El Cacereño, Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey rivals, packed his bags this Monday to embark on a journey of more than 10,000 miles a week away from Ancelotti’s side. On January 3, Extremadura club Segunda RFEF hosts the white team at the Príncipe Felipe Stadium for the first leg in one game, but before that they will play two friendlies against the senior and under-21 sides in Nepal in Pokhara and Kathmandu. The entire team, together with the board of directors, left Madrid’s Adolfo Suárez Airport this Monday for a trip that will combine flights with games with little rest until their return on December 31.
The expedition is already at Madrid airport!
Upon our arrival, the Ambassador of Nepal in Spain presented the whole expedition with Jatas to wish them luck and as an auspicious symbol pic.twitter.com/St6GvaHmij
— CP Cacereño (@CPCacerenoSAD) December 26, 2022
El Cacereño announced in November, before he knew of his confrontation with Real Madrid, an agreement with the Lumbuni Foundation, the result of last year’s partnership between the Nepalese city and Cáceres, which meant the team could host two friendlies in December Asian soil would contest 28 and 29, as part of a project called “Football for Peace”. “We want to use sport in general, and football in particular, as a vehicle to channel this message of peace between peoples and nations at a time when it is more necessary than ever,” the club explains.
Their itinerary began this Monday with a flight from Madrid to Doha, where they will make a stopover in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, on Tuesday. Once there, they travel to Pokhara for their first friendly against the senior national team on Wednesday. In the end, return to Kathmandu to play against the Under-21 side on Thursday. The next day, the 30th, they start their return journey, also stopping in Doha to arrive in Madrid on the 31st in time to eat the grapes with the family. Three days later they meet the reigning European champions.
“It’s for a good cause, no one doubted that. Is there a better pre-season than this? Undoubtedly the pure air of Chomolungma [el Everest] it will give Cacereño extra energy, typical of great climbers,” emphasized the members of the expedition in testimonies collected by Diario As upon their departure from Madrid. As a farewell, the Ambassador of Nepal to Spain, Sarmila Parajuli Dhakal, presented them with various gifts and gave them an encouraging message: “We are very proud to see how despite the fact that they have to play against Madrid in a few days, they wanted to continue to travel. This is very important.”
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