ICYMI – the gracias madridistas edition (I)

There were too many great moments during the celebration of the 32nd Liga title – including Esteban Granero showing his love for this club – so I had to split this post in two.

The first event of the day was the team lunch at El Telégrafo.  FP joined the team (including all the canteranos who had played this year – Tomás, Jesús, Fernando Pacheco, Nacho, Jesé, Joselu, Mandi and MFC ABMM) and coaching staff for the celebratory lunch.  I don’t have time for a fashion review, so I’ll just say that Cristiano needs to get over his fascination with logos, Karim is still enamored of those unfortunate vests, the same goes for Mesut and his deep v-neck shirts, and our canteranos are pretty well dressed!  It bodes well for the future, that is, if any of them make it to the first team.

The Spaniards plus Pipita apparently all sat together at their own little table at the restaurant, and the boys regaled us with many photos, shared via their social networks.  I love it!  And who would you rather be in the photo on the right – Sergio, who is receiving a kiss from Esteban; Esteban, who is giving a kiss to Sergio; or José, in close proximity to such hotness?

I loved this scene that occurred as the players were leaving the restaurant.  Iker was up ahead, with Sergio and El Chori behind him.  They pretended to be overzealous fans, trying to grab Iker’s arm and ask for his shirt, adding to the mob scene that had built up around Iker.  El capi seemed to be slightly pissed off, but that didn’t stop Sergio and Raúl from continuing with their fangirl moment.  Jajaja!!!!

After the lunch, the boys headed to the Bernabéu to change and get ready for the celebration.  The photo taking continued in the locker room, with this shot of all the canteranos minus Iker.  Did Pipita sneak in?

The boys got decked out in Real Madrid gear (shirts, scarves, flags), making it look like they had all raided the store.  It made sense later on, because they kept throwing these things off of the bus, and also into the crowd.  That’s why we saw so many people running alongside the bus, because they wanted to get a special souvenir.

Iker was the first player on the bus, which had “Campeones” and “32” on the sides, plus “gracias madridistas” on the back.  He got on, and greeted everyone as they made their way to onto the deck, but that also made it look like he was collecting fares!  Aitor Karanka got a very warm welcome from Iker, as did the canteranos; Iker told them he expected to see them ascending to the second division.

And I love Iker’s reaction when he saw José Mario: “look, it’s mini Mou, it’s mini Mou!”  Jajaja!!!!!

I’m very happy that although Iker is now the captain of the team, he hasn’t lost the fun and crazy side of him that we saw the first time he celebrated a title, when he wore a suit jacket and pants with his jersey while jumping on Cibeles (in those days, the team could actually climb all over the statue) and when he knotted a tie around his head and danced with Azúcar Moreno at the Bernabéu.

Continuing with the Iker lovefest, he posted many pictures from the bus ride.  These are my favorites: the one with the other goalkeepers; the one with Cris (captioned “the best in the world”), since their tongues are out…

… and the one with Mou, because of the caption – “we don’t get along at all.”  Go Iker!

Also high on my list of photos tweeted/posted by the players was this one of Álvaro and Esteban looking fantastic in their sunglasses.

Marcelo, Pepe, Benzema, Mesut, Sami, Ángel positioned themselves at the front of the bus, the canteranos, club employees and coaching staff took up the center of the bus, while most of the Spaniards and Gonzalo Higuaín took over the back of the bus.  The trophy won’t be presented until this weekend’s game against Mallorca, so there was nothing for anyone to drop.  José Mourinho’s son, José Mario, aka the luckiest kid in the world, got to enjoy the celebration from the top of the bus with the team.

The craziness started on the bus, perhaps not the best idea considering that the bus was moving, they were two stories up and the guardrails looked kind of flimsy.  Nevertheless, that didn’t stop the players from attempting to crowd surf and jump on top of each other.  It was pretty amazing, because Xabi Alonso was one of the players involved!  Look at his jump!

It took slightly more than half an hour for the bus to travel the four kilometers from the Santiago Bernabéu to the Plaza de Cibeles.  During the bus ride, the players didn’t stop waving, dancing, drinking, singing, taking pictures of themselves and each other, and just generally celebrating.  The fans lined the sides of the streets, and as I said earlier, some decided to run with the bus for short distances.

It appeared that José Callejón’s dance moves inspired Xabi to dance, while Sami and Mesut had a great time bouncing.

I love seeing how happy everyone was!

MFC is adorable!  And Fernando Pacheco has perfect teeth!

There was also of course moments for hugs, such as this one between the surprise bromance of the season, which I’m sure we’re all hoping will not be split up anytime soon.  And the way some of the players were draped over the side of the bus… it made me worry that Sergio Ramos could drop himself!

I love this photo because it looks like Álvaro infiltrated it at the last moment.

Upon arrival at Cibeles, the team was greeted with a thunderous ovation and shouts of “¡Campeones, campeones!”

RMTV was on hand to interview the team, and during José Mourinho’s moment, the juvenile sides of Rui Faria and Aitor Karanka came out.  In the end, the interview could not continue, because Mou’s coaching staff started celebrating behind him and he had to join in.

Meanwhile, José Callejón did his best to break up the other interviews!  While Marcelo was speaking, he snuck up and started singing “campeones, campeones” in a high voice, causing Marcelo to crack up.

Another great interview moment: the reporter asked Cristiano to celebrate by showing off his thigh, and Cris said he couldn’t because his pants were too tight!

A view of the masses at Cibeles.  Impressive, no?

The Xabi Alonso pose section.™

Xabi went all out celebrating this title, since it was his first ever league championship.  He was seen with a drink in hand for most of the afternoon…

… except when Antonio Adán, and then Gonzalo Higuaín, thought he had too much to drink and thus took it upon themselves to throw his drink away.  Jajaja!!!!

The only time Xabi voluntarily gave up his drink was to get a point across to Iker.

We saw a different side of Xabi (read: drunk Xabi) during the celebration, one that we’re not used to.

But it did provide for some memorable moments!

I love drunk and extroverted Xabi.

And here’s a diagram, courtesy of Sportyou, a who’s who on the bus.

More to come…