Editor Trevor Treharne flew off to Europe for a Madrid-based trainingsession with a certain Portuguese superstar – just before he put

his tips into action with a La Liga hat-trick!

TRAINING WITH RONALDO

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Training

Ronaldo

For those of you who missed the encounter, designed to promote the joint World Cup bid of the two nations, it involved a quite considerable smashing of the world champions by their Iberian rivals, as Portugal ran out 4-0 victors. The talking point of the night was Ronaldo’s ridiculous goal that never was.

Twisting and turning inside the box, Ronaldo managed to perform an audacious chip that arced up over his Real Madrid teammate Iker

Casillas in the Spanish goal and seemingly over the line. However, for reasons unknown, or just pure selfishness, teammate Nani opted to head the ball into the net on the line from an offside position.

The raising of the linesman’s flag ensured Ronaldo’s wonder goal was ruled out, but at least it gave me an extra question for the following night!

Well rested, I was all set for day one of the Castrol trip, which kicked off in the evening with a trip to Real Madrid’s multi-million dollar Valdebebas training complex. Located just outside the city (Real sold their intercity training centre in 2001 to clear debt, would you believe!?) the set-up is every bit as impressive as you would come to expect from the world’s biggest club.

The complex houses Real youth players from the age of seven all the way up to the ‘B’ side and the full seniors. The building which houses the changing rooms is designed to inspire loyalty, while teaching the lesson of the difficulties of making it to the top. It winds up a hill, with the juniors at the bottom and the full senior team at the top.

W hen it comes to covering European events, we at Australian FourFourTwo are lucky enough

to have an extended network of Aussie contributors who are based in that heartland of football and can cover such events.

It saves us the grueling trip across the globe and you still get a local view from an Australian in Europe. However, for every rule there is an exception. Such rule-bending took place last month when our chums at Castrol asked if we were interested in a four-day trip to Madrid for a training session with global superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, VIP tickets to Real Madrid versus Athletic Bilbao and a tour of the Bernabéu Stadium, various other city and museum tours, plus meals at a series of posh Madrid restaurants. I’ll be honest: none of my European freelancers even got a look-in!

Setting off from Australia on a Tuesday evening, there was a day of much-needed sleep in Madrid before the main event. Luckily finding myself awake later that evening, my jet-lag did allow me to watch the most fitting of games considering I was meeting a Portuguese star in Spain – Portugal versus Spain.

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Above top left A model of Real’s training complexAbove left Trev looking quite knackered alreadyAbove right Spot the journo “too good to listen...”

As the youngsters progress they move into the next changing room and further up the hill towards the ultimate prize at the top (at which point Real sign the best player in the world and you have to play for AD Alcorcón instead!).

All that’s passed me by now, so we have to settle for the first changing room we get to so we can get into our Castrol kits, complete with Ronaldo’s name on the back, before heading onto the training pitch. At this point, we’re just hoping not to freak the waiting Ronaldo out too much as a group of 80 people from around the world jog towards him in his kit!

The Castrol group in Madrid are an eclectic bunch from across the globe. We’re put into groups when we arrive on the training pitch, with Australia paired up with a vocal bunch from South Africa. We’re then put through seven different training drills with Real Madrid coaches, one of which included a free-kick session with Ronaldo himself.

I’m not sure whether to describe taking free-kicks in front of Ronaldo as surreal or just plain

off-putting. Luckily we were too close to the goal to cause too much disgrace when performing an art Ronaldo has come so close to perfecting.

Drills completed, we’re told that the group with the highest score would be getting a ‘special prize’ from Ronaldo. The female contestants perk up. The joint forces of South Africa and Australia finish a respectable second. The winners? Need you ask... bloody Germany! (They all received an extra signed Ronaldo football for their continued global dominance of the dead-ball situation).

With the physical part of the evening completed, we head inside for a Q&A session with Ronnie (which we’re calling him by this point of our flourishing friendship).

Now it could be easy to attribute my next assessment to the Castrol sponsorship dollars in his pockets, but Ronaldo genuinely didn’t come across as anything like his famous arrogant and posing on-field persona.

He was, well, actually quite modest as he

I’m not sure whether to describe taking free-kicks right by Ronaldo as surreal or just plain off-putting

talked us through a childhood of footballing obsession in Portugal, a love of life at Manchester United and special praise for former coach Sir Alex Ferguson. There can’t be many former United superstars still on talking terms with the bullish Scotsman!

Then we spoke about the aforementioned wonder goal that was denied against Spain. “Yeah, I was pretty pissed off last night!,” Ronaldo said frankly. “I’m feeling much better today though,” he added with a smile.

Diplomatically, Ronaldo chose to blame the officials for not spotting that the ball had already crossed the line, than Nani’s foolish and unnecessary goal-line bundle. “I am always upset when I’m denied a goal. I can still remember a goal from years back that went over the line and wasn’t given,” he added.

Alongside predictably concluding that La Liga is a two-horse race between Real Madrid and Barcelona, he also flashed some trademark arrogance by responding to the question of his favourite player by stating, “Me of course”.

Training and chat completed, there were photo and autograph opportunities before Ronaldo headed off to rest ahead of the Bilbao game at the weekend. I pondered if he would have a new Australian-inspired style should a free-kick opportunity arise...

The following day would provide the perfect preparation for the upcoming Bilbao game – a tour of Real’s superb Santiago Bernabéu home. It was my first visit to the 80,000-seater

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stadium and I was every bit as amazed as you might expect. The tour starts with a walk up the outer stairs so you begin from the very top, looking down on a pitch that didn’t seem that far away considering the ground’s capacity.

A wander through the stands, the changing rooms and dugout is interjected with theme park-like activities, generating the sort of extra cash flow expected from such a mega brand. You have your picture taken in front of a green screen where you can be superimposed next to a Real Madrid star of your choice – you can also get your hands on a Champions League trophy replica for a snap too.

At the end of the tour, you’re shown into a two-floor merchandise store, which seems to contain Real Madrid-branded everything! There you can also pick up either of your photos for €20 ($27) a pop. This store is packed too, with tourists snapping up everything from Real Madrid bed sets to replica toy helicopters. How do Real afford that squad? Standing inside the merchandise shop was a pretty big clue. I picked up a mug and scarf for reasons that I can only attribute to getting carried away with the Real Madrid effect – as a West Ham fan, I have no real need for them!

The next day we’re back in the packed stands, this time as Real prepare to battle Athletic Bilbao, as they seek to keep Barcelona at bay in La Liga (with their rivals earning a tight 8-0 away win at Almeria). With a Messi hat-trick already in the bag, Ronaldo is probably keen to

match his rivals – we weren’t disappointed.Our VIP tickets gave us seats with overhead

heating to burn away the Spanish winter chill, plus a pre-, half-time and post-match reception inside Real’s well-decorated trophy room no less. Free food and drink, aside nine European Cups/Champions League trophies is the way to enjoy football best I believe.

As for the game, Ronaldo, who was under an injury cloud ahead of kick-off, didn’t let down his 80 new global chums with a hat-trick in the 5-1 rout of Bilbao. A neatly taken one-on-one with the keeper, a trademark swerving free-kick and hat-trick completing penalty kick made the trip all the sweeter.

This was my first trip to the Bernabéu and indeed my first ever La Liga game, and despite the hefty attendance, I was probably left slightly disappointed by the atmosphere. Goals were not celebrated with the zest I’ve experienced at more intimate Premier League grounds as a sense of inevitability and lofty expectations seemed to temper goal-based merriment in Madrid. They’ve seen a lot of victories and goals those Real fans and it showed slightly in this ‘run-of-the-mill’ La Liga banker, despite Bilbao sitting eighth at the time. Game won, Ronaldo impressing, it was the perfect finale to a tremendous whistle-stop tour of an incredible city and football club.

My freelancers be assured, you’re back on duty now, but this one was never getting further than my inbox!

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