Sauce: Associated Press http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g6r6VLuaCfvv9hwaWSU-qj3lelQQ?docId=CNG.af666ba49360109e864507732b6935b3.4f1

Associated Press wrote:MUNICH, Germany — Real Madrid suffered a nasty surprise in the build-up to their Champions League semi-final clash at Bayern Munich on Tuesday as three of their stars had their boots stolen.

Just before kick-off, with the Spanish giants preparing for their first-leg clash at Munich's Allianz Arena, a thief stole six pairs of boots and some shirts from Real's dressing room in the stadium.

The website of Spanish sports newspaper Marca reports Ronaldo had three pairs of boots stolen while a total of three pairs belonging to either Germany's Mesut Ozil or France's Karim Benzema were also pinched.

Real have already complained to European football's governing body UEFA.

CR WAS INVISIBLE BECOUSE HE WAS PLAYING WITHOUT HIS FAVOURITE BOOTS

dat use of home field advantage

:lol!: ...excuse of the year..

Adrian0911 wrote: :lol!: ...excuse of the year..

:lol!: ... "sarcasm cognitive skills of the year" award

kinda funny.

Gypsu Bayern

To be fair, having your things stolen before a game can have a psychological impact on a player before a game, even if its not a major one

if that affected someone mentally then they deserve to get stripped of all money and go back to playing in dirt instead of being a spoiled kid.
Sucks but things happens and i doubt they didn't have spare boots somewhere in Munich.

Gomez83 wrote:if that affected someone mentally then they deserve to get stripped of all money and go back to playing in dirt instead of being a spoiled kid.

Well we ar etalking about Ronaldo

Right. I'm probably going to steal all of Messi, Iniesta and Fibreglass' boots then. And anything else I can find.

Here's to the win!

Gomez83 wrote:if that affected someone mentally then they deserve to get stripped of all money and go back to playing in dirt instead of being a spoiled kid.

Reminds of someone who complained about San Siro's pitch.

Lord Hispano wrote:

Gomez83 wrote:if that affected someone mentally then they deserve to get stripped of all money and go back to playing in dirt instead of being a spoiled kid.

Reminds of someone who complained about San Siro's pitch.

I concur. Hypocrisy at its finest...

only madrid fans are hypocrits, everyone shhh.

it was clear ronaldo was without his shooting boots ,tats y couldnt even shoot when 1 on 1 :lol!:

Nobody has actually brought this issue back to the fact that this is the same ground that Bayern play at every home game + it is hosting the CL final... and the security is crap. It's pretty bad that someone could break into the team's dressing room! Keeping a guard outside the door might be a good idea.

P.S. The guard probably did it.

P.S.S. He stole one Ronaldo jersey for himself, one for Altintop and another for the Leverkusen players.

Mourinho didnt say this
he said that the boots were stolen and that they were going to UEFA and complain about the security of the locker rooms which any club in their right mind would do

Lord Hispano wrote:

Gomez83 wrote:if that affected someone mentally then they deserve to get stripped of all money and go back to playing in dirt instead of being a spoiled kid.

Reminds of someone who complained about San Siro's pitch.

Mind quoting me on when I complained about San Siro, actually I'll save you the time, my account was not even created when that match took place. I'm beginning to think all Madrid fans are desperate for a comeback.

Gomez83 wrote:if that affected someone mentally then they deserve to get stripped of all money and go back to playing in dirt instead of being a spoiled kid.
Sucks but things happens and i doubt they didn't have spare boots somewhere in Munich.

You know that you arrive at the stadium just a couple of hours before the game. If the boots are stolen it can interfere with your focus. Instead of focusing on the game you need to focus 30-40 minutes on getting new boots. It might be very stressful when you're already in a high pressure situation.

Of course it's not an excuse in any way to why Madrid lost. But it should surely be reported as it's not acceptable on this level. And it doesn't make anybody a sore looser. If the tone isn't "we lost because they stole our boots".

Well, it's possible that if the boots were stolen, they would be concerned about their other possessions...

Anyway, I agree with Forza. A team's dressing room being broken into simply should not happen, especially since the Allianz Arena is hosting the biggest match in club football.

This is especially shocking because of a couple factors:
1) German stadium safety is usually world class
2) German crime rates are usually ridiculously low
3) The Allianz Arena is a very modern stadium and has hosted international events countless times, things like that shouldn't happen.

I won't be surprised if it turns out, in the end, that a member of staff wanted some kind of memento. Because I don't buy a random thief / nutcase fan just breaking into the Allianz Arena's locker rooms.

Also, with 20ish players, coaching and medical staff etc. etc. how was there even a time where nobody was in the locker room?
Weird weird weird.

paperbackwriter wrote:

You know that you arrive at the stadium just a couple of hours before the game. If the boots are stolen it can interfere with your focus. Instead of focusing on the game you need to focus 30-40 minutes on getting new boots. It might be very stressful when you're already in a high pressure situation.

i'm sure the players were focusing on getting the new boots and not, for instance, the team's kit man...

this is the same case as barcelona's sprinklers tbh, probably some janitor within the arena decided to do something stupid

Yeah, I can imagine Cristiano running around in a crazed panic for 30 minutes in a desperate search for boots lol

che wrote:

paperbackwriter wrote:

You know that you arrive at the stadium just a couple of hours before the game. If the boots are stolen it can interfere with your focus. Instead of focusing on the game you need to focus 30-40 minutes on getting new boots. It might be very stressful when you're already in a high pressure situation.

i'm sure the players were focusing on getting the new boots and not, for instance, the team's kit man...

this is the same case as barcelona's sprinklers tbh, probably some janitor within the arena decided to do something stupid

Of course I don't believe that Ronaldo was taking a limo all around town looking for new boots or searching for a shop himself.

But it's still a stress factor to have the uncertainty, no matter how long it lasted and how close the game it was. Also, I think for example Ronaldos boots are custom made and sent to him by Nike. I doubt he buys them straight of the shelf in the size that's most fitting. Seeing as he's their biggest poster boy.

Meaning he doesn't get exactly the fit he's used to and so on.

Not that it should matter with professionals at this level. But a lot of football players are very superstitious with gear as well as their rituals.