Update: Ponferradina will be Madrid’s rival in the Copa del Rey round of 32. The first leg is on Dec. 13 and the second leg on Dec. 21. Ponfe is a team based in Ponferrada, León. They play in the second division B, group II (Castilla plays in group I), and their president, José Fernández, is a Real Madrid socio and good friends with Aitor Karanka.
I don’t know about the rest of their bodies, but our boys definitely exercised their thumbs…
Yesterday’s post on Wednesday’s training session was titled “together again” but it wasn’t until Thursday that we were really together, as Cristiano re-joined the team after working out in the gym during the open training session, as did Gonzalo Higuaín, Ángel di María, Marcelo and Rafa Varane, who returned from their national team commitments.
This meant that José Mourinho had all the possible players he can use for this weekend’s game against Betis at his disposal. Raúl Albiol, Nuri Sahin and Ricardo Carvalho are still injured, but Karim Benzema joined the big group after working out with Nuri on Wednesday. In addition, canteranos Jesús, Jesé, Nacho, MFC ABMM, Carvajal and Casado trained with the first team. And can I say how much I absolutely adore and approve of the Gonzalo-José (no, not Mou) bromance?
According to Sportyou, Iker, Álvaro Arbeloa, Raúl Albiol and Sergio Ramos (where’s Xabi?) have signed up to take a course offered by the RFEF on how to become a sporting director, after thinking about it for a long time and trying to find the best time. The RFEF’s web site says the course runs from Oct. 10 to Dec. 19, and meets on every Monday between those dates, with the exception of Oct. 24, for 3.5 hours in the morning and 3.5 hours in the afternoon. Students have to attend 75 percent of the sessions in order to get the diploma. In that respect, they didn’t get off to a good start, as Iker, Álvaro and Sergio (and probably Raúl) missed the first session on Oct. 10 as they were on national team duty. However, apparently they get to make up the courses with the professors, given that their schedule will definitely have them missing many more sessions. They’re following in the footsteps of Jorge Valdano and Fernando Hierro, whom have also taken this course (which doesn’t bode well for a future in Real Madrid). And FYI, yes, it is too late to sign up for the course. Which of these four do you think will make the best sporting director? I say Iker.
Madridista news: in an interview with El Mundo’s Metropoli magazine, Noel Gallagher, formerly of Oasis and now of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, spoke about his madridista sentiments. He will present his new work in Madrid on Nov. 26, and when asked what he expects of the concert there, he replied, “I hope that José Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Özil and Kaká come. I fucking love Mourinho. If you see him, tell him that if I find him, I’m going to give him a kiss.” And when asked if he was being serious, Noel replied, “absolutely. I love this man and I want to kiss him.”