Is someone going to help Antonio put his gloves on?

ONE. The number of healthy players has suddenly decreased to 16!  We all know that Khedira and Pipa were already injured, that Cris hurt himself vs. Málaga and Gago in yesterday’s training session, but now Eze Garay, Kaká and Álvaro Arbeloa have been added to the list!  Lass didn’t train, and is suspended for the upcoming game.  The good news is that Pepe has recovered from the flu.

As for the injuries: Kaká has a knee injury, Arbeloa has low back pains (Mou said he can barely walk) and Garay has pains in his right adductor.

TWO. More on Kaká: according to Marca, the player is not pleased with his physical condition, and so he and Mourinho agreed to have him follow a specific training plan to get back into game shape, meaning that he won’t play or even travel with the team until he’s satisfied with his form.  On Friday, he didn’t train with his teammates, and instead worked out in the gym.

It’s MFC and The Boss!  Watch out for Xabi almost tilting over but turning it into a deliberate move in the training video here.

THREE. That meant that only 16 first teamers trained at today’s session, with the absences filled by three canteranos: Jorge Casado, Álex Fernández and MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín.  All 19 of these players were called up for tomorrow’s game against Racing (21h) at El Sardinero.  Due to the reduced number of healthy players, no one was not included as per coach’s decision.

Goalkeepers: Iker, Adán, Dudek.

Defenders: Marcelo, Albiol, Pepe, Carvalho, Ramos, Casado.

Midfielders: Canales, Granero, Xabi Alonso, Özil, Di María, Pedro León, Álex.

Forwards: Benzema, Adebayor, Morata.

FOUR. In his press conference, José Mourinho talked about his injured players: “you can injury yourself in any moment.  Gago injured himself yesterday playing against RMC, Arbeloa has a problem with his back; you can say he injured himself at home because it wasn’t while training or playing.  Cristiano injured himself playing and scoring.  Kaká told me that he has a pain that limits his movements and that he’s not happy when he’s not in top shape.  Between him and the doctors, they’ve decided that the best thing will be for him to return when he himself is convinced that he’s good.  I prefer it like this, because a player loses self esteem when he doesn’t feel that he’s at his best.”

To describe Cristiano’s absence, Mou went back to his favorite word as of late: “he’s fairly important for the club.  That’s obvious.  We’re not going to be hypocritical.  But we have other motivated players and our objectives won’t change.”

Mou also spoke out harshly against Diego Torres from El País, questioning the validity of the information he used for his articles.

FIVE. Speaking of yesterday’s training session, Real Madrid C played a mini-game against some of the substitutes from the Málaga game (Dudek, Arbeloa, Gago, Pedro Leon, Granero, Adebayor, Canales, plus some “loans” from the filial, with Adán going the other way to defend RMC’s goal), and they beat the first teamers 1-0 behind a goal from Fran Sol.  It was during this game that Gago was injured.

SIX. Good news for me, because it looks the club will renew the contract of MFC Álvaro Borja Morata Martín, linking him to the club until 2015.  ABMM’s agent, along with his father Alfonso, met with JV and José Ángel Sánchez yesterday at the Bernabéu, and the contract will probably be finalized next week.  This comes on the heels of Jesé’s contract renewal, which is great news because it shows the importance that the club is placing on some of its brightest canteranos.

SEVEN. According to Cadena SER, last Friday a member of Madrid’s security staff was injured at A Coruña’s airport, while he was protecting José Mourinho.  The team had arrived at Alvedro around 20h on Feb. 25, and the team, including its coach, was signing autographs for the fans.  While Mou was attending to the fans, one of the security guards tasked with protecting him felt a pinch on his chest.  He didn’t think anything of it then, but when he got on the bus later, he realized that he had a four centimeter long wound near his armpit, which could have been caused by a steel knife.  The club’s doctor treated him and they decided not to tell anyone of this incident, not even José Mourinho, who had apparently been the target.  Mou was only told about this on Thursday.

However, Cadena COPE’s version of the event is slightly different.  According to COPE, the security guard had discovered a scratch on his back upon arriving at the team hotel, which could have been caused “by a notebook, a pen or any other object.”  In addition, no one had reported the incident, not the national police, not the Guardia Civil or the local police.

Mou said today at his press conference that “two days ago they told me that one of the security guards had something on his back, and I don’t know anything more than that.  I didn’t see anything happen.”  He added that he doesn’t fear anything.

EIGHT. Raúl, in an interview with TVE, revealed that his dream was to “retire in Real Madrid, but there was a moment in which circumstances changed.”  He went on to say that “it was difficult to leave so many people, so many friends behind, but I’m still a madridista and I still keep up with what’s happening.  Hopefully they’ll be able to win all the titles this year.”  He added that he’s still in contact with many of his former teammates and club employees.

Go watch the video, because there’s a lot of great vintage footage, and close-ups of Rulo’s face!

NINE. And mark March 11 on your calendars, because that’s the day that Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis premieres, and of course there are several Madrid players – Álvaro Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos and Gonzalo Higuaín – in the movie!  According to Santiago Segura (the star of the movie who plays the title character), Álvaro comes off as very handsome in the movie, while Pipita not so much.

Speaking of tweets, a couple of Álvaro’s tweets from yesterday: he said he’ll take Xabi and Esteban with him to go watch Pancho Varona (a musician) and then tweeted a picture of himself with a lot of makeup on (he also called his performance in Torrente “brilliant”).

TEN. Karim Benzema told AS that he looked towards the stands after scoring one of his goals on Thursday because “my father and some other family members had come to Madrid to see me, and I wanted to pay tribute to them from the field.”  Given that Karim also scored when his dad came to watch him play in Lyon, can I ask that Mr. Benzema be present at all games that Karim plays in until the end of the season?

ELEVEN. Iker, in a commercial for Reebok’s Zigtech shoes.

Players will no longer be able to wear neck mufflers starting July 1, after the IFAB banned them.

TWELVE. Radio show “El Larguero” chatted with former Madrid player and canterano Óscar Miñambres (he last played for Madrid in 2004), and it showed how difficult life can be for a footballer.  Óscar retired at the age of 26 after suffering a series of knee injuries, and now oversees an estanco (a little shop selling things like tobacco, stamps, metro passes) in Móstoles.  He told the program that the last time he was at the Bernabéu was during the Capello era, and even now he can’t watch much football because he feels a bit bitter towards the sport, for how everything worked out for him.  Óscar also said that the club had promised to make him and his brother season-ticket holding members, but that they’re still waiting for their cards.

He was also critical of the “Zidanes y Pavones” policy, as the club demanded that the Pavones be Zidanes, which wasn’t realistic, and advised the club to focus on their “Pavones.”  They played a clip of VDB talking about Óscar (he started out as a kid with us, progressed, and had great qualities and was a great player.  I send him a hug and wish him the best in life and for his business) and Óscar said of the marquis, “he was the one that promoted me to the first team, and I’m very thankful to him.  He treated everyone well and I loved working for him.  He’s a gentleman from head to toe and always will be.”

When asked if he stays in contact with any of his former teammates, Óscar said for the most part no, but that he occasionally sees Iker and his parents around Boadilla.  And when asked if he’s happy now, he says yes, because he has a wonderful wife and kids, and he hopes that in the future he will be able to watch football again.  I hope so too, and wish him the best of luck in the future.

Have a listen here.