news to take you into the weekend…

Iker in Chile, Karim in Ibiza, Kaká in Disney World, Guti on TV and more…

The world tour continues: Iker was in Chile these past few days, where he met with the first lady.  She got a pair of gloves that Iker used in the 2010 World Cup (and appears to be saying, “Praise San Iker!”), although Iker joked that, “I don’t know if these gloves bring good memories for the Chileans,” since of course Spain beat Chile on their way to the trophy.  He said the two of them exchanged many ideas and opinions on the future of children.  Iker also helped to promote Cecilia Morel’s healthy eating program, and held a football clinic.

The latest on Cristiano: the baptism of Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. took place in Lisbon today, and apparently the godparents were Papá’s sister Cátia and his agent Jorge Mendes.  Cris is scheduled to travel to Istanbul tomorrow at the invitation of Besiktas’s multi-millionaire president, who has signed Cris on to promote some of his businesses, including a gas company.  He’s good friends with Jorge Mendes, which explains the connection.  After that, Cris will spend some time in holiday resort Bodrum, where he’ll probably work on his tan.

How kind of them: UEFA has decided not to interrupt José Mourinho’s vacation by making him testify in the middle of it.  They’ve delayed his appearance before the appeals committee from June 30 to July 29 (at nine in the morning in Nyon), which means Mou will go there between the friendly in Germany and the friendly in England.  Mou isn’t on vacation yet, he’s been going to the Bernabéu every day for work.

Learn a lesson already: Karim Benzema was fined €250 for reckless driving in Ibiza, after police stopped his Porsche early Wednesday morning.  The Porsche and two other cars were racing and driving dangerously, so the police set up a blockade.  Karim paid the fine right then and there in cash.  Witnesses say those three cars were also driving very quickly in another area earlier that night.  Karim, don’t you ever learn?  You and driving fast don’t mix!

“Just in case:”  Guti’s been back in Spain for a while, and is making the rounds.  He was on “El Hormiguero” earlier this week (wearing black nail polish and the bright green pants), and he was also in news because he got a tattoo of the letters “Noe,” for his on/off girlfriend Noelia López, since they’re on at the moment (she had said several months back that they weren’t talking and she didn’t ever want to hear about him again) and have been spending time in Ibiza.  Despite getting inked, Guti said he made the tattoo very small, “just in case” and added that he doesn’t know how many tattoos he has, but he does have the names of his kids, his parents, his girl and God.  They also talk to a woman who basically has Guti’s entire career tattooed on one arm.

Guti also showed off the “five words” of Turkish that he knows, the ones for “good day,” “left,” “right” “free” and “alone,” and said he watched a lot of “strange” Turkish TV programs during his first months there, since he was in a hotel, and he didn’t understand anything.  Watch the program here, here and here.

He also told TVE’s “La Mañana” that he will retire in Besiktas, and that he will never return to Madrid, even if they call him.  He believed that for both him and Raúl, “it was the time to leave, the cycle had ended and when it ends you have to accept it.”

I got nostalgic for Roberto Carlos the other day, and now it’s time for me to have the same feelings for Guti, especially when they showed his taconazo and he said he and Karim have always understood each other very well on the field.

Kaká & Mickey: meanwhile, Kaká was in Disney World earlier this week, in advance of the Disney Cup International Youth Soccer Tournament, where more than 200 teams from more than 16 countries will participate.  He played a bit of American football, and was pretty good at it!  The American football players weren’t as good at football (soccer).

Kaká also told reporters that he wants to stay and triumph in Madrid, that he hopes to play in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and that he and his wife love Disney World, and now that he has two small kids, he’s going to be back every year.

And don’t forget… Raúl Albiol got married today, and Álvaro and Carlota were there!  Apparently ¡Hola! has the exclusive, so we’ll get to see pictures soon!

The latest on the summer tour:  Mou will take Tomás Mejías and Jesús Fernández on the American tour to accompany Iker and Antonio Adán.  Mou is deciding whether to have Mejías ascend to the first team, whether to have him alternate between Madrid and Castilla, or to have Mejías and Jesús alternate between trips and games with the first team.  Meanwhile, Dani Carvajal, Álex, MFC and Pablo Sarabia probably won’t be with the first team in Los Angeles, as they will be playing the U-19 Euro during those days.  So, the canterano possibilities are, in addition to Juanfran: Nacho, Juan Carlos, Denis and Joselu.

Just declares yourselves kings of the universe already: by now, you’ve probably heard of Sandro Rosell’s statement, where he accused Madrid of anti-sporting behavior and making false accusations, criticized José Mourinho and threatened to take legal action to preserve “clean competition” and to sever relations with Madrid.  He claimed things like, “We were provoked, but we stayed calm” and “Once again, football has put everybody in their place… Our team has come to be admired and recognised everywhere for its marvellous football and the values that represent and define our institution. And the values we represent include dignity and honour.”  Just when everything was finally dying down, and we got to see the La Roja boys back together and looking as if they get along, Rosell has open his big mouth again.

This was my reaction.

And I’m flattered that Barcelona pays so much attention to us in a season when they won two big titles.  There’s a lot more, but I already laughed enough yesterday, and so I won’t write anymore about it, though I have to say, it really does appear that Sandro hired Xavi to be his speechwriter!

Madrid’s response was a much shorter (thank goodness) statement defending themselves against some of the accusations, and saying they would work to continue to have good relations with Barcelona.  I would have preferred for them to just ignore the whole Barcelona statement, just so that this whole soap opera will end once and for all.