¡gracias Madrid!

The entire Madrid team – players, coaching staff, directors – took a mini tour of Madrid yesterday, to offer the Copa del Rey to the citizens of the city.  The route took them from the Plaza de Cibeles to the Puerta del Sol to the Catedral de la Almudena to meet with city officials, provincial officials and religious officials, respectively.  The team left the Bernabéu at around noon for the city hall, and finished around 14:30h at the cathedral.  They were all looking good in their suits, although some of the shoe choices were a bit odd…

Ayuntamiento de Madrid

At the ayuntamiento, they were received by Madrid mayor Alberto Ruíz-Gallardón.  He presented each of the players and coaching staff with a commemorative plaque, and received a signed shirt and a mini replica of the Copa in return.  He pretended to drop it, a la Sergio, while smirking at Sergio, and also did the same later on when he and Sergio were holding the big Cup.  Sergio was a good sport and put up with all the teasing.

Several of the players spoke to those assembled.  Iker told everyone, “thank you for everything.  We want to share this title with all madridistas and people of Madrid.  We hope that next year we will return many more times, and I’m sure that with this team we will celebrate many more things,” while Sergio reiterated the team’s gratitude and desire to win many more titles.  Marcelo and Cristiano also said a few words, and while the crowd was chanting for Benzema to say something, he remained silent.  Poor Cris looked tired!

Mou limited himself to saying, “thank you very much, thank you to everyone,” after he was forced to speak.  Mou at first tried to pass the microphone on to Aitor Karanka (look at all the effort he made to go find Aitor, all the way in the back), as he has done recently, saying let Karanka speak.

The Marcelo show.

While Iker was talking, Marcelo was doing his own thing in the background (anything to keep the boredom at bay, I suppose).  He did some dance moves with Manu Adebayor, and then he was pushed out by several of his teammates because they – and the crowd – wanted to hear from Marcelo.

Marcelo’s speech caused the entire team to crack up, especially Pepe and Manu, who had to find support on Cristiano, and even Marcelo himself found himself hilarious.

After Marcelo finished, he tried to pass the microphone on, but no one would take it.  Finally, Sergio did.

After that, the players posed for a team photo.  Marcelo couldn’t keep a straight face through that either, and at one point held up the plaque in front of his face to hide his laughter.

Comunidad de Madrid

The next stop was the site of the government of the community of Madrid, where they were welcomed by the community president Esperanza Aguirre.  She also received a mini replica of the Copa and a signed shirt.  The team went out onto the balcony overlooking the Puerta del Sol to present the Cup to the 6,000 or so people waiting down below.  Iker told them, “this Cup is also yours and we promise to return next year.  It wouldn’t be the same without your support.”  Sergio said, “thank you for being here with us.  We had a lot of hopes pinned on this title and we achieved it.”  This was where he also joked that he was holding on tightly to the Cup so that it wouldn’t fall again.  The crowd wanted Cristiano to say something as well, so when he took the microphone, he said, “we won the Cup for you all and we hope to win more next year.”  In the midst of that, Marcelo started singing “campeones, campeones oé oé oé” and the crowd joined in.  Marcelino also did some beatbox for a few seconds.

Check out Ozi and Sergio laughing behind Iker, and Antonio helping out Iker with the flag!

The flags were both a source of annoyance and amusement.

It nearly became The Marcelo Show at Sol as well!

Inside, something frightened Mesut and he grabbed a hold of the nearest thing he could find, which was Pipita Higuaín’s thigh, whose reaction was priceless (they were watching a video tribute).  Meanwhile, Jerzy Dudek was bored by the video and decided to sneak a peek at his mobile phone instead.

The players also signed a book for illustrious visitors.  Did you know that Ángel di María and Mesut Özil are the only left-handers that we have?

La Almudena

The team then headed to the cathedral to present the Cup and a floral offering to the patron saint of the city of Madrid.  They were received by the archbishop of the city, who gave each of the players a small religious gift and officiated a mass (Marcelo cracked up in the middle and spent the rest of the time with his head down, unable to keep a straight face.  It didn’t help that Cris and Pepe were right next to him).  The players also were subjected to listening to the hymn of La Almudena, and their faces said everything.

And though Sergio didn’t drop the Cup, he did make a little error.  He originally tweeted that the team was now heading to “La Inmaculada,” instead of “La Almudena,” and so later he wrote another tweet correcting himself (“Almudena… jejeje”), and then he deleted both of them.  He also joked in the original tweet that “the Cup is in safe hands.”

Other things

It was also widely reported that many of the players were upset that the celebration was taking place now, three weeks after winning the Copa, and on their off day.  Many of them had long faces and a desire that the acts would finish as soon as possible.  It was also interesting to note that while all of them were wearing their official team suit, many of them decided to pair the suits with sneakers, making for some odd combinations.  The absences from this celebration were MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín, Juanfran and David Mateos.

SLQH

La Sexta’s TV program SLQH (Sé lo que hicisteis) followed the players around yesterday.  As I find their way of reporting and their reporters extremely annoying, I was happy to see José Mourinho completely ignoring Paula Prendes.  Mesut Özil did the same, and even gave a bit of side eye, although that was probably because he had no idea what was going on (thanks Chori!).  Watch the entire video here.

The Xabi Alonso pose section.™

I can watch Xabi capping the pen over and over again.  It’s mesmerizing.

Bonus Esteban Granero.

Because he just looks so cool in those sunglasses.

The Iker profile appreciation section.

I need to start an appreciation society for those smile lines too.