Madrid takes on Racing at 20h today in a rare mid-week Liga game. It’s also been a rather rare week for us, starting with the events during the Levante game and culminating in Santander yesterday, where we caught a glimpse of the rarely seen Nuri Sahin and Hamit Altintop. Why were they along for the trip? All that and more in the post…
Ah, so this is what it’s like to be part of the team.
On Monday, Madrid trained at Valdebebas in their first preparatory session for this week’s midweek game against Racing. Twenty first team players took part in the session, along with two canteranos: Tomás Mejías and Iván González. Pepe and Coentrão did not make an appearance, as both finished the game against Levante with injuries. Pepe has a “fibrilar tear on the semimembranosus muscle of the left leg,” while Fábio has a “fibrilar tear on the soleus muscle of the left leg.” They join Nuri Sahin in the sick bay, along with occasional patients Hamit Altintop and Cristiano Ronaldo, who still has pain in his right ankle. That means that Pepe and Coentrão won’t be playing against Racing, and neither will Sami Khedira, as he received a red card against Levante. Anyway, as Sergio tweeted, “there’s no time for regrets, all we can do is continue working.” On Tuesday, there was another closed door training session in the afternoon.
For the first time since he arrived, José Mourinho called up every single one of the players on the first team, and even threw in a canterano, Tomás Mejías, for good measure. Despite being suspended (Khedira) or injured (Pepe, Coentrã0, Sahin, Altintop) or apparently no longer part of Mou’s plans (Granero, Albiol, Callejón), every single player made the trip to Santander. Apparently, this trip is seen as being an opportunity for team building, and to show to the outside that this team is a piña.
Goalkeepers: Iker, Adán, Tomás Mejías.
Defenders: Carvalho, Pepe, Ramos, Coentrão, Arbeloa, Marcelo, Varane, Albiol.
Midfielders: Özil, Xabi Alonso, Callejón, Di María, Khedira, Lass, Kaká, Granero, Sahin, Altintop.
Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, Higuaín.
During his press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Mou had this to say.
on whether he’d feel responsible if the team ends up in a brawl again: I don’t feel responsible. I don’t know if what Khedira can be defined as a brawl. To me, that’s not a brawl. A brawl was what happened, for example, in the Spain-Chile game. You all said that was spectacular, incredible, that it showed the spirit of the team, the tremendous character of the players, that they were like brothers. If Real Madrid does it, then we’re a group of bandits, no? Khedira is very calm, he doesn’t use his strength or his body to fight. He was one of the last people I expected to do this, but he did it and he was sent off, the team lost and on Wednesday he can’t play in Santander. I’m not worried because he won’t do it again, he’s not that type of person. After he finishes his sanction, he’ll be like any other player to me.
on the lack of Spaniards in his line-ups: it’s because I don’t have very many, I only have a few. And because I can’t play Casillas and Adán at the same time, or Sergio Ramos and Arbeloa. It’s also difficult to play with Xabi and Granero at the same time. And we don’t have any more. [Do José Callejón and Raúl Albiol have “x’s” by their names and do not exist to Mou? ¡Joder!]
A hint to the journalists? And/or a preview of Cristiano’s later gesture?
on Cris’ supposed lack of protection from the referees: I don’t have much to say about that, since I already talked about it months ago. I don’t think it’s positive for me to always be talking about the same thing. The referees are there to see and decide. You have to understand why Dinamo ended with 11 and Madrid with 10. Khedira, for a childish action, was sent off. But it’s more important that a Dinamo player left Cristiano practically out of the next game. They’re different competitions and games, but I can’t understand.
on calming down Pepe: I don’t think I can do anything. The referees should be the ones to control the traps and the provocations, to study each player, each team, each stadium. The rest depends on the personality of each player and the control he has over himself.
[I do think that Mou can speak with Pepe about trying to exercise more self-control, no? From what we’ve seen of Pepe off the field, he appears to be a great guy, but on the field, there have been quite a few actions that have made me cringe and bemoan that it was coming from a Real Madrid player. The same goes for Di María and his bad acting – as many of you have pointed out, Mou should have a talk with him too.]
on Sport saying, “don’t ever leave, Mou, since you came to Madrid, they’ve lost titles, their image and their señorío“: thank goodness I wasn’t the coach during the Copa del Rey final, thank goodness.
Madrid flew to Santander yesterday afternoon, where they were greeted by about 100 fans. As they emerged from the terminal, Sergio stopped to sign autographs, and Pipita had his arm around Marcelo, while Iker had his arm around José Callejón. On the tarmac, Iker snapped a photo. I like how he got the backs of Xabi and Alvarito’s head. It must have been right after this moment above. I’m surprised Sergio’s tresses didn’t fly in for the shot – they must know how photogenic they are.
As the team was getting onto their bus, Cristiano Ronaldo was filmed flipping someone off. At the time that it occurred, some people wearing Barcelona scarves were shouting insults at Pepe. The team hastened to explain that the gesture was meant for Pepe, and not those fans. Punto Pelota contracted the service of a lip reader to read what Cristiano was saying at that precise moment. According to the show, Cristiano told Pepe, who was on the receiving end of those insults, “don’t listen to them, screw them,” (in Portuguese) and then he made that gesture.
Later on, at the hotel, Cris did this. For once, that thumbs-up is acceptable, as it’s much better than that previous gesture. However, that winking? It reminds me of that super awkward picture of Manolito Adebayor…
As for the fan session, Pepe and Khedira (I guess they’re allowing the players who will play tomorrow to get some extra rest) signed autographs and posed with pictures with the fans.
I’m looking forward to seeing Adrián!!
Meanwhile, there is a lot of talk going on about what Sami Khedira supposedly felt after the game, a “rebel group” within the team, reactions to Mou’s words from the press conference after the Levante game… do you all want me to address these things? I’ve seen in the past that things always get sticky when you start talking about rumors, but I also think it’s good to be informed of everything that’s being said about the team, so that you can defend it when the occasion comes up. I look back with nostalgia on those days when there wasn’t any drama, just football…
And if you haven’t already seen it, head here to see a behind the scenes video of the photo shoot Iker did recently with Reebok and Steven Klein (they got quite a prestigious photographer, no?). While I love the fact that Iker was the star and mostly everything he wore was skintight, I can’t get over the hair. Plus, the end results aren’t very Iker-like, so that’s why I’m not dedicating too much space or even a post to it.