So, international week is mostly over, and so hopefully, the next time we see our favorite boys will be when they’re shirtless on the beach! In the meantime, here’s the rest of the news that I thought was worthy of sharing (and Mou in Qatar is not one of them).
My heart is about to burst: a couple more moments from the Corazón Classic match.
Some of my favorite recent former madridistas. Of course, we still get to see a lot of Aitor Karanka, in his role as assistant to Mou, a lot of Zidane due to his work with the first team, and a fair share of El Moro, because he’s now a TV commentator. Other than the occasional visit to the Bernabéu, we don’t get to see much of Fernando Redondo, and so that’s why I was so excited to see him. He really does look exactly the same, as do the other three.
This locker room… wow.
Apparently, the older one gets and the less influence he has from other footballers, the simpler and more refined his tastes get. Zidane is an exception, because he’s French, and Chendo is as well, because he does spend a lot of time with the current players.
Agustín Herrerín was there to greet the players, the same way he has during his more than fifty years of service with the club. His hug with Luis Figo was especially emotional: as we can see, Agustín’s eyes lit up when he saw Luis, and then they hugged. Agustín then said something which made Luis laugh, and Luis kissed him on the forehead. Adorable, and so touching.
And here’s Agustín hugging Rubén de la Red. Since he has been around for a long time, he knew all of the players that played in this game. I really hope Agustín writes a book about his experiences when he retires.
I bet if Juanito were still alive, he’d be playing in this game too. It was great that the fans remembered him in this veterans game.
By the time the last Madrid player came out, the line had gotten so long that I feared some of them wouldn’t make it to the end.
A couple more pictures of Fernando and his lovely hair.
El capi. He looked so proud and happy, no? Rubén said that Fernando Redondo is one of his references, so I wonder if the choice of the similar hairstyle was deliberate.
And finally, Mou. I would have loved it if he had heckled Aitor Karanka while he was playing.
The final tally from the Corazón Classic match: more than €500,000 was raised from the match, between tickets sales, donations from sponsors and TV rights. Seventeen countries in Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Togo, Angola, Mozambique, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Egypt, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Mali) will benefit, as the Realmadrid Foundation will open 20 schools for 5,000 children.
P.S. No time to do gifs from this game, sorry!
Changes are needed: an interesting and slightly saddening article from Marca: six players from the Real Madrid B team from the 2004-05 season that achieved promotion to the second division has debuted with the national team: Diego López, Álvaro Arbeloa, Rubén de la Red, Álvaro Negredo, Roberto Soldado and Borja Valero, who got there just last Saturday. The sad part is that not one of them achieved this as a Real Madrid player, and that only Álvaro Arbeloa is still playing for Madrid, although he had to go to Deportivo and Liverpool to prove his worth. And of course, Rubén de la Red is an exception.
Nine Madrid canteranos have debuted with the national team since Aug. 18, 2004, when Luis Aragonés took over. And like before, none of the nine made his debut while a Madrid player. The other three are Luis García, Miguel Ángel Ferrer (Mista) and (por favor) Juan Mata.
Speaking of canteranos: here are a few more shots from the Madrid peñas event on Sunday, concretely all of our canteranos.
Eight of our teams won their divisions this season: Juvenil A, B and C; Cadete A and B; Infantil A; and Benjamín A and B. Madrid’s youtube page provided a video, which they described as “the day of Madridista celebration at Valdebabes. Freudian slip, or RMTV is in serious need of an editor?
Por fin: according to Marca, UEFA will send to Madrid sometime this week an official and complete report explaining why José Mourinho has been sanctioned for five games and fined €50,000. Once the club receives this report, it will have 72 hours to elaborate and present its appeal to the relevant committee. Only after this meeting is convened and the verdict released will Madrid have the right to appeal to the TAS, as Mou has said he wants to do.
I love it: Álvaro Arbeloa made fun of Esteban Granero’s taste in music in this tweet.
International update: Spain beat Venezuela 3-0 in yesterday’s friendly; Xabi scored a goal and Álvaro Arbeloa, Raúl Albiol and Iker also played. Meanwhile, Mesut Özil also scored a goal in Germany’s 3-1 victory against Azerbaijan. The only international game left this week is France’s against Poland this Thursday.