I can’t wait! RMTV will air Real… Roberto Carlos tomorrow at 22h! Some observations, besides the obvious one that I’m very excited: (1) I hope that Óscar’s New Year resolution was to get rid of those habits that keep annoying us during those interviews. (2) I guess they ran out of Spanish speakers on the current team to interview. (3) I’d like to know if we can expect Real… Guti (that would be super fun), Real… Zidane, Real… Redondo…
Anyway, the team returned to training on Tuesday after one day off. Twenty-one players from the first team and 12 canteranos (Castilla’s Carva, Pablo Gil, Ríos, Merchán, Lucas, MFC ABMM, Óscar Plano and Tomás Mejías, plus RMC’s Parla, Kamal, Barril and Sobrino) participated in the session, while Hamit Altintop and Lass remain injured.
As it was Valentine’s Day, some of the players practiced the dance moves they’d break out on dates with their significant others later that night, while others showed their bromantic sides.
José and Ricky are adorable, no?
On Wednesday, Lass returned to the fold for the second session of the week, working out alongside 20 of his teammates plus a handful of Castilla players, the “M” team (Merchán, Morata, Mejías). Meanwhile, Hamit Altintop continued with his recovery work, while Gonzalo Higuaín worked out inside. Everyone looked very happy at the session – did they all have a good Valentine’s Day night?
In a move that just shows how much class he has, Raúl drove 35 kilometers from Düsseldorf to Cologne to visit his old friend Pep Guardiola, as Barcelona was in town to play Bayer Leverkusen. In addition to hanging out with Pep, Raúl also chatted with his former national team teammates Xavi and Puyol.
Continuing with the nostalgia: Madrid’s former fitness coach Javier Miñano (during the time when Vicente del Bosque was in charge; Miñano now works alongside VDB with the Spanish national team) was in A Coruña recently for a conference with physical education students. He chatted with the students about his experience in Madrid. With regards to Ronaldo, Javi said he was the “most gifted in terms of muscles” although when he arrived at Madrid, “he couldn’t even run for five straight minutes, because he didn’t like to, and because he couldn’t with those knees.” In addition, Miñano also revealed that “we agreed to meet at five in the afternoon every day and there wasn’t one day when he was on time. One day he was late 40 minutes. He always made me play music in the Ciudad Deportiva at a volume that could be heard in Madrid. I accepted that because I wanted him to be good.” With regards to Zidane, Miñano says “he worked like just one more player” and that Raúl is the “most competitive person” that he’s ever seen.