ICYMI – the momentum edition

In case you missed it – Sporting de Gijón vs. Real Madrid [2011-12-03, Liga jornada 15, 0-3].

Sorry, I really can’t think of a good introduction or title right now – too busy enjoying the acueducto – but we have notched up another hard-fought win, and so we have a lot of momentum going into this week’s Champions League game against Ajax and this weekend’s Liga game against Barcelona.  It’s a good time to be a Real Madrid fan.

ONE.  We’ll start off with couple of moments of our boys doing nothing yet looking absolutely gorgeous, and in Marcelo’s case, gorgeous and adorable.

TWO.  Prior to the game, Marcelo and Gonzalo Higuaín showed that they don’t only fight together, when they hugged for a very long second.  Meanwhile, Sergio was carrying out his captain duties, cheering on his troops as he handed out high fives and kisses while making his way down the tunnel.

THREE.  I love these two moments of Raúl Albiol and the team photo right before the game started, because they remind me of dancing.  Raúl shows some coordination, while the 11 starters seem to need a bit more practice.

FOUR.  Three goals were scored on the night, including a fantastic effort from Ángel di María to open the scoring for Real Madrid.  Meanwhile, with his goal against Sporting, Cris reduced the number of teams he hasn’t scored on in the Liga to two: Betis and Levante.  And it was great to see another goal from one of our defenders!

I like how Mesut spent the celebration stroking other people’s hair.

¡Somos una piña!

To celebrate the second goal, Marcelo, Cris and Pepe once again did their team jump, only this time Sergio Ramos joined them.  It does appear that they tried to get everyone involved, but only Sergio was game.  The rest just headed immediately into the group hug.

This was Ángel di María’s 11th assist on the season.

As for Marcelino, he celebrated his goal by running over the bench to hug Óscar Ribot and give him a kiss on his shiny head.  Óscar is much more tolerable when he can’t be heard, no?

FIVE.  In the 18th minute, Rui Faria was sent off for protesting one of Iturralde González’s calls, involving a ball disputed between Khedira and Trejo, in which the referee judged that Khedira had been overly aggressive.  Rui Faria raised his arms in protest, as did Mou, and ended up being expelled.  The referee wrote in the official match report that “I have expelled the fitness coach of Real Madrid C.F., Rui Filipe da Cunha Faria (min. 18), for shouting at me from his bench and raising his arms, recriminating me for an action in the play.  Once he was sent off, he went towards the fourth referee and said to him, ‘tell him he’s an embarrassment.'”  It was kind of hilarious, and watching Iturralde was very entertaining.

SIX.  Minutes later, it was the turn of José Callejón, who received a yellow from the bench for protesting a foul from Eguren on Marcelo.  He didn’t look too happy about that, but next to him, Raúl Albiol was having a good time.

By the way, there were six paragraphs in the match report dedicated to the behavior of the fans in El Molinón, including the incident when various objects – a plastic bottle, a beer can and a watch – (what a random collection) were thrown at Madrid’s players while they were celebrating a goal.

SEVEN.  After the game, Sergio stripped off (and with no base layer underneath, Iker are you paying attention?) to give his shirt to a girl who had hung up a sign saying, “Sergio, I’ll exchange a bouquet of flowers for your shirt.”  The word for “bouquet” in Spanish is “ramo” so it was a play on words on Sergio’s last name.

Iker also gave his shirt away to one of the Madrid fans supporting their team in Gijón.  He gets minus points for the base layer, but bonus points for the armband on the bare arm, so let’s call it even.  I liked how he walked back to the tunnel with his arms around Pepe and Marcelo.

Mmm, Iker’s arm muscles!

EIGHT.  The Xabi Alonso pose section.™

Xabi was absent, but his teammates picked up the slack.  Sergio did Xabi’s favorite pose in the tunnel, while Kaká did it during the game.

XIT looked pretty elegant and poised prior to the game.

And Cristiano took over some of Xabi’s leadership duties, from giving Lass instructions before the game (a totally Xabi thing to do, as we’ve seen many times before) to encouraging his teammates.

NINE.  Despite the efforts of the press to get the players to talk about the clásico, all of the players interviewed in the mixed zone would only say that they were focusing on the next game, against Ajax, and not thinking about Barcelona.  Pepe was even asked whether they had been ordered to do that, while Iker tried to give an explanation: “and what use will it be to talk about that game?  That’s an issue for all of you, who like to bring everything forward, but we’re not thinking about the clásico, really we aren’t.  And if four of us get injured in Amsterdam, what happens?”

Marcelo had trouble pronouncing the word “Ajax,” while Cristiano slapped Pepe on the back of his head with what appears to be a folder or envelope while Pepe was speaking to the press and then ran off.

TEN.  The Mou corner.

Following the game, Mou had this to say about his team: “the team is good.  They’re winning and playing well.  They win games in different ways, from their quality, from their team spirit, for being defensively compact, because they’re killing in counterattacks… football is unpredictable.  In any game, you can lose three points.  There are championships in which the big teams never lose points.  But in this one, it’s complicated because the direct rival does not lose many points and there are many rivals that can defeat you.  This is only three more points.  Nothing more.”

Ángel di María came in for some praise, with Mou saying, “many people in Spain didn’t know how good this player was.  He was unknown because Benfica wasn’t playing in the Champions and because he hadn’t had a good World Cup.  But I knew that he had many qualities that I liked.  He’s a humble boy who works hard, who helps, with a lot of personal ambition.  For him, the team is above all else.  I like this simplicity more than his qualities as a footballer, which obviously I like as well.”

Xabi also received some praise (“there’s only one Xabi Alonso”), as did Lass and Khedira (“they worked well defensively and also in organizing”) and the Sporting fans (“they gave their team an incredible amount of support and showed hostility without violence towards the adversary.  I like this public a lot”).

It was also great to see the hugs between Manuel Preciado and Mou!

ELEVEN.  Other things.

Iker gave us this photo of Raúl and Gonzalo on the way home from Gijón, saying that Raúl was convinced that Spain would win the Davis Cup, while Gonzalo had plenty of faith that Argentina could make a comeback.

Sergio tweeted this video shot by “Calleti” of this new tradition (well new to us, who knows how long they’ve been at it).  José’s camera handling skills have improved, because this time he’s captured all of shirtless Sergio.  Next step: how to focus the camera.

As for Castilla, unlike last week, when Madrid and Castilla both came out on top in the local derby, Castilla was unable to beat their Asturian rival after Madrid had dispatched theirs.  Castilla lost 1-3 to Oviedo at the EADS, with Víctor Merchán scoring our only goal.  Despite the loss, Castilla is still the leader of their group.  Jorge Casado will miss the next game against Marino de Luanco (another Asturian team) after getting sent off from this game.

Antonio Adán and José Callejón were at the game, cheering on their former team, as was Aitor Karanka.