In case you missed it – Madrid vs. Barcelona [2011-08-14, Supercopa de España ida, 2-2].
The game had everything: golazos, debuts, tension, controversies, passion… everything except a (deserved) win for Real Madrid. But based on this game, the season ahead will be exciting, as will the vuelta game at the Camp Nou on Wednesday at 23h. The atmosphere at the Bernabéu was electric; it was like last year’s Champions League semifinals – and this was a game held at the height of summer, for a summer tournament, and with Monday a holiday throughout Madrid (and Spain).
ONE. Xabi was the total boss out there (pero muy, muy, MUY jefe), whether he was doing his runway walk off the field, or giving the referee and Dani Alves a piece of his mind. I love how he tapped Alves on the chest. A captain without an armband. More Xabi later, in the The Xabi Alonso pose section™, which makes its return to this blog for this new season.
TWO. Iker was also looking quite boss. I absolutely adore these two moments before the game, with Iker stretching, speaking to his mascot, and receiving a kiss from Álvaro Arbeloa.
THREE. Pre-game things: I love the pre-game video the stadium shows set to “Nessun dorma” (though they are hardly the first ones in football to use it), which ends with Sergio celebrating. The song sounds fabulous coming from the Bernabéu’s sound system. Another song that sounds fabulous is Madrid’s centennial hymn, though for some reason on Sunday night, the two teams had to stand around for about 100 seconds, not knowing what to do, waiting for it to finish playing. Cris decided to vibrate.
This pre-game photo is adorable for Karim’s big smile, Marcelo’s sort of idiotic expression, Mesut’s deer caught in the headlights look and Cris’ kissy face.
We also saw some of the new numbers: Khedira wore the “6,” Mesut the “10” and later on, Coentrão came out in the “15.” Prior to the game, the teams observed a moment of silence, and Real Madrid wore black armbands, for the death of Idoia Santamaría, the daughter of Real Madrid director Gumersindo Santamaría. And the shirts had information about the game printed right below the escudos: Supercopa de España final / Real Madrid CF – FC Barcelona / Santiago Bernabéu stadium, Aug. 14, 2011.
Our captains had their very handsome game faces on.
It was unusual that both captains were goalkeepers, but that was the case in this game with Iker and Valdés. Seeing that Valdés was the captain that night, I can forgive him for constantly running out of the goal to protest.
FOUR. The goals. Both were beauties that came off of great passes, no? And both left Víctor Valdés with a pissed off expression on his face, much like Iker’s when he received his two goals.
The celebrations were great as well. We saw Mesut lowering his head, as he probably knew his teammates would aim for his head in their celebration. Mou also celebrated the goal, while the entire bench leapt to their feet, along with the rest of the stadium.
Xabi’s hair was also messed up after the goal celebration. And he and Mesut also did a “turkey,” although who knows if that was their intention.
FIVE. Here are some examples of how Barcelona played the game. On one play, David Villa intentionally bumped into Iker Casillas, preventing him from playing a long ball down the field, since Barcelona’s defense was probably not prepared. And on another, Barcelona’s players pushed Madrid’s players away when they tried to see how Alves was…
… that was because on that play, Pepe tripped up Dani Alves. There was contact, and Pepe probably deserved a card. Alves’ reaction was no surprise. He – wait for it – fell to the ground, while the crowd protested his action, as everyone remembered what had happened the last time these two players tangled. And as you can see below, he started off by grabbing his shin, then his focus shifted to his ankle (make up your mind, will you?). It soon became clear that he was merely acting because seconds later, he was sprinting down the field and sliding around.
After the game, Sergio said – I love this quote, so I’m going to put it as a block quote:
It makes me mad that Alves tarnishes football with the spectacle that he’s provided.
Go Sergio!
SIX. What a bench we have – talented and handsome, coaches included.
SEVEN. Prior to the game, the bus carrying Barcelona’s directors had rocks thrown at it when it arrived at the Bernabéu. One of the rocks smashed a window and hit one of the directors, though he was able to walk off the bus by himself. During the game, Shakira got called names when Piqué was warming up, and racist noises were made at Dani Alves, who despite his actions, does not deserve this, nor does anyone. I wish this type of behavior would stop. Nothing good comes out of it and it gives our fans a bad name. And check out the scare that Pep Guardiola got in the press room, when a light exploded. I’m sure there will be some not so smart people out there who will really believe that evil Madrid is trying to assassinate him or something.
EIGHT. Sergio’s hair looked amazing (soft, shiny and sleek), and we saw at the end of the game that he’s not great at multi-tasking, as he showed he couldn’t hold his boots and clap at the same time.
NINE. Marcelo looks adorable even when he’s mad, no?
TEN. Despite the bitter rivalry between these two teams, there were some touching cross-team moments. Taking advantage of the stopped play (Eric Abidal was down), the players re-hydrated, with Alves and Cristiano Ronaldo sharing a water bottle (as they could probably commiserate with how hot and humid it was out there). And Andrés Iniesta and José Callejón shared a hug. José’s previous club Espanyol and Andrés of course have a very strong friendship.
Prior to the game, country teammates Leo Messi and Ángel di María had hugged, as had Eric Abidal and Karim Benzema. After the game, Leo and Pipita walked off the field arm in arm. I love these types of scenes. And Xabi, Iker, Xavi and Valdés – the captains and La Roja members out there – spoke a bit on the field after the final whistle blew.
ELEVEN. Some banana Iker for you. This is how Iker celebrated Xabi Alonso’s goal.
TWELVE. The Bernabéu was really behind Mou, including the several occasions when he became a ball boy. He got ovations for that.
THIRTEEN. After the game, Xabi said, “the result is not the best, but it’s not the worst either. The sensations are good and the result is not what we deserved. Now there are three days left to get the best result possible. I don’t care who’s the favorite. It’s a title and we want to win it. We know how to play in order to get it.” Cris was optimistic about Wednesday’s game, and said regarding the play when he got tangled up with Valdés in the area, “it was a penalty, but you have to respect the decisions of the referees.” José Callejón, who had made his debut, told us what Mou said to him before he checked in: “he told me to play as I had been during the pre-season and to not get nervous.” And Sergio thought Madrid’s play was superior to that of the last few years.
And Xavi said that they deserved to win and football triumphed. Oh wait… he didn’t actually say that, but I’m so used to him saying that regardless of who actually won, how the teams actually played and what actually happened that I just typed it out automatically. Sorry Xavi.
Anyway, the post-game interviews also showed us some of the questionable stylings of our boys. Iker wore an old, plain, shapeless white shirt that looks like it could be from 1999, Sergio opted for something truly awful by Christian Audigier, and Karim showed up in a shirt with a checked collar. It’s probably LV, which says it all.
On the plus side, Iker’s smile lines are still amazing!
FOURTEEN. The Xabi Alonso pose section.™
As stated previously, Xabi was a boss and a captain out there, even mediating between Sergio Ramos and Sami Khedira when they got into a discussion. And as you can see, the posing started early, continued through the game, culminating in Xabi’s little gesture of disgust when Coentrão got a card.
The game had ended, but Xabi still had a few more poses in his bag, which he pulled out during the post-game interviews.
FIFTEEN. The Mou/Karanka corner.
Apparently Mou was really pissed off at the refereeing, so he tasked Aitor Karanka with speaking to the press after the game (Aitor said the reason was the “dynamics of work” and that there wasn’t any special reason why Mou was absent). Our assistant coach said they were happy with the team’s performance, that the team is better than last year, though they were left with a bittersweet taste. When asked if they still believe that the referees harm Madrid, Karanka responded, “Madrid has improved compared to last year. But there are things that haven’t changed. So we’ll continue working on our thing.” Aitor also mentioned MFC ABMM by name as one of the “boys” who have the possibility of joining the team once in a while, and said that Mou had spoken with the players after the game to thank them for their effort.
SIXTEEN. Other things.
– MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín tweeted that “sunflower seeds, popcorn, Coke! Everything ready to watch the clásico, let’s go Madrid!!!!” and “how good is Benzema, and how Özil defines, hala Madrid!!!!!!” Adorable!!!!!!
– the two descartes from this game were Jesús and Raúl Albiol, so they watched the game from the stands.
– VDB was there, along with members of Spanish national basketball team (the other La Roja), who watched the game from a VIP box. This was Serge Ikea Ibaka’s first Madrid-Barça game, and he had no preference. The Barça supporters included the Gasol brothers, Juan Carlos Navarro (simply because he plays for Barcelona, as he doesn’t like football), Víctor Sada, Víctor Claver (though his preference is Valencia) and Ricky Rubio. The Madrid fans included our very own Felipe Reyes, Carlos Suárez and Sergio Llull, as well as Fernando San Emeterio and José Calderón. Head coach Sergio Scariolo is an Inter fan, but also a Madrid socio, as he used to coach Madrid.
– when I watched the game again for this recap, I saw that former Valencia/Barcelona player Gerard López was one of the commentators. Remember him? I remember him and Iker as being the original national team bromance back in the 2000 edition of the Euro. They were so cute together. And prior to that, Gerard had played against Madrid in the 2000 Champions League final. What a game that was.
SEVENTEEN. Looking ahead: the team was back in training on Monday afternoon, but this time at Valdebebas. The starters had a recovery session (with Iker not wearing the goalkeeper’s shirt and shorts for once), while the other players trained at a higher intensity. Castilla’s Tomás Mejías, Álex, Nacho and ABMM trained with the first team, while Esteban Granero and Nuri Sahin continued with their recovery work.
Today, the team will train at 19h, the list of players called up for tomorrow’s vuelta game will be announced, Aitor Karanka (no Mou again) will speak to the press and then the team will travel to Barcelona, with the flight leaving Barajas around 22h. In Barcelona, they’ll be staying at the Juan Carlos I Hotel. The game will be on Wednesday night at 23h at the Camp Nou.