Real Madrid now.”
On the left, I love how Xabi is giving instructions in the midst of the goal celebrations, all the head touching, and how Cristiano joined the goal celebration twice! On the right, I love how Marcelo wanted to start dancing but others got in the way.
Kaká praised Jesus, while Cris celebrated with the hand gesture twice, and also did the little dance he had previously done with Marcelo with Adebayor, and also twice. I wonder if Marcelo was jealous? And be sure to look carefully to see Cris just expecting a normal double high five, but then Manu starts the move and so Cris joins in!
FOUR. Random moments: Iker isn’t buying whatever Pepe is selling, Cris shows everyone his booboo and Marcelo attempts to draw attention to himself by whistling.
FIVE. Karim was quite serious throughout the game – he kept the same game face on throughout, although he did remove his shirt at the end of the first half. Unfortunately, he was wearing another layer underneath, but his arms look quite cut, no?
SIX. And some Iker moments – stretching and directing his defense. I wonder who it was that took that long to get Iker’s point?
The Iker profile appreciation section.
SEVEN. Álvaro Arbeloa found himself in the midst of a little incident late in the game. Who can blame Romaric for wanting to touch Álvaro’s ears (though that probably wasn’t the best way to do so). Luckily for Álvaro, it happened right in front of Madrid’s bench, and so Jerzy Dudek, Xabi Alonso and several of the staff came to his defense and to try and break the fight up (although having seen Álvaro’s muscles and heard about all the hours he spends at the gym, I have no doubt he would have been fine on his own). Xabi’s arrival is so boss, no?
EIGHT. Sergio’s at times messy and at other times sleek hair.
NINE. When I first saw this moment on the left during the pre-game, I thought, hmmm, Mesut Özil fans are going to be disappointed with this post because this is probably going to be as exciting as it gets. However, once we were in the game, Mesut got fancy, giving us this second moment on the right.
And then he did this, which of course has to show up in the ICYMI. He definitely has more definition in his abs now than he did at the beginning of the season! Must be the good influence of Cris and Álvaro.
TEN. A couple more Sergio moments. Sergio, if you’re not going to remove your shirt to celebrate the goal, can’t you just do it in the middle of a game for no reason?
ELEVEN. Now this is more like it. Cheers to the Sevilla boys for wanting the shirts of our players! Pepe and Manu ended up topless…
… while Iker also removed his shirt, but sadly, he had another layer underneath. Sergio Sánchez from Sevilla (did you know he was once loaned to Castilla back in 2007?) wanted Sergio (Ramos)’s shirt, but I think Sergio Ramos told Sergio Sánchez that he would give it to him later, because he had to do the post-game interview with La Sexta, and he – unfortunately – couldn’t show up topless.
TWELVE. After the game, Sergio said regarding Mou, “we’re completely with him and we hope the sanction will be reduced.” Meanwhile, Cris said, “scoring four goals is not easy but you have to give merit to my teammates, because they helped me. I don’t want to think about the pichichi because there are still three games to go.” And Marcelo said of Cris, “I’m very happy for him, because he’s very happy. It’s a pleasure to play with him, he’s my brother.”
Sergio was quite fidgety during the post-game interview.
THIRTEEN. The Xabi Alonso pose section.™
Xabi was subbed out in the early part of the second half, but the posing did not stop, because, as mentioned earlier, he limped off the bench to defend Álvaro Arbeloa. That made me very happy – both the posing (since I hadn’t collected enough screenshots for this section yet) and the defending.
And here’s Esteban Granero, who is a total Xabi-in-training. Look at the stance, and look at how he’s directing things when he’s not even in the game yet! Just like Xabi. By the way, I wish he would score some goals. I need a good pirate celebration in my life.
FOURTEEN. The Mou/Karanka corner.
Mou was a good boy. He spent the entire first half with his ass on the seat, not getting up once. Only in the second half did he walk onto the field. And Rui Faria was either busy plotting strategy using the Mourinho tactical board program, or shopping online to buy a mother’s day present for Mou.
Mou coached the game, but it was Aitor Karanka who spoke to the press afterward. Aitor neither confirmed nor denied that Mou would be back in the press room before the end of the season. Among the other things we learned was that there was no pact for Cristiano to score four goals and that Xabi was taken out as a precaution because he was in pain.
FIFTEEN. Other notes and looking ahead, brought to you by this little graphic from La Sexta’s coverage that I liked.
The team wore white armbands as a tribute to golfer Severiano Ballesteros, who passed away yesterday. However, there was no moment of silence before the game.
The team trained this morning at 11h to start preparing for their next game, which is at home against Getafe on Tuesday. Sergio will miss this game, as he received his fifth yellow of a cycle against Sevilla and thus will be suspended for one game.
Juvenil A lost in the final of the Copa de Campeones against Barcelona 1-3, with Fran Sol scoring Madrid’s lone goal. But it’s not all bad news from the cantera, as Infantil A won their group (group 1 of the division of honor) after beating Torrejón 4-0 yesterday, becoming the fifth champion of the cantera this season. There are still three matchdays left, and our super Infantil A team has a record of 25-2-0.
Meanwhile, Castilla had an important game, as Juan Carlos so succinctly put things…
But it worked, because Castilla beat Rayo Vallecano B this morning to assure themselves of a place in the playoffs! In the Alfredo di Stéfano, Pablo Sarabia scored a penalty and Jorge Casado and MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín both scored in injury time in the second half to extend the non-losing streak to 18. Their last game of the season will take place next Sunday against Getafe B.
I utterly and completely approve of how Jorge celebrates goals. That is something that the junior team could teach the first team. And MFC needs a haircut. Watch a video of the highlights, including the striptease, here. MFC’s goal was something else!
The boys of Castilla wasted no time expressing their happiness via twitter: MFC, MSFC, Denis, Jorge, among others.
And I expect we’ll see some players at today’s Mutua Madrid Open final between Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Yesterday, Sami Khedira and Ricardo Carvalho both showed up to watch the semifinals. Ricardo attended with his Portuguese teammate (and Atleti player) Tiago, while Sami brought along his girlfriend, and touched a flower. Both he and Mesut have obvious types when it comes to women, no? Sami likes them tall and blond, and Mesut likes them dark-haired, older, and with a child. Of course, they’re not the only ones with a type.
