¡campeones 2012! – the celebration in Madrid (I)

Here is how the rest of the day of celebration in Madrid went: the plane ride from Kiev to Madrid, meeting with the king (no one told the elephant joke) and the slow descent into mass drunkenness, starting on the open air bus.

On the plane & arriving in Madrid.

On Monday (July 2) morning, the team boarded their flight back to Madrid.  During the four-hour long flight,the players chatted, played games alone or against each other on their PS Vitas, or together on their iPads, some read the daily press and others joked around.  Many members of the team also posed with the trophy, which started out the trip in seat 1C and then was passed around so that everyone could get to hold it or get a photo with it.  This was Paco Jiménez’ last day with the team, as he had decided to retire after this tournament, so Pepe got on the public address system to congratulate Paco on his last day of work and wish him the best.

Sergio is saying, “I have the double, or triple, if you count the World Cup in between.”  I wonder who won the parchís game? 

And of course, Sergio also put on some music to try and liven things up.  Pepe, Santi Cazorla and Sergio also improvised a bar out of one of the beverage carts, and Sergio told Raúl Albiol, “Chori, tell the rata Torres and then come here.”  By the way, Pepe won the porra this year, and as he said later on, Chori came in second.  It was organized by Sergio Busquets in the absence of Carles Puyol.

How adorable was it that Fernando Torres was showing Raúl Martínez photos of him and his kids from the celebration?

The team touched down in Madrid shortly before 16h, with Javi Martínez (by the way, he was wearing glasses on the plane and looked adorable) watching the descent from his window.

Following the team’s arrival at Barajas, where they were once again given a tremendous welcome from the ground staff and airport personnel and during which Iker once again was the one responsible for bringing the trophy onto Spanish soil (well, from atop a staircase), the team boarded a bus to the Hotel Barajas, where they would get to rest for an hour or so before traveling to the first stop of the day, the Zarzuela palace.

With the royal family.

At the hotel, everyone except the players changed into their team suits, as they were about to meet the king.  The players remained in their t-shirts and sweat pants.  After resting for a bit, they arrived at the Zarzuela palace around 18h.  Waiting for the team at the residence of the king and queen of Spain were King Juan Carlos, Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia and their two children, Leonor and Sofía, and the Infanta Elena (the queen was traveling abroad on official business).  All of them were wearing something red (or close to red, in Letizia’s case), with Leonor and Sofía sporting personalized Spain shirts.

They shook everyone’s hands, and then everyone headed outside to hear the king’s speech.  During his short speech, the king congratulated the team, said he was proud of them and singled out Vicente del Bosque for his excellent work despite all the criticism he had to put up with.  Then Iker presented the king with a shirt signed by all the players and with the number 1 on it (it looked strange, because we never see the combination of red shirt and the number 1) and thanked him for receiving the team at his residence.  The king then told Education, Culture and Sports Minister Ignacio Wert to say a few things, and he revealed that all those players who are part of this team but had not been on the World Cup-winning team (Juanfran, Jordi Alba, Álvaro Negredo, Santi Cazorla) would also receive the medal of sports merit, although their teammates, who already have it, cannot get it again.

Everyone then posed together for the traditional foto de familia, and afterward, chatted in small groups, or in the case of Cesc and Gerard Piqué, joked around.

Meanwhile, as everyone chatted, the Cup was just left off to one side, and it caught the eye of the infantas, who had glimpsed something shiny inside. So, the next thing we know, Leonor and then Sofía were seen sticking their arms all the way down into the Cup, as far as they would reach, and pulling out the confetti from the celebration.  I love how  Sofía kept tapping Leonor to tell her it was her turn to look inside!  They were just as fascinated with it as the children of the players had been the previous night.  Leonor even went to show her father what she managed to get out of the Cup.  And at one point, the king tried to get them to stop doing that, but to no avail.

Earlier, they had formed part of the receiving line, and Sergio and Gerard were especially affectionate with them.  Later on, the two princesses even tried lifting the Cup!  I love Leonor and Sofía!

The parade through Madrid.

The team boarded the open top bus at the Zarzuela, but the parade route did not really begin until they reached the Moncloa area.  The bus took about two and a half hours to travel down Princesa, Gran Vía and Alcalá to the Plaza de Cibeles, because it went really slowly (so slow that Álvaro Arbeloa could stand up on top of the bus or hop off of it, whenever he felt the urge, as we can see later on) so that the millions of La Roja fans who lined the streets could give the team a heroes’ welcome.  The best sign of the day: “Sergio, throw us the Cup a la Panenka.”  Sergio didn’t throw the Cup, but someone did throw this blow up doll into the bus around the Plaza de España area, and Raúl Albiol wasted no time in posing with it, or rather, Álvaro Arbeloa probably made him pose with it so he could get this picture.

On the bus once again this year was Álvaro del Bosque!  Alvarete mostly stuck by his father’s side, but he did travel to the back to find Iker, greeting Xabi on the way, and say hi.  It makes me very happy that Spain won so that Alvarete could ride on the bus with the team again!  Trini López, VDB’s wife, told ABC Punto Radio after the final that “the thing that makes me the happiest in the world is seeing my son happy… you can’t imagine how happy he is… He had told me, ‘Mamá, stay calm because we’re going to win… I have to ride the bus with the players.'”

The Cup was passed back and forth along the top of the bus, so that everyone could get a chance to hold it.  And as soon as the bus passed, fans filled the void, with more than a few of them followed the bus for some time.  Apparently, more than one million people turned out to cheer their team on.

As mentioned earlier, at one point Álvaro Arbeloa climbed off the side of the bus while it was inching down Gran Vía – he did first pass the trophy to Sergio though – and jumped off so that he could get up close and personal with the fans.  I’m sure the police officers accompanying the bus did not like that at all!  Later on, at Cibeles, he also got close to the fans, and sprayed them with what looks to be cava.

More scenes of the bus.  I loved that Cesc and Fernando Llorente rolled up their sleeves, because it reminded me of the moment in 2008 when Cesc came out to make a speech during the celebrations and Iker chased after him to unroll his sleeves so that he would look more presentable.

More moments: Álvaro Arbeloa deciding it would be a good idea to stand up on top of a moving vehicle to rally the fans, Iker and Sergio being patriotic, Sergio once again showing his love for Lara…

… and Santi, Andrés and Jordi having a great time.  I love Andrés and Jordi’s hats!  And doesn’t the stylized trophy on the championship shirts look like it has a face?

There was a lot of alcohol on the bus, and while Álvaro sprayed cava at Iker, Xabi did the same with the crowd, and when it wouldn’t come out in a spray anymore, he decided, what the hell, I’m just going to drink the rest.  And that’s why Xabi Alonso was drunk by the time the team reached Cibeles.  By the way, that building behind Xabi is one of my favorite places in Madrid – it’s a gigantic Zara store that takes up the entire building!

The scene from the back of the bus.  Notice that Pepe finally got some hair.  And he even spent part of the trip helping the cameraman to film the moments!

Meanwhile, Fernando Torres, Javi, Cesc, Fernando Llorente, Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Pedro and Gerard Piqué mostly hung out at the front of the bus.

Álvaro Negredo, Juanfran, Santi, Andrés, Jordi, Raúl Albiol and PF Juan Mata mostly stayed in the middle, shuttling from side to side.

The trophy was definitely everyone’s favorite accessory!

I see that Javi brought his own drinks…

There was also of course a lot of dancing (or dancing attempts)…

… photo taking (it seems that Andrés spent the entire night sticking his tongue out!)…

… and more dancing and singing, some of which the alcohol definitely played a part in.

The lovely sight of seeing everything yellow and red…

… and the Cup, held multiple ways.

This is the crowd that greeted the team once they reached their destination, the Plaza de Cibeles.  Amazing, no?