Real Madrid preseason training update – day 7: captain Sergio joins the squad

Real Madrid have been training in Los Angeles, Calfornia for a week now in preparation for their four preseason matches in the United States. Captain Sergio Ramos joined the squad after getting extended vacation time. Let’s take a look at the news and notes from the first week of preseason training.

Sergio Ramos joins the squad

He was swimming with whale sharks, now he’s back training with his teammates ahead of the preseason tour. Sergio Ramos is truly a legend.

Ramos has high aspirations for this season, saying to the media that he doesn’t think it’s out of the question he could win the Ballon d’Or. “These last years have been all about both Leo and Cristiano, but, for example, [Fabio] Cannavaro, who was my partner, also won.”

“You never see it as crazy. I have achieved lots of things throughout my career that are very, very good but if they rewarded me with a Ballon d’Or, that would be historical.”

Ramos arrived in Los Angeles in great shape, having been keeping his regiment of training up during the offseason. The 31-year-old has not been limited at all since joining the team in Cali, and he’s been very busy off the field as well signing autograph after autograph for the countless Real Madrid fans.

Danilo gets a birthday surprise from Marcelo

Amid transfer rumors a plenty, Marcelo had a little fun with his Brazilian teammate Danilo on July 15th celebrating the right back’s 26th birthday.

According to Danilo, it is a Brazilian tradition on someone’s birthday to mess with them, and Marcelo definitely did well, dousing his countrymen in several eggs, and a lot of flour as he was being interviewed.

Danilo was shown a few days before on the bus to training in Marcelo’s Instagram live video not wanting to be put on camera while Marcelo and Casemiro danced to music. It appears the possible Chelsea signing was in a better mood for his 26th.

Real Madrid stars use state of the art technology to analyze performance

By far one of the coolest things I’ve seen in the realm of technology are these devices Adidas has provided Real Madrid with to use during their preseason training sessions. These devices, which are explained in full in the video below, are put into a special shirt the players wear for training in order to track distance traveled by GPS, heart rate, and more.

These devices will be used all season long to help the fitness team, and Zidane follow how players are performing physically during matches. I’m very impressed.

Less than a week away from the first preseason match, fitness is key

Sunday and Monday in LA consisted of lots of running, and other endurance drills as the players ran laps upon laps around the training pitch at UCLA. I watched the nearly hour and a half long livestream from Real Madrid TV, and trust me, you didn’t miss a whole lot.

If you want to catch a glimpse of the fitness regiment the players go through, take a peek at the video below:

Fitness head Antonio Pintus will certainly have the players in tip-top condition with these two-a-day training sessions and plenty of endurance work.

Real Madrid will take on Manchester United in Santa Clara on Sunday night, July 23rd, in their first preseason match of the United States tour.

Next: Everything you need to know about the Alvaro Morata transfer dilemma

Stay tuned to the Real Champs for more updates on the Real Madrid preseason tour!