ICYMI – the celebration edition (II)

And we continue with the fiesta…

FIFTEEN.  The time then came for the trophy to be presented to the team.  When Ángel Villar’s name was announced as the person who would be presenting the trophy to the team, he was booed.  The players got off the stage and headed to the presidential box to shake hands with all the authorities and VIPs.  FP gave Mou a long hug, while Sergio gave Pitina (FP’s wife) two kisses, and Nuria González (Fefe’s wife) was seen chatting with Álvaro Arbeloa.  And Plácido shared something with Xabi!  It seems that everyone has their favorites!

SIXTEEN.  I loved that Iker told Villar to wait until Sergio was ready to present him with the Cup, so that both of them could lift it together!  I bet Sergio was relieved not to be the only one holding the Cup in front of this worldwide audience!

SEVENTEEN.  After that, Sergio and Iker carried the trophy back to the center stage, where the rest of the players had once again amassed.  Iker then told (ordered) those around him to lift him up, so that he could offer the trophy to el madridismo from the highest point possible, which has become his trademark (see the Eurocopa, the World Cup and last year’s Copa del Rey).

Where are Álvaro and Esteban when you need them?  A lot of confetti then rained down on this group of rich, handsome and fantastic winners.

EIGHTEEN.  The team then took the traditional foto de familia while “We are the Champions” played.  Mourinho and the rest of the coaching staff had removed themselves, and were watching the celebrations from a few feet back or the bench area, so they weren’t in the picture.  Well, you can see a couple of them there, but they’re not in the picture.  The Cup was then passed around, so that everyone could get to hold it and kiss it.

NINETEEN.  Then came the speeches.  As captain, Iker spoke first.  He thanked everyone “in the background,” such as the fisios or the equipment managers, and asked them to join the team up on the stage, saying they were as important as the players and “we don’t want to forget those who are here everyday, helping us, making our lives easier.”  He then asked for a round of applause for them.  I love it!  This is a true team.  Iker also praised his teammates for being “fantastic players who tried during 38 matchdays to bring back this desired Liga title to all the madridistas.”

Iker ended by saying, “¡Hala Madrid!” and the crowd responded.  He then said, “as Cristiano said, 1, 2, 3, ¡Hala Madrid!” and imitated Cris’ Portuguese accent!  Jajaja!!!!!!  It wasn’t a very good imitation.

TWENTY.  Meanwhile, Álvaro Arbeloa was filming the entire thing on his phone, and as soon as Iker finished speaking, he joined in by whipping out his own iPhone and beginning to record.  Why hasn’t Álvaro shared, and why hasn’t Iker shared more?

TWENTY ONE.  Sergio was up next, and he promised the Champions League trophy next year, and thanked the fans for “giving me goosebumps each time I walk out onto the field, for letting me wear this shirt.  I hope to spend many more years defending it.  A big kiss.  And now I’m going to pass microphone to a footballer who is a great person, even though he doesn’t want to talk.  I hope he will continue with us for many years, bringing lots of joy… Pi-pi-ta!”

TWENTY TWO.  Raúl Albiol then pushed Pipita towards the front and center, and Gonzalo gave Sergio a hug, before Calleti hugged him.  Arbeloa then snatched the microphone and starting singing, “Pipita quédate, Pipita quédate, Pipita qué-da-te… lo lo lo…” (and repeat).  The rest of the team joined in and you could really see how emotional Gonzalo got.

In his words to the crowd, he said, “I don’t have words to thank you for all this affection, it’s impressive and not something you see everyday… thank you everyone for everything.  ¡Arriba la concha de la lora!”  He then “chose” the next player to speak: “he’s hiding back there, he’s brought us a lot of joy, almost 50 goals in the Liga… Cristiano Ronaldo!”

TWENTY THREE.  Cristiano danced his way to the front, and kept things brief: “these three years in the Bernabéu with all of you have been a pleasure.  The more we win, the better; we’ll have the same mentality next year, because what we want to do is win, and it’s much better when we have your support, thank you.”

Pepe was up next, saying, “it’s a pleasure to train with these guys and be part of this big madridista family.  I thank you all for the support you have given me.  We will have many titles next year to celebrate.”  Then came Marcelo, who said, “I’m very happy, I hope next year we’ll be here again, I’m very happy, let’s celebrate with these wonderful fans,” and all the while, Cris and Pepe were trying to distract him.  They succeeded!  Plus, look at Marcelo being a prizefighter (?) with Sergio as his manager while Cris was speaking!  Jajaja!

The microphone was then passed on to Esteban Granero.  He said, “we feel that we’re missing someone, someone who has worked as hard as us so that we could celebrate this 32nd league, he’s a bit embarrassed to be out here, please give a big round of applause to the grand Óscar Ribot!”  Antonio Adán rushed off the stage so that he would be able to usher Óscar up.  The players hugged Ribot, while Marcelo took away the folder he was carrying.  Ribot said, “you have here the best team in the world, and I’m sure that next year we will return with many more titles.”  What, nothing about how wonderful Mou is?

TWENTY FOUR.  Then came José Callejón.  He started off with a “good evening,” and then made his way off of the stage, microphone in hand, heading towards the bench area.  Along the way, he motioned for applause and said, “eh.  I have one last thing to do before the season ends, and this is something that will make me very happy.”  He proceeded to pull Mou towards him, and began pushing him towards the stage.  As Mou moved to put an arm around Calleti, thinking José just wanted him to be part of the celebrations, José brushed his arm aside, and then jumped onto his back.

He began singing “campeones, campeones, oé, oé, oé” while Mou laughed and most of the rest of the team rushed at them and jumped up and down (whatever Sergio is showing El Chori must be really fascinating, because this was a priceless moment, and usually Sergio is in the midst of all things Calleti, no?).  In the end, it was Karim Benzema who bumped José off of Mou.  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

It was only natural for Mou to address the crowd next.  He said “good evening” and the crowd burst into applause.  He has that effect on people, no?  Mou continued with, “I want to thank everyone for giving us this magical night.  Real Madrid is the best club in history and has many titles, but this team has entered into history as the team of 100 points, and the players will be remembered as the players of 100 points for their entire lives.  A hug and thank you.”

TWENTY FIVE.  Then came the lap around the stadium with the Copa.

Many of the players and coaches’ kids joined them (they had been sitting on the bench and near the sidelines, waiting for this moment), and it was adorable how all of them wearing jerseys with their fathers’ numbers and their own names on the back.  There was Callejón and Paula, plus his niece Daniela.  Aitor Karanka was with his Nahia (where’s Ibai?), Mou with José Mario, Kaká with Luca, Carvalho with his two kids, Xabi with his own parejita, Arbeloa with Alba, Marcelo and Enzo.  I guess the Copa was Iker’s child, no?

Luca gave Fábio a high five, while Alba, Ane and Jon posed with the Copa and their fathers.  I love how Esteban hung around in the back, because he wanted to take the trophy!

As you can see, the wives were busy capturing these precious moments.

Sergio picked up little Nahia (I really love that name) and swung her around.  And can you imagine a playdate with Luca, Enzo and Cristiano Junior?  How cute would that be?  And I have to say, Enzo is the most adorable kid!  More than one time during the celebration, Marcelo had to chase his son down, when the little one ran off, his attention captured by something (he seemed to love those giant balls).  And did you see the moment when Enzo said “¡Hala Madrid!”?  I’m still looking around for footage of the celebration from RMTV so that I can immortalize the moment, but so far have had no luck.  If anyone has it, let me know!

Anyway, during this time, the players, and in some cases, their children, posed with the trophy, while the young canteranos who had formed part of the honor guard mobbed their idols.

Then came fireworks…

… which lit up the Madrid night sky.

TWENTY SIX.  Sergio closed out the night by doing passes on the stage with his bullfighting cape.  I’m glad he’s kept up that tradition!  And I’d love to see the day when Sami or Mesut dares to do that!  Would that make Mesut “feliz”?

WHAT A CELEBRATION.

TWENTY SEVEN.  And there are still people who believe that so and so don’t get along, that there are problems in the locker room, that there are cliques that hate each other…  ¡Hala Madrid!

TWENTY EIGHT.  Once again, the boys were quite generous with sharing photos with us via social networks.  I loved how Kaká captioned his photo with the trophy as “me and her !!”  Álvaro Arbeloa was another who shared photos, although as I said earlier, I’m still waiting for the videos.

Iker did release his homemade video.  We found out that he calls Lass “Jeffery” – is it for his resemblance to the butler in El Príncipe de Bel Air?  I loved the perspective that the video gave us!  And I have to say, ¡¡¡¡por favor Xabi Alonso!!!!

TWENTY NINE.  From the locker room, we got these lovely photos.  I’m easily distracted by shiny things and the trophy is very shiny, but what I’m drawn to are those arms!  Wow!!!!!

Everyone wanted to pose with the trophy…

… and with a living legend, our very own Zinedine Zidane.

Where’s Xabi?

THIRTY.  I absolutely loved how the canteranos were included in the celebration, as well as Iker’s picture taking.  Vivan los porteros de la cantera!!!!  And once again we can see how important the “other” team is, those group of people who work behind the scenes to so that our team only has to concentrate on winning.  A big thank you goes out to them too, no?  Sergio and Iker expressed their gratitude, with Sergio tweeting that “they form part of our family.  They’re great!!”

THIRTY ONE.  ¡¡¡¡Pipita, quédate!!!!

THIRTY TWO.  And finally, of course, ¡Hala Madrid!  ¡A por la 33 y a por La Décima!