Ballon d’Or Winners: In Case You’ve Lived Under A Rock

See how the lion gazes at his prey…

The Ballon d’Or snooze fest has come and gone and I have a quick recap of all of the winners after the jump.

Die Mannschaft Movie

Müller in a dirndl. Are we surprised?

Thomas Hitzlsperger Comes Out

Thomas Hitzlsperger, who retired in September 2013 has revealed that he is gay. The 31 year old central midfielder played in the EPL (Aston Villa, West Ham, Everton), Serie A (Lazio), Bundesliga (Wolfsburg, Stuttgart) and League 2 (Chesterfield). He represented Germany at the U19 (as captain), U21 and senior levels.

His Germany teammate Lukas Podolski tweeted “”Brave and right decision. Respect, Thomas Hitzlsperger. His outing is a important sign in our time.” Many others including his former club, Aston Villa, have expressed their support.  I look forward to a day when this will no longer be such big news. I admire & wholeheartedly support Thomas’s decision to come forward. This has got to be a relief for him. I hope that many others will follow.

Thanks to watishista Tali for sending in the news.

– Lozil

Just When You Think Things Are Going Smoothly…

After a collision with Andrea Pirlo in Friday’s Germany/Italy friendly, Sami seemed in a lot of pain. At the time, everyone just assumed it was a minor knock. Ugh. I wish it was that simple. I woke up this morning to the incredibly crap news that not only is it serious, but he’ll be out for the rest of the season and may possibly miss the World Cup. ARGH.

A Little International Picture Dump

Since things are quiet in Real Madrid Land, I thought I’d drop a few pictures of international duty. Maisougio will post La Roja pictures separately. 

Sweet Bromantic Dreams

Here’s a moment of adorableness to go to sleep on tonight. Considering so many of our fave bromances aren’t together on international duty (Sernando, Silvilla, The Double As, etc.), it’s nice to see business as usual with Sami & Mesut. ::sniffle::

– Lozil

Ah Sunday…

So I finally have a minute to get a few things caught up (and Maisougio will be returning with a big ol’ pre-season game recap post soon).

The boys are back in Madrid with the exception of Sergio & Arbeloa who stayed in the US and will meet La Roja in Ecuador tomorrow (more on that in a bit). The non-internationals will back to training on Wednesday. Mesut so enjoyed wearing Sergio’s hat in St. Louis that he decided to wear it home. Not only did the mothership post a photo, he put it in his Instagram as well. These boys never cease to bring the bromance.