play time?

There have been many fun, adorable or interesting moments (or any combination of those) involving our boys over the past three months, and so here are some of the ones involving niños.*  I hope there are at least some that are new to you!

ONE.  Let’s kick things off with MFC, the very adorable Álvaro Borja Morata Martín!  Here are two moments from Monday, when he went to EADS to watch Castilla take on Recre.  As he is the current man of the moment for madridistas, many people wanted to take his photo.  One man tried to do that sneakily, only to be caught by ABMM, who nevertheless posed with a huge smile.  Then someone on his phone made him laugh and laugh.  And laugh.  See the rest of the moments here.

* As you will see, my definition is a bit broad.

TWO.  And this was the result when MFC got a hold of José Rodríguez’ phone…

THREE.  Raúl Albiol spoke with Irene Junqera from “Punto Pelota” during the last international break.  She started off by asking whether his parents still run the lottery kiosk in his hometown (the kids-related part is coming up), and he says yes, so she asks him to which team he would place his bets on for the three big competitions, even though Raúl confessed that his father told him that he’s not very good at making predictions for bets.  The conversation went like this.  Liga?  Real Madrid.  Copa del Rey?  Real Madrid.  Champions?  Real Madrid.  We have to win some title!

El Chori also said everyone gets along, that the Spaniards joke around with the Portugueses a lot, and he was surprised that Mou said he was the joker of the team because he doesn’t know what he did to make Mou think that and “because there are funny people such as Higuaín…”  Irene then goes on to ask Raúl who he would ask to take care of his daughters (since Mou was also asked that) and Raúl says none of his teammates!  Irene asks him about his good friend Arbeloa, and Raúl replies, “Arbeloa is a great friend but I wouldn’t leave him with my kids.”  Jajaja!!!!

FOUR.  At an event organized by Adidas to promote the new green jerseys, this little girl had the best ideas: hugging Iker Casillas and stroking Xabi Alonso’s beard.  The things that little kids can get away with… if I tried that, I’d probably be arrested!

Here are a couple more scenes from that event.  I wonder if Iker is getting broody?

FIVE.  Pepe’s daughter was born on Aug. 27, meaning that Isabella might have some competition for the affections of Cristiano Junior!  Pepe has always been an affectionate guy, but perhaps becoming a father made him even more so, because after the Ajax game, the cameras captured the wonderful scene of Pepe going up to a girl in a wheelchair, giving her his game shirt and exchanging dos besos.  As for Cris, he was very sweet to this kid who ran up to him while he was warming up for the Sevilla game.  Look at Cris giving him his undivided attention!  Speaking of affection, I loved how Cris defied orders and went to visit Pepe in the hospital after the Valencia game!

There are more examples.  During the team’s trip to Amsterdam, several of them helped to make Jacky Tapirima’s day.  Jacky, who is 11, has a chronic disease that limits his ability to lead a normal life.  His dream was to meet his idol Cristiano Ronaldo, and he got to do that!  And once several of the other players, including Sergio, Xabi, Kaká and Modrić, found out about Jacky, they too went to say hi!  Following the encounter, Jacky said, “this has been the best experience of my entire life.  It was wonderful to spend a few minutes with Cristiano Ronaldo, who is my idol.”

And Denis revealed that after he was called up to play for the Russian senior national team, he ran into Cristiano at the swimming pool in Valdebebas.  As soon as Cris saw him, he congratulated him for the call up.  This just says volumes about Cris, no?  I really believe he has an undeserved public image.  By the way, Denis also told Marca that on the U-21 team, his teammates called him “the Spaniard,” while with Castilla, he’s called “the Russian.”

SIX.  During the Trofeo Bernabéu game, we were treated to the unusual sight of players watching the game from the palcos with their families.  We can see that Xabi was accompanied by Jon, who later lost interest in the game and decided to flirt with little Alba Arbeloa instead!  Jajaja!  And look at Xabi with the coffee cup, how does he manage to remain so very elegant even when drinking coffee?

We also got our first glimpse of Sofia and Pepe’s little bundle of joy, though she may have been overshadowed by Irina and Cris’ make-out session…

SEVEN.  Iker posted his photo of him age 10 during fiestas in Navalacruz with his cousin Bici and their friend Kike.  Iker and Bici still have the same faces, although perhaps Iker’s is a little bit less mischievous these days…

EIGHT.  And Marcelo gave us this one to celebrate the opening of his twitter account!  Is that Don Pedro?  Marcelo has the most adorable little face…

NINE.  … which Enzo has clearly inherited; just look at him!  By the way, another Enzo is soon to join that madridista family, since that will be the name of Guti’s soon-to-be-born son.  His fiancée Romina Belluscio revealed that Guti chose the name because he has always admired Enzo Francescoli.  Not very original, since Zizou did the same thing first!

TEN.  And here are some of the Halloween costumes that the kids wore this year!  I wish we could see their parents dressed up too…

ELEVEN.  I adore this photo that Nuri Sahin posted of him and Ömer with matching cars.

TWELVE.  Jon Alonso may be the only person in Valdebebas who has openly defied José Mourinho as of late.  I love how he just continued to do his own thing despite Mou’s instructions.  I bet Mou was thinking, “why isn’t he as well-behaved as his father?”

THIRTEEN.  I love how all the canteranos are one big family.  We saw that in all the messages of congratulations for MFC after the Levante game, and we also saw it at the Spanish U-21 call-up, with Nacho and Dani Carvajal exchanging their first team jerseys with each other.  It was also very clear that they were excited to be reunited.

Joselu has also said that he and Dani have congratulated each other via WhatsApp for their performances, and are planning a trip to see each other.  Don’t forget, their two teams will meet up on Nov. 24!  He also revealed that he still follows all of Castilla and Madrid’s games.

FOURTEEN.  And in case you haven’t seen it yet, here is a bunch of schoolboys clowning around on a field trip.