Montreal Impact striker Didier Drogba says that having Real Madrid train at his club's facilities has been a big boost for everyone around the MLS outfit.
Madrid began their preparations for the 2016-17 season this week at the Impact's Caserne Letourneux training ground, with new fitness coach Antonio Pintus taking charge of the sessions ahead of three upcoming friendlies in the United States against Paris Saint-Germain in Columbus, Chelsea in Ann Arbor and Bayern Munich in New Jersey.
Local fans greeted the team in somewhat chaotic scenes on arrival at Montreal airport with fans eager to meet coach Zinedine Zidane and France forward Karim Benzema.
Blancos president Florentino Perez has also posed for photographs and signed autographs with supporters outside the hotel Ritz Carlton where the team is staying.
Tuesday saw ex-Chelsea striker Drogba visit Madrid's sessions at his current club's training ground, and the Ivory Coast international said it was great for everyone in Montreal to see how the Liga giants go about their work.
?ﾟﾇﾨ?ﾟﾑﾍ@didierdrogba came to say hello during our second training session in Montreal!#RMTour #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/xffzTA6JKO
- Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) July 19, 2016
"For the Montreal Impact it means a lot that Real Madrid are training here, given the history of the club," Drogba said. "It's important to see how such a major team go about their work.
"I've played against Real Madrid many times, with Marseille and Galatasaray and I've also lined up against Zidane. Real Madrid is a really great club and an extremely prestigious one. It's an honour to have them here."
Drogba, 38, is in his second season with the Impact, and has scored five times in 10 MLS outings in 2016, with his team currently fourth in the ten team Eastern Conference table.
"It's proving to be a marvellous experience after having played in Europe and Asia," he said. "I always wanted to play in MLS. It's a big city and the fact that the language here is French is also a help.
"The people are very friendly and I'm really enjoying the city. There are European clubs who don't have comparable facilities to those that we have at our training complex, and it's important that we fill our stadium every weekend."