From Tedious to downright weird

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Carlos quieroz goes a little crazy

I must admit the latest little story from bernd Schuster was rather amusing, talking about how all those years in manchester, and winning the European cup were all part of the process of making ronaldo better able to settle in madrid, where "he will play alongside a worldchampion like Cannavaro and great players like Raul and van nistelrooy and......."

Marca even had to make the day of the European cup final about Real Madrid with a big picture of ronaldo in a real madrid shirt saying "I DO".

The way things are going, I fully expect real Madrid tv to announce the signing of ronaldo before Calderon appears before the world media standing beside a very unconvincing Cristiano Ronaldo lookalike.

Given how shit they are, I'm very impressed by their nerve. they've won two cl knockout games in four years despite spending more money than any team bar chelsea in that period. and they were beaten home and away this season by Roma. Roma of all teams. If they're looking for a means to rank themselves with Man utd in current footballing terms, Roma is a very good place to start. or is football a poor prism through which to view this 'club'. Just who exactly do Real Madrid think they are?

It's very annoying and I wish they would just stop.

[cackaforte]

From Tedious to downright weird

I am bored of it already but this is going to drag on all summer..yawn.

[ursus arctos]

From Tedious to downright weird

Nah, it's a classic. And they've kept it up for ten days now.

The CRonaldo Saga is almost as important to Marca as Maddie was to the Express or house prices are to the Mail.

People are going to be writing dissertations about Marca's debt to magic realism in ten years' time.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

From Tedious to downright weird

It's great though isn't it. All the journalists are sitting by the pool somewhere in spain, lazily dictating their columns down the phone to the subeditors. They've borrowed the waiters copy of Marca and they're trying to translate it down the phone to the subeditor. I'm waiting for the day when some inattentive sub just leaves in the bit where the journalist turns to the barman and says "dos cervezas por favor".

It's the story that just keeps on giving.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

From Tedious to downright weird

what on earth does that headline say.

and have marca started to pretend that Raul is going to be playing for Spain at euro 2008 yet.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

From Tedious to downright weird

that was calderon that talked about slavery. I will admit that it is rather difficult to follow. real madrid also issued a statement today saying that they wouldn't talk about a player that was contracted to another club and that it was all the media's fault

But the best thing from the media's point of view is that if he doesn't sign for Real Madrid this season, they can cut and paste the stories again next season, and the season after that etc.

[G-Man]

From Tedious to downright weird

I bet CRonaldo cannot wait to hook up with Ruud again.

Columbus had creepily long fingers, didn't he.



Reminds me of Diana Ross' long feet:

[ursus arctos]

From Tedious to downright weird

It says: "My Dream is to Play for Madrid", of course.

It was two days after this one:



"I do!" (as in what a blushing bride would say).

They gave Raul the Trofeo di Stefano for player of the season, which eased their pain at his exclusion a bit.

[Mr Beast]

From Tedious to downright weird

It would be funny if he ended up signing for Barcelona instead. They could certainly do with more attacking players

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

From Tedious to downright weird

I thought that christopher columbus was from Genoa

[ursus arctos]

From Tedious to downright weird

He was.

I don't get it either.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

From Tedious to downright weird

He spent quite a bit of time in Galway working as a captain on those traderoutes. Can we claim him too?

[ursus arctos]

From Tedious to downright weird

Great idea; then New Yorkers could celebrate "Irish Columbus Day" in addition to the current "(Italian) Columbus Day" and "Hispanic Columbus Day".

[Jon]

From Tedious to downright weird

Different year, different player but the same old shit, I'm afraid. It was Kaka last season. Before that, the players we were linked with over the summer we usually ended up buying: Robinho, Zidane etc

And I can't even get excited about the player we have signed - Garay - as he's going to be loaned back to Racing for another year.

However, there's always the kit:





First impressions - too much black on the home kit - it's even on the collar. new colour for the away strip - Robben looks like he's back at the Bridge.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

From Tedious to downright weird

I thought It was an Irish priest that founded the knights of columbus.(I think they're beatifying him at the moment) Do they have anything to do with these columbus days

[ursus arctos]

From Tedious to downright weird

aiatl, the KoC (which is the largest Italian-American "fraternal association") are big supporters of the traditional/Italian one (October 12th); the "Hispanic" one is a relatively new development of the last 15 years or so.

Jon, I was going to post that picture of the kit, but couldn't read the "poem" without retching:

"Pure football is in my heart; White blood runs through my veins*; Congratulations Champions!"

Bleurgh.

*Diarra looks to have particular doubts about that line.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

From Tedious to downright weird

What is casillas doing in the wall. Get back on your bloody line you fool.

[ursus arctos]

From Tedious to downright weird

He's petrified, as he can't figure out WHOSE hand that is on his shoulder . . .

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

From Tedious to downright weird

I don't like the way that sergio ramos refuses point blank to touch diarra.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

From Tedious to downright weird

I thought Real Madrid's traditional away kit was that Royal purple colour that made them look like emissaries from the vatican?

[Reed John]

From Tedious to downright weird

Yeah, how does Portugal claim Christopher Columbus? Portugal turned down his grant application. He was Italian (Genoan) and worked for Spain.

[Jon]

From Tedious to downright weird

"They gave Raul the Trofeo di Stefano for player of the season, which eased their pain at his exclusion a bit."

Although, that was Marca readers rather than the paper itself. Every week readers voted who their player of the jornada was. Ineveitably Raul won it most weeks he was playing. Then a list of finalists was drawn up and a panel of ex-footballers chose 1) Raul 2) Aguero and 3) Casillas. Slight bias towards the capital there, methinks.

Here's a less biased poll - uefa.com published their team of the season. No Raul here:

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid); Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Capdevilla (Villarreal), Coloccini (Deportivo Coruña), Cata Díaz (Getafe); Guti (Real Madrid), Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona), Jorge López (Racing Santander); Güiza (Real Mallorca) Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), and Agüero (Atlético Madrid). Racing Santander coach Marcelino García Toral was named coach of the year.

Here's the UEFA 'breakout' team of the year:

Diego López (Villarreal); Pepe (Real Madrid), Martín Cáceres (Recreativo Huelva), Bruno (Almería), Filipe Luis (Deportivo Coruña); Rubén de la Red (Getafe), Esteban Granero (Getafe), Capel (Sevilla), Sisi (Valladolid); Bojan Krkic (Barcelona), and Alvaro Negredo (Almería)

I was raving about de la Red a couple of years ago when I saw him play a handful of games for Madrid. Hopefully Schuster will put in the sqaud for next season (he's only on loan to Getafe). Might depend on how well he does this summer in Euro 2008.

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

From Tedious to downright weird

Rubén de la Red

He's been linked with Liverpool hasn't he?

[rick derris]

From Tedious to downright weird

why is there a big Columbus statue at the bottom of the ramblas in barcelona?

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

From Tedious to downright weird

He discovered Raul Tamudo I think.