cómo se nota la sangre andaluza: here’s the final video of the Dame vida-Soccket project, in which Sergio and a whole bunch of other athletes appear (including some members of the German national team, but unfortunately not Sami or Mesut).  However, there’s no sign of Sergio rapping.  Head here for more information on the presentation of the project, which took place yesterday in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.

a trophy or a work of art?: some more details on the “unique” Copa currently exhibited in the Spanish football federation’s museum.  According to AS, the club is not happy that the Cup is being displayed in the museum, especially because they were not consulted or advised of the decision.

A source from the club said, “we gave them the Copa the same night, but we didn’t think they would exhibit it.  A lot of players break their boots and shirts during games and no one is displaying them in a museum.”  Meanwhile, the museum’s creator had this to say: “it’s a museum piece, since people are curious about it.  I would have liked Paul the Octopus to be in the museum, he could be worth more than the World Cup itself.”  The RFEF decided to display the Copa right at the entrance, next to a blackboard in which VDB explained the tactics on how to defend against corner kicks during the World Cup and several newspapers.

various posts: will we be seeing more of this in the near future?  I hope so, because the team has a lot of time on airplanes coming up in the beginning of next season.  Real Madrid has finalized their summer tour, which will last almost a month, and take them to five countries.

July 11: medical checkups in Madrid, Spain

July 11: travel to Los Angeles, U.S., set up camp at UCLA

July 16: Los Angeles Galaxy game, Los Angeles, U.S.

July 20: Chivas de Guadalajara game, San Diego, U.S.

July 23: Philadelphia Union game, Philadelphia, U.S.

July 24: return to Madrid, Spain

July 27: Hertha Berlin game, Berlin, Germany

July 30: Leicester game, Leicester, England

July 30: travel to China

Aug. 3: Guangzhou Evergrande game, Guangzhou, China

Aug. 6: Tianjin Teda game, Tianjin, China

Aug. 6: return to Madrid

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Aug. 10: national team date

Aug. 14: first leg of the Supercopa

Aug. 17: second leg of the Supercopa

Aug. 20-21: Jornada 1 of the Liga

Aug. 24: Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu vs. Schalke

Aug. 27-28: Jornada 2 of the Liga

Here’s a little graphic, courtesy of AS, showing all the travel Madrid will be doing.

Ruud: it was a forbidden love: Ruud van Nistelrooy is indeed back in Spain, but unfortunately not with Real Madrid.  Instead, he’s reuniting with Manuel Pellegrini in Málaga.  He told the press yesterday during his presentation that he wanted to end his career in Spain, which is why he signed a one-year deal with the club, with an option for a second year.  He said he was very happy to return to Spain and reassured the fans that physically, he’s in perfect shape.  Welcome back Van Gol!

As you can see below, Málaga’s new shirt sponsor is UNESCO.  They also signed an agreement yesterday to collaborate for four seasons, which includes various campaigns and the appearance of the organization’s name and logo on the club’s shirt.  Málaga is doing all of this for free.  This type of deal is very similar to the one that Barcelona had with UNICEF, before they decided to relegate UNICEF’s name to the bottom part of the back of their jerseys.

P.S. Esteban welcomed Ruud back on twitter, saying it’s great news and that Ruud is an exceptional footballer and teammate!