madristar

HAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Madrid is a mini-United Nations February 5, 2011 tags: özil, benzema, khedira, lass, mourinho by unamadridista A fun article from today’s Marca, talking about the languages used in Madrid’s locker room. Did you know that José Mourinho uses four languages on a daily basis to communicate with his players? Our coach speaks five languages – Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian and French – and Italian is the only one he’s not able to use with Real Madrid. If Mou wants to speak with the Portuguese and Brazilians, he uses Portuguese. This is also the language he opts for he speaks with his technical staff, unless Aitor Karanka is present (although I wouldn’t be surprised if Aitor ends up fluent in Portuguese by the end of the season). If he wants to communicate with Lass, Benzema and Adebayor, he uses French. And with the Germans, English is used. With Jerzy Dudek, either English or Spanish would be sufficient. And of course for the Spaniards and Argentines, the choice is Spanish, the same as when he wants to speak with the entire group. Of those that don’t speak Spanish fluently yet, Benzema is improving quickly, and has even given interviews and press conferences in Spanish. He no longer takes classes. Lass, on the other hand, still does not speak Spanish. And with regards to the Germans, Sami has been learning at a much faster pace than Mesut, and both of them still study with professors.

Ángel di María at RNE February 5, 2011 tags: di maría by unamadridista Do all Argentines like quilted, black jackets? Must make Christmas shopping easy. Ángel di María was the special guest on RNE’s “Radiogaceta de los Deportes” yesterday. We find out that Kily González was his footballing reference (the presenters said this was the first time for them that an Argentine hadn’t replied Maradona), that if he had to choose which of the three titles he’d want to win with Madrid, it would be the Champions League, and the Mourinho is a different person than he appears to the public. Ángel described Mou as a “very nice person who likes to joke around with us, and doesn’t differentiate between us. That helps the group to be more united.” He also said that Adebayor “seems like a nice person” although so far he’s been logically hanging out with the French speakers. The interview only got interesting once the presenters said they wanted to get to know Ángel di María, the person. “Fideo” said that he eats the same as he has always done, but that he’s just naturally thin. He was asked about whether he’s in contact with all the Argentine players in Spain, and he says yes, especially Kun in Madrid, Acosta and Fazio in Sevilla, Leo (un amigo de Rosario) in Barcelona and Banega in Valencia, but that all the players have good relationships. Ángel also says that he’s very religious: he has an image of Christ tattooed on his leg and images of the virgin and saints in his locker at the Bernabéu, and he prays before each game. He also said it was important for him that he’s the same person as he was before he started playing football, and that his dream was always to be able to buy a house for his parents with his own money, which he achieved with his first salary from Benfica. He also revealed that he didn’t like studying at all, and that it was a difficult decision to make to play football, because he had to choose between that and helping out his parents economically by working. A typical day in the life of Ángel di María: training session, go home, eat lunch with his girl, go for a walk/go shopping/something relaxing, have dinner, watch a movie before going to sleep. He also reveals that he doesn’t like to go out very much, that if he does go out, it’s just to eat dinner. At home, Ángel listens to Argentine music, especially cumbia, and that he also enjoys playing Play at times. And the presenters also joke about how Ángel always receives Valentine’s Day gifts, because his birthday falls on the same day (he’ll turn 23 this year). Listeners had also sent in some goal celebration suggestions: somersaults a la Hugo Sánchez, giving your shirt to someone in the stands, revealing a shirt to congratulate your mother for her birthday… but Ángel didn’t subscribe to any of the suggestions, so we’ll probably continue seeing him make a heart with his hands. I don’t think I mind any more, because I just want him to score and score!