ICYMI – the good edition

In case you missed it – Real Madrid vs. Barcelona [2011-08-17, Supercopa vuelta, 2-3].

First of all, congratulations to Barcelona for winning the Supercopa; Messi is an incredible player.  With that said, Madrid played an excellent game, and this season will be exciting, if there’s football that is.  I can’t believe I won’t get my share of Basque men/men with Basque names this weekend!  But anyway, here are the good and fun things from the Supercopa second leg game.

ONE.  Prior to the game, Xabi was like a field general, rallying the troops and looking muy jefe while doing so.  He has such a presence, no?

TWO.  Meanwhile, Sergio was running around, and his hair was once again looking fabulous.  I’m jealous of anyone who gets to run their fingers through it.

THREE.  More pre-game scenes: the triple towers of Rafa Varane, Tomy Mejías and MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín make everyone else look tiny!  And things look good for a future ABMM posing section…

FOUR.  And even more pre-game scenes, since this is one of my favorite parts of the game: Iker with his game face on, and Aitor Karanka warming up as well.

FIVE.  In the tunnel, we got a kiss between Sergio and Iker.  I love how Sergio rubbed Iker’s head first!  And for all those people who blamed Raúl Albiol’s foul on David Villa for killing the relationship between the La Roja players, well here’s precisely Raúl Albiol exchanging greetings with Pedro, Busquets and Piqué before the game.  But check out Xavi – he turns his head and sees Raúl there, I’m sure he hears him too, but ignores him.  Despite that, Raúl still gives Xavi a friendly pat on the back, surprising Xavi.  And Xavi calls Madrid’s image pathetic? 

SIX.  And here, we have the one and only Zinedine Zidane looking très elegant in his suit.  He’s not bad at the posing thing either!

SEVEN.  Meanwhile, the halftime brought us these images of our players – Sergio, Xabi, Iker and Ángel di María – being boss.  Xabi, then Iker being boss in the span of several seconds… wow!

EIGHT.  Iker, for some reason, had “I. Casillas” on the back of his jersey instead of his usual “Casillas.”  I like how that sounds, “I, Casillas” (pronounced in English).  And he showed his profile is as beautiful as ever in the post-game interview with TVE.

NINE.  There weren’t too many sunshine moments for Marcelo in this game, but on the bench, his gestures and commentary made Kaká laugh.  Meanwhile, out on the field, Iker was expressing himself.

TEN.  The lighter side of the melee.  Top left: Kaká refusing to join in.  Maybe he was praying.  More players should follow his example.  I’m glad Cris did.  Top right: it looks like Xabi has influenced the team in more ways than one, as many of them, players and staff alike, struck his favorite pose while waiting for things to be sorted out.  Xabi’s in the golden circle because he started it all.  Bottom left: Rafa Varane and Tomás Mejías looked a bit scared.  I bet nothing would have convinced them to get off that bench.  Bottom right: Sergio Ramos and Pinto made up after the game.

ELEVEN.  The most curious image of the fight was “the man with the mustache,” as he has been christened, standing behind José Mourinho and Tito Vilanova, unperturbed by the events.  He soon became a trending topic on twitter as “the one with the mustache,” people started selling t-shirts with his face on it and Facebook pages sprung up, from fan pages to one claiming he’s Borat.  It turns out that this man is Francesc Satorra, who is in charge of the tunnels at the Camp Nou, and has been for more than 30 years.

TWELVE.  Iker, Xabi and Sergio congratulated Barcelona in their post-game statements.  Xabi was very diplomatic, as he explained that he wouldn’t comment on the melee, because he wasn’t able to see everything.  It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again: what a classy guy.  Meanwhile, Sergio asked the fans to forgive the team for not winning the trophy, and said he hopes we’ll continue supporting them.  There’s no need to say that at all, Sergio, especially when you continue doing things like showing off that body.  Just whip off your shirt and all will be forgiven.

THIRTEEN.  I love that Pep Guardiola took the time out to say a few words to Karim Benzema, perhaps congratulate him on his goal.

FOURTEEN.  The Xabi Alonso pose section.™  Love the runway turn!

Ahhh, Xabi’s leg, and Pep’s ass is quite nice too!

FIFTEEN.  Some people may ask why there are madridistas still defending and supporting José Mourinho.  Here’s how I see it.  As I said before, even though I don’t agree with everything he says or does, or how he says or does it, he has no qualms about expressing what many madridistas feel.  It’s been a while since our interests have been so well-defended, and that’s why he does have support from a certain sector of madridistas.  There are others who believe that he has damaged the image of the club with these actions and statements.  While that is true to a certain degree, especially with his finger on Wednesday, everything he does is for the club and the players, we have no doubt about that.  Plus, the team is finally playing well together, and that makes madridistas happy.

SIXTEEN.  According to AS, Real Madrid has admitted that Marcelo’s tackle cannot be justified and that Mourinho made a serious mistake in assaulting Vilanova.  It’s good to see that our club can admit when it’s at fault.

SEVENTEEN.  Other things:

While things were still calm (i.e. before the game), Iker posted a picture of him and “Moratita” and thanked Espanyol for lending their field to Madrid.  MFC makes Iker look tiny and wide!

Iker also posted this video.  It’s the story of a boy who on Aug. 8, 2006, ran onto the field at the Bernabéu to ask for Iker’s jersey.  Today, that kid is also a goalkeeper, with Puertollano, having been inspired by Iker.  Here’s the Marca cover from the next day, which says “Casillas gave out two presents.”  One is of course the jersey, and the other is the goal that Iker allowed, which he mentioned in his post.

As for those players who received red cards, they won’t have to serve their suspension until the next Supercopa, as federation rules were modified last month.  The amended rules says that the suspensions will be served “in the games of the same competition in which the infraction was committed.”

And poor Sergio Canales – he managed to get out of Real Madrid, only to be forced to pose like this with his new club, Valencia.

And, to get my Javi (!!!)/Athletic fix, I watched their Europa League game against Trabzonspor.  You know who plays for Trabzonspor?  Halil Altintop, twin brother of Hamit.  So, I’ve seen more of Halil in one game than I have of Hamit this entire pre-season.  That isn’t right.