Hopefully, our team will play a good first half tonight, in their Copa del Rey round of 16 vuelta match against Málaga (22h) and no comeback will be required!
Last night, our boys prepared for the game by having a nice cup of tea before bedtime. Iker, Sergio and Kaká all posted/tweeted this photo (below is Kaká’s Instagram version) from yesterday of, in Iker’s words, “Portuguese, Brazilians and Spaniards having tea before going to bed… together but not in each other’s pockets…” Sergio called it a “great photo” and said it’s for “all those who say that Cris is no longer smiling.” (In my opinion, it would be impossible for Cris not to smile when Marcelo Sunshine is around!)
Meanwhile, Iker once again showed how much he likes playing with other people’s ears, and I love how they all have their arms around each other. Other notable tweets from yesterday: Xabi telling us that “2012 appears to have brought changes, we’re listening to The Beatles on the bus.” Have Sergio and/or Marcelo been demoted as the DJs? I would have thought that this could be the work of Esteban Granero, but since he didn’t even travel with the team, who are The Beatles fans? Poor Esteban, just when they finally start listening to music he actually likes, he can’t hear it. And Fernando Pacheco also tweeted yesterday to Álvaro Vázquez, “Grande Alvarito… you deserve it, a hug.”
On Tuesday, Madrid trained for the last time before tonight’s game. Twenty-three footballers took part in the session, with Ángel di María remaining the only absent player as he’s still recovering from his right thigh injury, and Jesús joining the first team.
It may look like a runway, but it’s not.
Twenty of them were called up for the game. Di María misses out due to injury, Ricardo Carvalho is still getting back in shape, and Nuri Sahin and Esteban Granero did not make it due to the coach’s decision. Álvaro Arbeloa, Fábio Coentrão and Pepe – who has recovered from his injury – rejoin the team after missing out on the last call-up.
Goalkeepers: Iker, Adán, Jesús.
Defenders: Ramos, Marcelo, Varane, Albiol, Pepe, Coentrão, Arbeloa.
Midfielders: Lass, Khedira, Xabi Alonso, Özil, Callejón, Altintop, Kaká.
Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Higuaín, Benzema.
José Mourinho spoke to the press prior to the training session, and there were some things he wanted to clear up. Regarding Álvaro Arbeloa’s absence from the previous game, Mou explained, “I read that I had punished Arbeloa. There was no punishment. If an agreement between a coach and a player – who have a great, mutually confident relationship – is regarded as a punishment, then you all are mistaken. We spoke. During the vacation, he underwent a procedure on two of his teeth and that weakened him. He came back weak because it wasn’t an easy procedure and he didn’t play especially well against Málaga. The two of us spoke and we came to the conclusion that he should work to be ready for the second-leg game against Málaga. It has nothing to do with a punishment. He’ll play tomorrow.” Coentrão’s absence was explained as, “I wanted to give opportunities to others. If he doesn’t show up in the medical report, it’s because he’s not injured.”
And I loved his response to a question on Cristiano Ronaldo being whistled at by some fans in the Bernabéu and not celebrating his goal: “I think what’s more relevant and important is that he did celebrate the goals with which the game was won, the first, the second, the third. We didn’t win the game with the fifth goal. He celebrated the ones that were important. The fifth goal was not relevant, it was in the 90th minute when we were winning by four. If a player is to be criticized for not celebrating a goal, then I should be criticized as well because I didn’t celebrate any of the five goals.” I agree completely.
Mou also downplayed the importance of the five-point lead, which I also agree with. While it makes me smile each time I think about it, I prefer to be cautious.
The team then traveled to Málaga.
At the Barceló hotel, Cris and Fábio Coentrão met up with the fans in the usual fan session, signing shirts, posters, scarves, hats, balls and even a man’s arm (in Cris’ case).
Due to this trip and the game on Tuesday, neither the players nor José Mourinho were able to travel to Zurich for the FIFA Ballon d’Or ceremony. Instead, we were represented by Zinedine Zidane and Emilio Butragueño, and there were other former madridistas on hand, such as Ronaldo or Christian Karembeu. Cris ended up second in the Ballon d’Or voting and Mou third in the coach of the year award, while Iker, Sergio, Xabi and Cris also made it onto the FIFA/FIFPro World XI ideal starting XI. This was the fourth consecutive time Iker was honored in this way, and the fifth consecutive time for Cris. It was also Sergio’s second appearance, after 2008, and Xabi’s first. They showed a taped message from our boys to make up for their absence, with Xabi acting as the spokesperson.
He said, “We apologize for not being able to be part of such a special night for the football family and FIFA, but we have our work to do tomorrow in Málaga. We are honored to be part of the 2011, part of the squad and we would like to greet all those ones that voted for Cristiano, for Iker, for Sergio and for myself, and hope that you enjoy that special night. Thank you. Bye bye.” Yes, he really did say “bye bye.”
Behind him, Sergio looked blank, Iker nodded several times (they looked like Xabi’s bodyguards) and Cristiano aimed a smile at the camera. When Xabi said “bye bye,” the others chimed in, and Sergio did a thumbs up, while Iker and Cris waved, as you can see. That was their contribution to the video. I wish they had made Iker or Sergio speak English! I would have forced Iker to write his own speech, and not allow him any help so that he would have to use Google Translate to turn it into English. That would have livened up the ceremony, no? Zizou and El Buitre were called up onto the stage to accept the awards on behalf of our boys.
By the way, both Iker and Hamit Altintop proved to be good teammates. As captains of their national teams, they got to vote for the Ballon d’Or winner. Iker had Cris as his first choice and Mesut as his second, while Hamit chose Cris as his first choice and Mesut as his third.