Real Madrid Rundown (10.17.11)

• Injury report: Lass. He finished the Betis game with a hamstring injury. For the past two days, he has been training separately from the group. He was not called up for tomorrow’s game.
• Squad list against Lyon. Mourinho called up 20 players, including Castilla’s Mejías. The only omissions were the injured Lass, Albiol, Sahin & Carvalho.
• Xabi Alonso is indispensable. He & Iker Casillas are the only players to play every minute this season. 11 games, 990 minutes.
• “I am the happiest guy in the world.” 
• Gonzalo Higuaín: The Perfect Strike. Pipita was recently featured in a new Nike campaign for the T90 Boot. You can watch here. While shooting, he also spoke with Germany’s Spox [video, interview].  {Thanks @LaNovena9 for the link.}
• Raphaël Varane speaks to L’Equipe. On Mourinho: “He speaks with Benzema, Lass & me in French. To Özil & Khedira in English. To Kaká, Cristiano & Marcelo in Portugese, & the others in Spanish. He can give you a message in the hallway, before or after training, or during a match. They’re short phrases that help you grow.”
• Casillas & Mourinho speak to the press. Casillas on Real Madrid’s recent history in the Champions League: ”Several years of not being up to scratch in European competition does make you more concerned but last year we made it to the semis and let’s see if we can achieve more this time around.”Mourinho on the striker debate: “My objective is to unite and not divide. What’s in the press is different; it’s a debate about who is good and who is poor. My point of view is different, we win and lose as a team. We have different objectives.” [videos - 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5]
• If Arbeloa is the Twitter King, then Iker Casillas surely must be Facebook royalty. 
• Last training before facing Olympique Lyon. [video; photos]
• RealDiMaría to air Thursday at 22h. Submit questions for the player here.
• Future sporting directors report to class. Iker, Sergio, Raúl, & Álvaro attended their first general manager course at RFEF headquarters today. Sergio was *gasp* last to arrrive. [videos - 1 / 2; photos] 
• Concentración. The team arrived at Mirrasierra Suites already.
• All of today’s photos can be found here.