Happy Monday!!
More from Iker: while in Chile, Iker gave an interview to newspaper El Mercurio. I liked many things that our captain said, so here are the highlights from the interview. While Iker was in their offices, he also observed and jokingly complained that there were no female journalists around (perhaps paving the way for Sara to come out?). The newspaper has great camera persons by the way – they constantly focused on The Profile!
on the pressure cooker that is Real Madrid: there’s no patience here, you have to win everything immediately.
on his experience with Manuel Pellegrini (remember, Pellegrino’s Chilean, so this is an obligatory question; they also of course asked about Iván Zamorano): they were very unjust with him, especially the press, who blamed him for everything that happened. And it didn’t have to be like that. He did very well in Villarreal. But in Madrid, perhaps the biggest stumbling block was the elimination against Alcorcón. However, the players were more responsible than the coach. [Several of you think it’s silly of me to dislike Kaká’s wife for that twitter episode, but I am the type of madridista that puts the club and the values that it should have above all players. Manuel Pellegrini was already getting blamed for everything at that point, and a lot of it wasn’t his fault, so the last thing he needed was this type of commentary, for doing the right thing – Kaká really was playing horribly. Plus, I didn’t like that Carol lied about it after, when everyone saw her twitter.] I spoke with him after he returned to Spain with Málaga, I wish him the best and I’m happy he saved them from relegation.
on the best player in the world: I believe there are two: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo [cue the drama, round 16 or so].
on the Spanish national team winning the World Cup: I felt relief and satisfaction lifting the Cup, because it was always very frustrating in Spanish football, I felt like a weight had been lifted.
on Vicente del Bosque: he arrived so humbly. During the first chat we had with him as a team, he congratulated us for winning the Eurocopa, said he’s happy to succeed Luis Aragonés, and told us he wasn’t going to change anything, that he would continue what Luis started.
on his future: I would like to continue in the world of football and with my team, where I’ve been for 20 years, so it will be hard for me to assimilate to life outside of it. I would like to help the younger players that come, with my experience. I like being an example for young people. I hope to keep playing until 2019, by taking care of myself, I have many years ahead of me.
And my favorite answer:
on whether the style of the national team is that of Barça: any person that has followed the national team for a bit has to remember where this style comes from. It’s not from 2010, nor from 2009, but rather 2007 and 2008. And at that time, Barcelona was not the club that predominated or had hegemony in Spanish football. It was Real Madrid. And if we look back, in the Eurocopa final against Germany, there were only Iniesta, Xavi and Puyol from Barcelona, and Sergio Ramos and Casillas from Real Madrid [he called himself Casillas]. It’s alright for Spain’s play to be associated with Barcelona now, because they’ve had great success. But the success of the national team is not just a success for Barcelona, but of all the players that make up the Spanish national team.
Watch the interview here.
Another no: Guti and Besiktas won’t be the guest in the Trofeo Bernabéu either, as they, like Schalke before them, have a Europa League game on Aug. 25. Madrid had contacted the Turkish club after Schalke declined, and negotiations were so advanced that Madrid had already sent over a contract for Besiktas to sign (I’m including this because it’s interesting to see what Besiktas was to receive as the guest, as published by a Turkish paper: 40 economy class plane tickets, two nights in a five-star hotel in Madrid, transportation for the team, sporting material and the president, as well as €150,000).
With these two teams out, Madrid would like a team in the Champions to be their opponent (such as Milan, or Sahin’s former team Borussia Dortmund), the champion of the Copa Libertadores, or a South American team.
Market news: AS reports that FP, JM and José Ángel Sánchez (whom I’ll start referring to as JAS) have decided not to announce any more new signings until they manage to sell or loan out three or four players, or in other words, trim down their squad to the allowed 25. So far, we have five new and not so new players: the signings of Sahin, Altintop, Callejón, and the return of Drenthe and Mateos, in addition to a third goalkeeper (the club has not yet decided whether to give Tomás Mejías a ficha as they did for Adán this past season).
Cantera news: after the disappointment of not seeing any of our current canteranos on the U-21 team currently in the semifinals of the U-21 Euro (we are, however, represented by two former canteranos, Juan Mata and Dani Parejo, who will be teammates at Valencia next year), it appears that we will have four playing in the U-19 Europeo in Romania from July 20 to Aug. 1.
It’s been reported that Julen Lopetegui will call up MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín, Pablo Sarabia, Álex and Dani Carvajal (and hopefully Isco, for more Álex-Isco craziness). This means that these four Castilla players won’t be available for Madrid’s summer camp in the U.S. (July 11-24).
José Rodríguez from Juvenil C was named the best player of the U-17 Club World Cup, even though Madrid lost in the semifinals to Barcelona (who lost in the final to Corinthians). José said, “I’m happy to win this trophy. If it weren’t for my teammates, I wouldn’t have gotten it. We played a great semifinal and it was a shame that the penalty round left us without a final.”
Please do go to the beach together: in an interview with El Mundo, madridista Fernando Verdasco was asked which athlete he’d go on vacation with. His response was, “for friendship, with Feliciano [López, another noted madridista] or with Cristiano. Given that Fernando has modeled underwear for Calvin Klein and Cris has done the same for Armani, the sight of the two of them on the beach together would be absolutely stunning (plus, they’re both dating Sports Illustrated swimsuit models, so guys can have something to look forward to too!).
