What would life be like as a Real Madrid player?
Sky Sports was given the opportunity to interview real Madrid's training ground, where Cristiano Ronaldo and the entire team were preparing for the national derby (losing 2-3) and hundreds of youth players were honing for future success.
It was a sunny morning in Spain, and zidane's frequent instructions echoed in the air on a training ground for a team based at Real Madrid's valdebebas base. "Catch the ball! Catch! "Pass!"
The Real Madrid boss is overseeing a team-based matchup. Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos lead the green jersey side, while Bale and Marcelo lead the blue jersey team. The pace was fast and the race was quite crazy, but Zidane demanded more. Isco's tackle on Kroos brought the game to a brief halt, and a sigh of defeat sounded as the ball swirled out of the field.
After about 15 minutes, Zidane blew his whistle and gathered his players together to explain the next training plan. The automatic sprinkler immediately appeared on the vacated field, and when the players moved to the far end of the court for the rest of the training, it was time for us to continue our visit.
We are now at the Real Madrid training base, a vast area that has been the seat of the Real Madrid first team and youth training for more than 10 years. It sits on a dusty plot of land on the northeastern outskirts of Madrid, but its manicured facilities are arguably one of the best in the world, surrounded by fences and patrolled by security guards.
It's all about success. In order to reflect the difference in levels between the youth team and the first team, the training lawn is also divided into different levels. Most of them were measured against the precise dimensions of the Bernabeu turf, and even the same natural turf imported from the Netherlands was used.
But for us, these lawns are just the beginning of the journey. We left the media room where Zidane was holding the press conference and left the balcony overlooking the training. Then descend the stairs, walk past state-of-the-art gyms and medical equipment, and through a narrow corridor to reach the entrance to the adjacent first-team dormitory, which is usually limited to senior players and club officials.
The night before Sunday's national derby with Barca, Zidane and his team will spend it here, as they do before every home game. Both sides of the building overlook the training ground, but it is not suitable for work. Quite the opposite, "the design here is for relaxation." "Our tour guide introduced.
It wants to ensure that every player's needs are met. Walk through the reception area, opposite the Real Madrid souvenir exhibition area of nearly 10 meters, with sofas and drinks fridge. A tall white door opens to a movie room where players can enjoy movies or games playing on the big screen.
Walk through photo walls, replicas, and trophies, and behind the next door is the games room. There's billiards, table football, and a simulator of Formula One world racing, but the players prefer to play table tennis. Ronaldo has a lot of love for table tennis. Not surprisingly, we learned that when he gets involved, the competition tends to get more intense.
At the far end of the ground floor there is a huge heated pool with a staircase next to it connecting the players' bedrooms. Half of the 57 named bedrooms belong to the Real Madrid basketball team, which is lined up in a long hallway.
Each room has a fingerprint recognition unlocking system. The room is equipped with en-suite bathroom, king-size bed and shared balcony. Ronaldo and his good friend Fabio Coentrao live next door, with Bell and Modric not far apart. Real Madrid No. 9 Benzema, on the other hand, lives in room 109. "He's superstitious." Our tour guide explained.
At the end of the corridor, after walking past the adjacent rooms of ramos and Pepe, the midfield duo, we arrived at the first team's restaurant. The players come here for dinner before the home game, and after each day's training, they can choose whether to stay in the restaurant for lunch or not, they usually start training at 11 a.m., but arrive at the training base at 10:15.
The restaurant is bright and spacious with floor-to-ceiling windows and well-stocked buffet cabinets. Real Madrid's TV channels are playing on the big screen, and on the other side is a long dining table, standing overlooking the players' parking lot. The sponsor contract required each player to report on the training in their own Audi car, while Lamborghini and Ferrari were left at home.
Starting there, we headed for the famous la fabrica academy, where there are now 277 players, 59 of whom will live there all the time. From u8 to Real Madrid B, they play home games at the 6,000-seater Di Stefano stadium opposite the complex, and this is where Real Madrid strives to create the stars of tomorrow.
The building is original and modern, but in keeping with The Hierarchy of Valderbevas, it is not as extravagant as a team of dormitories. The bedroom is two and the dining room is like a school cafeteria. The busy classrooms seem to remind you that in La Fabrica, teaching isn't just on the pitch.
Here, only a small percentage of players are able to go all the way and enter the Real Madrid squad. But Rafabrica remains one of the best academies in the world to develop top players, with significant success stories. From Butragueño to Raul, the walls are littered with photos of graduates who eventually became club legends.
Perhaps the best incentive for today's younger generation comes from a not-so-prominent photograph showing a 12-year-old academy player who was randomly selected in 2004 to be given the task of laying the first stone for the foundation of the Balde Bevas base. That's Daniel Carvajal, a two-time Champions League winner of Real Madrid right-back. He was only 10 years old when he was first inducted into La Fabrica.
Carvajal is not the only active first-team player from academy. There's alvaro morata, Lucas vasquez, Nacho and backup goalkeeper Kiko Casilla. Even Brazilian midfielder Casemiro has trained with The Real Madrid B team, which Zidane once coached. It's not easy to go up the ladder, but here's the way.
We ended up walking around the venue and left the academy. The morning training is over, and the lawn is empty now, but tomorrow, everything will be staged again. The young future stars continue to move towards their goal of top players, and zidane's first-team stars will continue to prepare for future games.
(Translator: Huang Xuan)