eight moments in Donostia

During the moments before the game against Real Sociedad, we had Cris and Pepe having fun on the bench, and Álvaro Arbeloa, Raúl Albiol and Aitor Karanka laughing it up in the tunnel.

Look at them – ignoring each other for their phones!

Cris didn’t make the final game list due to back problems, and so he ended up watching the game from a palco.  He would leave the game before it ended to go back to Vitoria to take a flight to Portugal.  Also in a palco was Xabi Alonso, who wasn’t called up for the game but had traveled home to spend the days off and catch the game alongside his family.

We also had Ángel di María and Mesut Özil teasing MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín, and Karim Benzema using the bench to do some triceps dips.  I love how Marcelo has the towel like a blanket around him!

José Callejón celebrated his goal by kissing the escudo (that never fails to cheer me up), and Marcelo responded to lamentable racist noises with class.  After the game, he said, “this has happened to me before, but I’m not upset.”  He added that “there are people who like watching football and others who don’t know how to behave… in a place where people come to enjoy themselves, where there are children and families who come to have a good time, it’s sad that these things happen.”

During this game, we also got to enjoy the returns of Álvaro Arbeloa, who had not played since April 6 against Levante, and Marcelo, who made his return from injury after five weeks out.

To end, a photo of Antonio and José that the former shared on twitter!

The team is back in training on Wednesday to begin preparing for the last game of the season, against Osasuna.