… but more on the superficial side in today’s post, due to a lack of serious news. [By the way, I promise I’ll get around to replying to all the emails you’ve sent, please don’t think I’ll never respond, it’s just that my life and these blogs keep me quite busy!]
She’ll be back!: Álvaro Arbeloa took advantage of his stay in Valencia (for Raúl Albiol’s wedding) to visit the studios of the radio program ¡Anda Ya!. They interviewed him, and asked him where he got the idea to play a prank on his grandmother Soledad. Álvaro said he was talking to San Bernardino while in Monaco for the F1, and they were talking about doing that to someone, and Álvaro had the father of a friend in mind. But he said it was too complicated, because you don’t know how people are going to react, especially when it’s aired, so he thought about his grandmother, because they’ve played jokes on her before.
He says once, he told her to go to El Corte Inglés (the biggest department store chain in Spain) and buy any jacket that she wants, that he and his brothers would pay, and she was waiting there and they didn’t show up. Since he and San Bernardino are both going to be testigos in Raúl’s wedding, they suggest playing a prank on the bride, and Álvaro is quick to squash that idea, saying she’s not up for any joking around (I did think Alicia looked very tense the whole time).
He really can’t help himself; he has to pose like this or the world will collapse.
They ask him if he really loves his grandmother, and he says yes. The other presenters on the show talk about how loyal she is to her grandson (whatever team he goes to, that’s her team), how much she defends him and what a character she is. Álvaro says she’s seen her Facebook fan page and she loves it, but he’s worried that the fame will go to her head and she’ll forget about him! They joke about how next season, his jersey is going to read “Soledad’s grandson.” They also asked about his mother’s reaction (Soledad is his maternal grandmother) and he said she thought it was great. He also said some of his teammates have heard this joke, and they laughed a lot.
Álvaro also announced a new joke for this week that could “surpass the last one” involving his grandmother, and also his mother. Yay!!!
Laugh of the day: Shakira, during a meeting with Israeli president Simon Peres in Jerusalem, said “I would like a world that functions like Barça does. In this way, we can win the game against discrimination.” I don’t even know where to start with that statement, so I won’t even try. And I dislike it when women change themselves because of who they’re dating, like Shakira, who’s suddenly become Barcelona’s biggest fan and is pretending she’s always been like that, when everyone knows she was a madridista before she started going out with Gerard Piqué.
More consolidation: according to AS, José Mourinho is going to take control over the cantera as well. The theoretical head of La Fábrica, Ramón Martínez, looks likely to be on his way out, because Mou is making all the decisions now, along with JAS. It probably doesn’t help that Martínez is a protege of Valdano… In his first interview with AS after assuming Madrid’s coaching position, Mou said, “I want to make a canterano into a star.” And it looks like that is exactly what he will be doing.
But it won’t be Mateos: Madrid told David Mateos’ agent that in principle, he isn’t part of Mou’s plans for this season and so he can search for an alternate team. Madrid has offered to loan him out or to transfer him with an option to buy. If they loan him out, they prefer for him to go to a Liga team.
We have a rival: Galatasaray will be Madrid’s opponent in the Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu on Aug. 24.
Magazine appearances: Iker and Sara are on the cover of this week’s ¡Hola! magazine, with pictures from their vacation in Brazil inside. Looking at the cover, we can observe that Iker waxes his chest, and that Sara actually does own a pair of flat shoes. But I supposed she would have looked a bit silly wearing her usual high heels on the beach. She’s also about three shades darker than her boyfriend. I love Iker in his sunglasses, but not Sara in hers. They do nothing for her. Inside, there are pictures of Sara and Iker posing on a beach – well pretending to be natural, but in reality posing. Iker stares at Sara’s (mostly non-existent) ass (her facing the other way would have made much more sense, no?), they play in the water, Sara puts sunblock on Iker… I never thought Iker would consent to posing for a gossip magazine with his girlfriend (that was one of the things I loved about him, his aversion to speaking and showing off his private life). He’s changed. [If I’m wrong about the photos, then I do apologize. Contrary to what you may think, I don’t hate Sara, I merely dislike her, not because she’s with Iker (and Iker does seem to be very happy with her, so how can anyone dislike her in that sense?), but because she seems to lack a bit of tact, which has at times affected Real Madrid, and you know how I feel about the club.]
Back to the cover. If you care to read the small print all the way at the bottom, you’ll also notice that this issue features pictures from Raúl and Alicia’s wedding. Speaking of Raúl and Alicia, they make an appearance in GQ Spain’s July-August edition. They’re interviewed during their bachelor parties, where Raúl presumably wore that pair of very tight pants. Watch a making of video here. Raúl says in the video, he was excited to do this photo shoot with his girl, that they’ve been together for a while and have two girls. He also says everyone on Real Madrid is “normal,” and Mou is with the players to death, which is “fundamental,” so he hopes he continues for many years. Alicia looks good (but not as good as Nagore did for Vogue), though I hate the blue-gray eye shadow.
I’ll try and post the content of both magazines, or if you see it, send it over, since digital versions are always much clearer than a scanned original.
Juanín will be jealous: Esteban Granero just tweeted how his friend Edu Vilas got him an autographed copy of Haruki Murakami’s latest novel. Vintage Granero.
