Our team continued preparing for Sunday’s Supercopa de España first leg, and the big news for today is that fans in Madrid will at last get to see their team – for the first time this pre-season – at an open training session and at the Bernabéu, both of which are quite unusual.
I expect more people to be in the stadium this afternoon.
The 10 international players were back in Thursday’s afternoon training session, joining their eight first team teammates and eight canteranos (Mejías, Jesús, Nacho, Álex, MFC from Castilla and Iván Sáez, Diego and Carmona from Juvenil A). Sergio Ramos was absent, as he’s still following his specific plan to recover from his back pains, as were Nuri Sahin and Esteban Granero.
Discussing football tactics or gossiping?
And on Friday, the team once again trained at Valdebebas, but this time with Sergio Ramos. He re-joined the group, working out at the same pace (with positive sensations), so it appears we’ll get to see him play in the Supercopa. At the session were 19 first team footballers and five Castilla players: the Fernández brothers, Nacho and Álex; the third Fernández – Jesús; MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín; and Tomás Mejías. Meanwhile, Esteban Granero and Nuri Sahin continued with their recovery work.
Shortly after this moment on the left, Sergio proceeded to squeeze Mesut’s biceps. Watch it here. If you saw Nacho and Álex without knowing anything about them, would you be able to tell that they are brothers?
Today, Saturday, the fans in Madrid at last get what fans in the United States or China have: an open training session – at the Bernabéu, no less – and a press conference by José Mourinho. It’s about time! The training session will begin at 19h, and will be free for fans, who can start entering the stadium from 18:15h through any of the gates on the lateral oeste (on the Paseo de la Castellana). Socios get their own entrance, at gate 44, though they will have to show their socio card. Following the training session, Mou will speak to the press from the press room in the stadium.
“A”s all around – andaluces and the A team.
The last time Madrid had an open training session for the fans and the press was Dec. 30, 2010 at Valdebebas, during the Christmas holidays. And the last time Mou spoke at a press conference at the Bernabéu was April 30, 105 days ago, after the game against Zaragoza. Shortly after, UEFA handed down their sentence of a five-game suspension and fine for his remarks after the CL game against Barcelona, and Mou stayed silent for the rest of the season. Now that that issue is over, Mou can begin speaking to the press again.
Iker wrote on his FB yesterday that “tomorrow, the training session of the team is in the Santiago Bernabéu starting at 19h to prepare for the first leg of the Supercopa de España. The news is that it’s an open session!!!!!! Those suffering from the heat in Madrid who are fans can come to watch it!!! A hug, people! Enjoy!” [His use of exclamation marks has been faithfully reproduced.] Meanwhile, Álvaro Arbeloa and Sergio Ramos tweeted that they were expecting to see everyone there.
And some random things:
Cristiano tweeted this photo several days ago. I love the contrast between the brazen way Cris is sitting and the demure way Pepe is sitting, as well as how Pepe has his arm around Marcelo Sunshine. And that purple watch! It’s totally Marcelo. Fábio looks a bit timid, as if he’s not sure whether he’s allowed to join the dynamic trio of Cris, Pepe and Marcelo. I’ll just kind of lean towards them…
Cris (and Fábio, indirectly) are also this subject of this video, where Cris puts an ignorant journalist in his place.
And as I had reported earlier, Iker is the new face of the Liga BBVA, and now we see the first video from that collaboration. He, along with Andrés Iniesta, star in this promo, which was just released. The timing is ironic, given Iker’s support for the AFE’s strike which could see the first two jornadas postponed. Iker definitely wore his own jeans during the filming. There’s also a making of video here.