Real Madrid Announce Pre-Season Plans
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Spanish giants Real Madrid have announced a busy pre-season schedule for the 2008/2009 campaign.
Los Blancos will be bidding to secure their third La Liga title in a row next season and plan to prepare with a vigorous schedule that will include a training camp and an array of high-profile friendly matches, while the Spanish Super Cup will also be contested in pre-season.
Eight Madrid players, including Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos of Spain will represent their nations at Euro 2008, while the majority of their Madridista team-mates recently kicked off a hard-earned holiday.
Training Camp
Players will be asked to report for pre-season on July 14, where the squad will meet up for five days of team-building in Portugal's Algarve. Then, for the fifth year in succession Madrid will return to Irdning in Austria for the most strenuous part of their pre-season campaign, which will see ten days (21-31 July) of a strict training regime.
High-Profile Friendlies
Following their return from Austria, the team will fly straight to London for the Emirates Cup event held by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. This year's event is expected to excite due to high-profile participants such Juventus and Hamburg.
Los Merengues will then return to the Spanish capital before flying to Colombia to play Independiente Santa Fe on August 7 in Bogota. Following that clash the players return home until 10 August, when they again leave Madrid for Germany.
Before the Spanish Super Cup, Madrid are scheduled to visit Eintracht Frankfurt on August 12 at the Commerzbank-Arena in what will be a rematch of the fifth European Cup title won by the Madridistas in 1960. During the last two weeks leading up to the start of La Liga, Real face Copa Del Rey winners Valencia for the first title of the season in the Supercopa.
The final test of the pre-season will be battled out for Santiago Bernabéu Trophy played at the Bernabéu August 27. This year's tribute to the great Real Madrid President will be played against Sporting Lisbon, who celebrated their centenary last season.