Real Madrid began the work of their US pre-season tour with a training session at UCLA university and with Karim Benzema as a great novelty and already incorporated into the group.
The French striker, who had permission to enjoy more rest days, joined the concentration in the Californian city directly on Tuesday and this Wednesday he already trained with his teammates for the first time for the new season.
“We are going to have a good preseason (…) and go for the maximum number of titles, which is the most important thing at this club,” the striker said on Tuesday in statements provided by Real Madrid.
“Very happy to see my teammates and to start training with the team. I feel good,” he added.
With The Beverly Hills hotel as its headquarters and the UCLA sports facilities as a training ground (the distance between the two is about five kilometers), Real Madrid began its preparation for this tour that has Saturday’s confrontation as a very prominent stop in Las Vegas (USA) against Barcelona.
A hundred white club supporters were waiting for the Real Madrid players with shirts and posters at the entrance of the Wallis Annenberg Stadium at UCLA.
After half of the morning session dedicated to physical work, the Whites’ coach, Carlo Ancelotti, gave way to exercises with the ball in the second part of training with emphasis on starting from behind and under pressure and the shot on goal.
The Spaniard Borja Mayoral and the Brazilian Reinier Jesus are not part of the expedition of 28 players who will continue the Whites’ preseason in the United States.
The absences of Mayoral and Reinier are due to very different situations. The former has not been able to travel due to problems in his vaccination schedule against the coronavirus that the club hopes to solve soon, while the Brazilian remains in Madrid in search of a departure from the team, since he cannot be registered as he has covered the non-community quota with Vinicius, Rodrygo and Militao.
In addition to the match against Barcelona, which will be played (following Spanish time) in the early hours of Saturday 23 July to Sunday 24 July (5:00 CET) at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Real Madrid will play on Wednesday 27 ( 4:30 CET) at Oracle Park in San Francisco against Club América and on Sunday, July 31 against Juventus at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles (4:00 CET).
These three friendlies will serve as preparation for the first title of the season, the European Super Cup that Real Madrid will play on August 10 in Helsinki (Finland) against Eintracht Frankfurt. EFE