I Love Real Madrid

Real Madrid’s first league match of the season concluded in a goal-less draw as they faced off with Sporting Gijon on August 23 and this also was the first game that had Rafael Benitez as the coach of the Spanish team.

This was not the best way for Rafael Benitez to kick-off his managerial career in the Santiago Bernabeu. You have to take into consideration that the Spanish manager was selected to replace Carlo Ancelotti who was able to lift the Champions League and the Kings Cup in his first season.

Those who wanted to see the teenaged playmaker Martin Odegaard in action for Real Madrid in the European game versus Malmo will be disappointed to know that it’s not going to be the case as the boss Rafa Benitez has decided to go into that game with his full fledged squad despite it being only a dead rubber.

Madrid is already in the knockouts in Europe having won 4 games out of 5 and there is nothing that they have to achieve in the last game now.

Real Madrid managed to put behind their disappointing draw against Paris St Germain to claim a win against Celta de Vigo on Saturday.

This victory was paramount given that Barcelona won their game in hand to accumulate 21 points from the opening nine matches. As a result, they are level with Real who lead the table by virtue of better head-to-head record. Real were in danger of dropping more points – after the recent 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid – since they came into the game without a number of key players like Gareth Bale missing due to injury.

Keylor Navas and Kiko Casilla are the goal-keepers that will be competing against each other for a spot in the starting lineup of Rafael Benitez for the next season but even though Benitez already has at his disposal 2 goal-keepers, this has not stopped Real Madrid from attempting to sign Manchested United’s David de Gea as the Spanish club still has hopes in luring him into the Santiago Bernabeu.

Real Madrid striker Javier Hernandez says that he is not sure whether he will remain at the Spanish club next season.

Real Madrid left back Marcelo says that previous defeats against Atletico Madrid this season will not affect the club when they take on their arch rivals in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday night.

Keylor Navas attracted the attention of Real Madrid after the shot-stopper from Costa Rica made a number of splendid performances during the 2014 World Cup and the Spanish side did not hesitate in offloading €10 million in order to trigger the buyout clause that Navas had with his former club Levante.

Real Madrid may have set a new record of winning 22 matches in succession in all competitions, but they suffered a defeat against his former AC Milan team in a friendly match.

This was one of the high profile friendlies for the team during the winter break. Madrid have gone into the winter break not just as the European champions, but also the world champions after winning the Fifa Club World Cup title in Morocco. Carlo Ancelotti has managed to put behind a poor start to get his team on the path towards yet another league title.

The German midfielder Sami Khedira has been dropped from being a consistent and regular starter for Real Madrid to only being able to play a few minutes on a few matches.

Luka Modric, James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos are preferred options of Carlo Ancelotti in his midfield and this leaves Sami Khedira on the sidelines of Real Madrid as the German defensive midfielder has to settle with a place on the bench.

Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal believes that neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi should receive the coveted FIFA Ballon d’Or award this year.

The case against Lionel Messi is significantly strengthened by the fact that the Argentine did not lift any major title with Barcelona last season, although he did help his national team reached the final of the World Cup 2014.