Mourinho’s double sessions kept up the basic format of fitness workouts in the morning & tactical work in the afternoon. RMC’s Rubén Belima was a new face to the group.
The ten o’clock training began with the usual routine of warm-ups & stretches. The players then moved onto a practice match, set up in reduced space. Nacho & Fabinho scored for the winning side, while Pipita scored the only goal for the team in blue vests.
Carvalho continued the week without showing up for a session; he was given club permission. Although Di María wasn’t on the pitch, he worked out alone in the gym. When the players returned for the afternoon session, they worked on tactical & physical work for 90 minutes. Saturday’s 10 am training is open to the press. A press conference with Esteban Granero will follow.
In other news. Fernando Gago’s transfer to Valencia was made official. Los Blancos are reportedly €19.5m in the black, according to a report from Marca. The profits come from the sales of four players, including Castilla’s Carvajal.
The only signing the club has been actively pursuing is Tottenham’s Luka Modric. The Croatian has emphatically voiced his desire to join Madrid, however his club has set a €45m price tag & will not release him for less than that. Real Madrid’s Pérez is reportedly not interested in paying more than €35m, so the deal is up in the air. Tottenham leaves for the club’s US tour Saturday, & Modric is hoping to finalize the move before then.
Upcoming matches. Tuesday’s (July 24) friendly against Real Oviedo will kick off at 7:45 pm CEST. The Eusébio Cup will be played at 8:45 pm on July 27.
The club returned to double training sessions Thursday. The same 23 men reported to Valdebebas at the 10 o’clock session. The keepers worked separately with coach Silvino Louro, while the others did their usual stretching routines. The final practice match featured notable stops by Fernando Pacheco & Antonio Adán.
The blue team took the victory thanks to a goal by Esteban Granero.
Smiles were on the faces of the players & coaches when they stepped back on the practice pitch.
The afternoon training focused more on ball movement, & the team separated into small groups practicing rondos (ball retention in tight spaces).
Another day of training begins again at 10 am tomorrow.
In other news. The club has finally confirmed all of the summer friendlies. The first will be against Real Oviedo just five days away.
Valencia & Real Madrid have come to a pre-agreement for Fernando Gago’s transfer. He will be presented at 6 o’clock Friday evening. It is reported that Gago agreed to a 50% pay cut in order to join Los Che for four years. Valencia will also finalize Sergio Canales’ move for an estimated €8m, which includes a buyback option after two seasons.
Mourinho & company returned to Valdebebas this morning to kick off the new campaign. Before the 10 am session, the players took their medical examinations.
Ángel di María & Álvaro Morata were the first to arrive, & La Sexta reports that Nuri Sahin was the last. Thirteen of Castilla’s men were on hand, including Morata, whose first team promotion has yet to be confirmed by the club.
David Mateos, Castilla’s recent signing, returned this summer from a loan spell at AEK Athens.
Notable absentees from today’s trainings were all of the Euro players & Marcelo, who’s preparing for the London Olympics. Ricardo Carvalho was given permission to skip, further supporting the rumor of a departure. After spending the previous season at AS Roma, Fernando Gago was back at Valdebebas. Various reports say that Gago is looking for a return to Boca Juniors, since he is not in Mourinho’s plans this season.
Silvino Louro worked with the keepers during the morning session, while Rui Faria led the others through stretching exercises & an obstacle course run. When the players returned for the 5:30 session, they participated in more intense ball work.
The club will resume training Tuesday at 10 o’clock. The first 15 minutes will be open to the press. A press conference will also be held but no confirmation on who will address the press.
In other news. UEFA published the shortlist for the 2012 Europe’s Best Player Award. The list of three finalists will be announced on uefa.com on August 14th, then a live vote will take place to reveal the winner.
Xabi Alonso
Iker Casillas
Fábio Coentrão
Mesut Özil
Pepe
Cristiano Ronaldo
Sergio Ramos
Moving up three places from last year, Real Madrid earned the second spot in Forbes’ list of most valuable sports teams. Real Madrid was the world’s most profitable club in 2011 & held a value of $1.88 billion.
I have never had any problems with Mourinho, he made his choices and I made mine.
I left Madrid on good terms. The truth is I had started well with the Blancos by playing regularly and winning a title, but then I got injured and was never able to find space in the first team.
We must respect the contracts of the players we don’t count on. Lass decided not to be part of the team. On the other hand, it was the coach’s decision not to count on Gago, Drenthe and Pedro Leon. If Lass doesn’t reach a solution he’ll have to rejoin the team and will be an option for me because I never wanted him to leave. The rest don’t enter my plans, but it wouldn’t be a problem for me to have them around.
A lot has been made about Fernando Gago’s comments to ESPN Argentina, which have been reported as “Barcelona is the best team in history… They are well above Real Madrid and the fans do not want to admit it. Last season, the fans thought we could finish above them, but it was impossible.”
But if you listen to the interview, he says that Barcelona is one of the best teams in the world, in the history of football. As for the statement on the fans, his response was this: “obviously, the fans want to beat them (Barcelona)… So the fans were hurt because they won the Liga and the Champions as well… they really don’t see the difference (between the two teams). Perhaps a player, or someone who analyzes the game can see it, but the fan doesn’t see it, because for them, their team is the best.”
” … we’re talking about one of the best teams of the world,of the history of football.You see them playing and you say `I wanna play like that´.So it’s difficult to understand how they can be beaten, you can look for options like we did in the Copa del Rey but with the same tactics the Champions was lost. So more than that you have to look at them and learn, and I like good football watch them and ….” Now Chatruc asked him how the fans live this, Chatruc also said “the fans are like if they wanna kill themselfs”, fer replied ” no no no obviously that the fans want to win, besides there were four matches in a month, it was too much for everybody. The fans were hurt because they (Barça) were the champions of La Liga and of La Champions too” Now he’s asked if the fans see the difference, fer said that “generally the fans don’t see the difference, for them you are the best.”
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now my comments:
Big mistake of the press or of whoever published this first. He didn’t say “Barça is the best team”, he said “Barça is one of the best team”. This makes the difference. They are not the only one, there are others.
When he talked about fans: first of all he never said Madridistas. In the first part perhaps he’s referring to Madrid’s fans. But in the last part I think it’s more like a general statement. And I think also he’s talking like a fan also, he should have experienced this feeling too (not as a Madridista but as a fan of Boca may be)
His words are very objective. He’s being very critical also.
I don’t know if he feels himself a Madridista, sorry for this. I think that for him it’s difficult to feel like one when you’re always shouted by the fans, when the misters say they won’t take him into account but at the same time the club don’t let you go.
ok this is all I have to say about this, I won’t speak further. I’m a follower of Fer since his beginnings in Boca Juniors, so perhaps I know him (as a player) more than you do. I reckon that his words were very risky. But he said what he wanted to say. We are free to say what we want, aren’t we?
