If things were to have gone as scheduled today, right now I would be finalizing my plan to run onto the field at some point during tonight’s scheduled game to rip off Javi Martínez (!!!) and Iker’s shirts (Iker’s undershirt included). But since there’s no first division football this weekend, those plans went out the window. Luckily, we still had Segunda División B league football, and Castilla didn’t disappoint as they beat Sporting B 1-0 behind a goal by José Luis Sanmartín Mato, who scored right after Jesús stopped a penalty.
Nacho is the new captain, following the departure of Fran Rico. José Mourinho, Rui Faria and Aitor Karanka were all present at the Alfredo di Stéfano to watch the boys play. And since we’re talking about Castilla, apparently Juan Carlos managed to get David Mateos to open a twitter account! Real Madrid is scheduled to play Zaragoza in the second match-day of the season; hopefully we will be able to watch the game and a reunion between our team and our former canteranos! And it was sweet of Fran Rico to wish his former teammates good luck in this game, no?
On Saturday, Madrid held another session in the afternoon (they’ve changed up their schedule a bit to avoid the midday heat, since it gets very, very hot in Madrid in August, which is why everyone who can flees during that time, though it’s still very hot in the afternoon, in the high-30s yesterday afternoon) as they continued to prepare for Wednesday’s Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu against Galatasaray. Sami Khedira was absent, as he was suffering from the flu, and Mou was also missing those three players that have been injured for some time (I’m tired of typing out their names, so I won’t, and I’m sure you all know who they are), so five canteranos joined the first team. These five were Tomás Mejías, Víctor Merchán, Pedro Mendes and Mandi from Castilla (where was Morata? By virtue of his name, he would have made the cut) and Javier García-Noblejas from RMC. They’ll train again today at 18h.
Do the canteranos not get the option of the sleeveless shirts?
Before the training session, a group of kids aged seven to 10 participating in the World Youth Day 2011 celebrations visited Valdebebas. The kids gave everyone on the first team a pilgrim’s kit, consisting of a polo shirt, a bracelet, a backpack and an official scarf. Rafa makes The Pirate look tiny! And I like how Karim Benzema seemed to think this was like posing for the team photo before matches and put his hand on Carvalho’s thigh.
Over in the Bernabéu, the visitor was Chicago Bulls player Derrick Rose (and his entourage), who was in town for an Adidas event. He took a tour of the stadium, taking pictures in the locker room, on the bench and on the field. He said, “I love Madrid, the food, the people… the Santiago Bernabéu was a place I had to visit. It’s great to be here, it’s spectacular. I’m having a great time learning the history of the stadium and the club.” Apparently, he was very impressed with how well the stadium was preserved. And there was no doubt whatsoever that a picture like this would be how Real Madrid commemorated the visit. Poor Derrick.
Meanwhile, AS reports that Mou’s spokesperson Eladio Paramés told them that, “José is not saying sorry, he knows that he was defending Real Madrid. And that means facing up to the types of verbal aggressions that could happen. He’s only interested in doing his work and helping the club he works in win the most number of titles possible. But when some rivals use dirty methods, he knows that he can’t remain impassive. He doesn’t care what the press says, he only cares with el madridismo thinks… Mourinho works for the biggest club in Spain, the one with the most fans and the most hated one at the same time by its rivals. And he’s going to defend it to the death.”
I still don’t think Mou was right to assault anyone, but we madridistas very much appreciate the fact that someone out there is defending our club “to the death,” standing up for us, and saying the things that we feel. I just wish he had gone about doing it without resorting to physical violence.