After that first post featuring readers’ experiences and photos with Real Madrid in the U.S., I received a lot more, especially from the Philadelphia Union game. So, here are more first hand experiences with the best club in the world, as well as some other things readers felt compelled to send me!
Remember how Álvaro Arbeloa posted this picture on his Facebook and wrote, “NICE BANNER!!! HA HA HA!!!! THANKS A LOT”? Well, reader Weina is the brains behind that poster! Here’s her experience. She wanted to make a poster for Álvaro “because he never gets any attention. So I decided to do a poster saying ‘Twitter King.'” She gave her friend a picture, and her friend made the poster (above).
While waiting outside the team hotel, “I noticed Mou looking at the poster and grinning, then Rui who sat next to him kept looking at it as well. Zizou looked at it and laughed. I guess the reason why everyone liked the poster was because they all know how addicted Arbeloa is with Twitter… when the players got on to the bus, Albiol actually came back to the front of the bus just to look at the poster.” And the story gets better: at the game, Albiol recognized the girls, and he grabbed Sergio to make him look at the poster.
When Álvaro was subbed out, he headed to the locker room instead of the bench, so Weina held up her poster and her friend yelled “Arbeloa!!!” because Weina was too shy to do it herself. That got Álvaro’s attention, and when he saw the poster, he winked at Weina, pulled off his jersey and asked if she wanted it. He then went back to the locker room and one of the staff members came back with it for Weina. What a great guy, no?
She also told me some of her other observations: “Mou didn’t react at all when the fans sang ~José Mourinho~ or when they held up a jersey with Mourinho on it. But as soon as I held up the poster I made for Arbeloa, he smiled right away and told everybody around him to look at it. Rui Faria looked so young in person, he kept smiling at everybody. Aitor and Zizou were both so good-looking in person. And Sergio, like we all know he would, winked at everybody while getting on the bus. The canteranos were so cute as well, but most American fans didn’t even know their names.”
Sanna has contributed her experience and pictures from the Union game. Go to her blog post about the game here to find out more about the back of Zidane’s head, Kaká’s beauty in person, snapping pictures of the perfect profile, the lover’s quarrel between Coentrão and Marcelo, and why she would be the perfect Real Madrid photographer (hint).
She also got this cute video of Kaká and Marcelo dancing.
See more of Sanna’s pictures here.
Reader Black Widow sends her pictures from the Union game; view them here. She says, “I make absolutely no apologies for the heavy Iker bias… though I have to say, the poor thing looked SO uncomfortable and so hot, even though he didn’t have much to do during the first half. I wasn’t at all surprised when practically the entire starting XI were subbed out at half-time. I mean, they would have been anyway, as it’s a friendly and the whole point is to get as many players to get field time as possible, but even if it weren’t, he looked dehydrated (he walked to the side of the pitch and Antonio threw him a bottle of water right at the end of the half and he drank the whole thing in one gulp) and so sticky and unhappy. I didn’t see him for the entire second half, not on the bench (I was looking!) or Sergio, either, so I wonder if they just stayed off the pitch … the heat truly was oppressive.”
Danya and her boyfriend Rich send in their “madridista” shots. I love how “boss” Xabi and XIT looked as they lined up before the game, and the glimpses of Marcelo’s tattoos!
Mandi and sister say, “we were both sweating our butts off so I can’t imagine how the players were feeling.” Judging by these pictures, Xabi felt boss and in charge (plus, since he’s almost a professional model, the conditions don’t really bother him), Marcelo felt playful and Zidane felt elegant.
Cisarovna says, “I was able to go to the game in Philadelphia, and it was so much fun, although the weather was disgustingly hot and humid. I did have fun taking pictures of Xabi posing, although in the end he looks like he has only one leg! What I really did not understand was why Iker warmed up in a long sleeved jersey, pants and had his socks hiked up. It was so hot that you would be sweating in 30 seconds even if you were in the nude, but he didn’t even push up his sleeves or push down his socks. A small detail I thought you would like, in addition to the zillions of CR jerseys, I saw a Van Nistelrooy jersey and also one for Van der Vaart.”
Cammy (real name María) sends more impressions from the pre-season training camp at UCLA. She says, “Iker deserves to be called San Iker for being so nice to the fans. Nacho, Jesús, Tomás, Callejón and Joselu are all so nice… Every time you mention getting Iker to take off his jersey I smile because at UCLA he could not wait to give that yellow jersey away. Twice he took off his jersey in front of me (he was wearing inner armour, BOOO!) to give to a disabled fan. The other time was their last day in LA and a fan asked for his practice jersey and he lifted his shirt to show that he was not wearing armour so he cannot give it away. My favorite Xabi didn’t give his jersey away that I know of. Sergio, Pepe and Arbeloa were more giving of the jerseys.” She also says that Sergio has “such a sexy voice,” that Pepe “was also very nice, with always a smile on his face,” and that Xabi recognized her from a previous encounter!
Alice sends in this Özil picture and proposes a “NemÖzil” section because “I love Mesut and his Nemo looking eyes are just too adorable.”
Lexi’s contribution takes the form of this cartoon picture of Kaká and his family that someone turned into a jigsaw puzzle, which she found “extremely cute.”
