In case you missed it – Málaga vs. Real Madrid [2012-01-10, Copa del Rey round of 16 vuelta, 0-1].
Here are the rest of the moments (and mouments) from Tuesday’s game, the ones that took place prior to and after the game.
The French moments: Karim, Lass and Rafa hung out together prior to the game, with Lass showing that he has very good hearing, since he could apparently hear Karim’s music through his hood. And Karim was being very adorable before the game. I love the wave and wink he sent to one fan who kept yelling his name (it was a girl).
The relaxed moments: in the morning, the team had a light training session, which consisted mostly of stretching. On the way there, Antonio and Calleti looked relaxed, while Kaká’s focus was on his phone. I love José’s dimple!
Meanwhile, Cristiano’s watch caught Xabi’s eye, and he had to get a closer look. Cris appeared to be telling Xabi that the watch is nothing special (i.e. it cost less than €10,000 or something like that). Antonio Adán played the role of photographer, taking this photo of three of the four musketeers. I like how the length of their pants increases as you go to the left.
Antonio’s a good photographer! Hopefully, he told them that he wouldn’t take a picture if they put their thumbs up, and this was the result. Plus, Álvaro is looking a lot like his cousin Gonzalo right here, no? And Xabi’s tongue! Is he trying to make all of us faint? Also notice that Xabi and Álvaro are listening to something together!
The pre-game moument: José Mourinho noticed that the seats on the bench were wet, so he asked for a towel. He then spent a few seconds wiping several of the seats, the ones for him and Aitor. However, he told Chendo to wipe his own. Jajaja!
The creativity moments: a sampling of some of the signs at La Rosaleda. This one says, “Özil, give me your shirt and I’ll flash you a boob.”
And this one says, “Pepe, I’ll exchange my girlfriend for your shirt,” with an arrow pointing to the unfortunate girl. Pepe saw the sign, and handed over his training sweatshirt, but wisely decided not to take the guy up on his offer.
The what is it moments: Karim brought along a bottle of something to the bench, and Marcelo didn’t know what it was, so he decided to smell it. However, he still couldn’t figure out what it was. Whatever it is, apparently it has the ability to make Karim fly, according to Marcelo and José Callejón. Later on, Mesut would also eye the bottle when Karim decided to take a sip.
The fraternity moments, part I: in the tunnel, we had Sergio greeting his namesake, Sergio Sánchez, Xabi giving a high five to his fellow Basque, Nacho Monreal, and Lass saying hello to his compatriot, Jeremy Toulalan. Then, during the pre-game handshakes, the two Sergios gave each other a hug, while Santi Cazorla got hugs from his national team teammates, and Gonzalo hugged and kissed his fellow Argentine (and River Plate product) Martín Demichelis. And of course, Ruud van Nistelrooy got lots of hugs from his former teammates! I love these types of moments!
The we’re so good looking it hurts moment: Kaká is just only one of the guapísimo players we have on this team, no?
Warning to the men reading this post: feel free to skip over the next two moments. I’m not sure you’ll enjoy them as much as us girls.
The I know you’ll enjoy these moments: which is why I decided to include them.
The I made this extra big to capture all the details moment: and you can see why – literally – so I won’t write anything else. But you can leave me a comment telling me how long you spent staring at this gif, if you want.
Okay men, you can return now.
The fraternity moments, part II: after the game, several of our players hugged our former coach (awww), while Sergio hugged Santi. They walked off the field arm in arm. Meanwhile, Iker tried to console Willy Caballero. Iker said after the game, “today our goal came from a most unjust manner. Caballero had a great game and that’s the thankless part of this position, that an unfortunate play tarnishes a good qualifying round.”
Iker also said that the team was focused on the Liga, the next game against Mallorca and defending their lead, instead of the hypothetical Copa del Rey match-up against Barcelona. Apparently, he and Mou both kept an eye on the score of the Mallorca-Real Sociedad game which was taking place as the team was warming up in La Rosaleda. Mallorca won that one 6-1, so the team is right in putting their focus on their next opponent in the Liga.
The Xabi Alonso posing moments.
Those eyelashes!
And I love this look of concentration! It’s fierce. Meanwhile, Óscar Ribot is looking a lot like Francesc Satorra in this moment.
The bonus moment: Jan. 11, 2012 was the five-year anniversary of Gonzalo Higuaín’s debut with Madrid, which came on Jan. 11, 2007 in the Copa del Rey against Betis. And like Marcelo, whose anniversary was just a few days earlier, he’s gone on to become one of the four captains of this team. Check out the video Madrid prepared for this occasion. It’s worth viewing just to see baby Higuaín saying his dream is to play for Real Madrid, and for the unfortunate hair, including a curly mullet the day of his presentation, that he sported during his first few years with the club.