We have to move on from the Liga, because our defense of the Copa del Rey begins tonight, in cold and most likely rainy Ponferrada at 20h, against Ponferradina. As Sergio said, “this escudo always requires you to look forward. Tomorrow, the defense of the Copa begins. Our hopes are intact. Hala Madrid!!”
I love how Sergio has developed, both on the field and off. He now reminds me of another certain centerback from Andalucía who came from outside and ended up becoming a symbol of this club…
On Monday afternoon, Madrid held their first and only training session (they got Sunday off) before tonight’s Copa del Rey round of 32 game against Ponferradina at El Toralín. Eighteen footballers, 15 from the first team and three canteranos (Jesús and Jesé from Castilla and Fernando Pacheco from RMC), participated in the session. The absences were Ricardo Carvalho, due to injury, and Iker, Pepe, Coentrão, Lass, Xabi, Di María and Benzema, who were given an extra two-day mini-break (a “deserved” one, according to Mou) by the club.
Prior to the start of the session, José Mourinho gathered his players around him and had a little chat with them. Later on, he said, “the chat which I had was five minutes long and I was explaining to everyone, those who were going to debut in the Copa and those who hadn’t played before in this competition, the history of this competition and that difficulties that other teams have had.” However, certain media outlets, such as Cuatro, preferred to say that Mou was signalling out some of the players for blame for Saturday’s game. I see how being owned by Telecinco has affected Cuatro.
Only one player from the training session missed out on the call-up, Álvaro Arbeloa, as he’s still not fully recovered. The rest of the call-up is as follows, with only four defenders, so Sergio may see a shift in position again.
Goalkeepers: Adán, Jesús, Pacheco.
Defenders: Varane, Marcelo, Albiol, Sergio Ramos.
Midfielders: Altintop, Khedira, Granero, Sahin, Özil, Callejón, Kaká.
Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Higuaín, Jesé.
In his press conference, Mou wanted to talk about the Copa del Rey, but it was inevitable that he would be asked about the Liga. In response, he said, “if in this moment you give me the opportunity to change our position with any other team in Europe, I wouldn’t change. I wouldn’t change for anything. We’re the best team in the Champions and first in our domestic competition, so why would we want to change with anyone else?”
Later on, Mou reiterated this: “I’ll tell you the truth, the truth, the truth, I wouldn’t change our situation for that of anyone. Of anyone. In the Champions League, we are the best team in the history of the Champions, no? Six games, six wins, the best goal average, the team had the best qualification in the history of the Champions. In the Liga, no one has more points than we do. I look ahead and I don’t see anyone, and we’ve played one less game. There are three possibilities: at the end of the year [2011], we end up first tied with Barcelona, we end up first with one more point or we end up first with three more points. That’s why I wouldn’t change our situation with anything…. There’s no inferiority. They have the same number of points as us, and on Saturday they can have one or three less than us.” He went on to say that what happened on Saturday won’t affect the team, and that they are taking this game seriously because “if we look at the recent history of Madrid in the Copa, they’ve always had difficulties against inferior teams.”
Mou also revealed that Sahin, Varane and Altintop would start, “but don’t ask me to give any more starters.” He said these three need to play: “I have the belief, with each passing day, that Varane will start in Real Madrid for 10 years, from his 20s to his 30s. He’s a great player and a child, he’s only 18 years old despite his maturity as a person and as a player. And the other two need to play due to their injuries.” Mou also said that Cristiano was “sad but he’s traveling (to Ponferrada) because he wants to help.” That just shows what kind of player Cris is, no?
Finally, José summed up things in “two words: we’re leaders.”
After the training session and press conference, Madrid traveled by plane to León, and then by bus onto Ponferrada. At the airport, 700 people waited to greet them (Sergio stopped briefly to sign a few autographs, as did Mou, causing traffic behind him to back-up), but that was nothing compared to the 2,000 people awaiting them at the Hotel Celuisma in Ponferrada. If Cris was trying to disguise himself, it’s wasn’t working.
Other news. On Sunday, Álvaro Arbeloa used twitter to give out some movie recommendations. He said The Princess Bride is in the top 20 of his favorite movies, and described it as “una peli jefa jefa de amor.” He revealed that he likes romantic comedies, including any with Julia Roberts, who is a “crack,” such as Notting Hill (which also happens to be my favorite movie. And who is imagining Iker and Álvaro watching that movie together now?). Alvarito also recommended Big Trouble in Little China, Love Actually, The Break-Up, The Lake House and of course footballer favorite The Notebook (which is of course Javi (!!!)’s favorite movie). Yesterday, his cousin Gonzalo came to watch the session at Valdebebas, as it was his birthday, and the two of them posed together.
As for Castilla, they beat Marino de Luanco 3-1 on Sunday to remain leaders of Group I of the Segunda B division. Nacho, Óscar Plano and MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín scored for Castilla. Nacho was sent off with five minutes to go. After the game, he tweeted, “great victory to continue as leaders! I’m sorry Álex, but I’ve already scored two more goals than you. Let’s go Castilla.” Jajaja!!!!
Jorge Casado and Joselu had watched the game together at Jorge’s house, as Jorge was sanctioned for this game after getting sent off against Oviedo, and Joselu had some problems with his knee and so he was unable to play.
And Dani Carvajal tweeted this photo of him, Tomás Mejías and “Peter Mendes” (I love that Pedro is called Peter, just like Peter Lion!) on the super long bus ride back to Madrid. Jajaja at Peter! That is a very green apple. Plus, MFC’s phone wasn’t working (he has since gotten it fixed), so he used Álex’s phone to tweet and say thank you to everyone for their support.
