In one week, on August 12th, Real Madrid Femenino / CD Tacón will kick off their first pre-season against Athletic Club. It will be our first chance to see the team as it currently stands, and to get a glimpse of what the future may hold. Our first official match will be against Barcelona on September 8^th. I’m still working on finding the details on where to watch their matches, so hopefully I will have an answer for you before the first regular season game kicks off.

Until then, let’s get to know the defensive parts of our team.

The Goalkeepers

Right now, CD Tacón has three keepers on their roster. Both Sara Ezquerro and Yohana were on the roster prior to Real Madrid’s takeover, while Ana Vallés was brought in this season.

• At 25, Yohana is the oldest of the three keepers. She joined the team from Guadamur before the 2017/2018 season began.
• Sara Ezquerro is the youngest of the three at 20, but was picked up by CD Tacón after the 2015/2016 season ended. Sara’s story is probably my favourite of the goal keepers. She comes to us from Atlético Madrid where she was kicked off the team for celebrating Real Madrid’s victory over Atleti in La Undécima. Photos surfaced of her and then-teammate, María Calvo, celebrating at Cibeles while wearing Real Madrid gear. Her contract was not renewed. (It probably didn’t help that she also appeared in a photo where the Calderón was tagged as “Mordor.”) This Madridista has come home.
• At the time of writing, Ana Vallés is still the most recent signing for CD Tacón this offseason. At 21, she comes to us after two seasons with Rayo Vallecano.

The Defenders

With a bit more digging following my last piece, I have to make a few corrections. I had originally listed Noemi Andres Laguna, Camila Alejandra Saéz Oyaneder, Lucía María Rodriguez Herrero, and Laura Bravo Rico as current defenders. However, Noemi was sent to Olimpico Madrid, Camila to Rayo Vallecano, Lucía to Madrid CFF, and Laura is now a part of Alhóndiga. As of now, we have a total of six defenders on our squad. (This does not include Aurélie Kaci who is listed as both a midfielder and a defender.)

• Lucía Suárez Garcia is the youngest defender at 18, but she has been playing with the first team since she was 15. We originally picked her up from Madrid CFF and she was also a part of the U16 Spanish women’s national team.
• Esther Martín-Pozuelo Aranada came to Tacón from La Solana in 2017 and lists Sergio Ramos as her idol.
• Samara Ortiz Cruz is one of the twins on the team. Her sister, Malena, is a midfielder. She is a dual citizen between Spain and Azerbaijan and came to us from CD Canillas in 2016.
• Lixy Rodriguez Zamora is our first Costa Rican player on the team. She comes from Codea in Costa Rica and played on the 2015 Women’s World Cup team as well as the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship
• Marina Martín Massanet is our Mallorquina for CD Tacón and she comes to us from AD Son Sarina in Mallorca.
• Ana Sáenz de Pipaón Soba, aka Pipa, is 26 and came to Tacón from Cordoba CFF in Andalucía during the 2018/2019 season. Pipa was the first woman to win the Pedro Zaballa Award, a Fair Play trophy that Real Madrid won during the 2010/2011 season, for saving the life of an opponent during a match in November of 2018. As the story is told, Pipa’s other career is that of a medic and during a match that season, one of the opponents went down on the pitch. Her medical training kicked in and, once she ruled out a head injury, she realized that the player had collapsed due to low blood sugar. When the opposing player woke back up, they got her to a hospital and the game continued with Cordoba winning 7 - 1.

There you have the introductions for our current backline. I can’t wait to see what they are capable of! Next up, I’ll preview our offense, where you will find our most recent signings.