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Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has said he doesn’t believe team mate Angel di Maria wants to leave the club.

The Argentine winger has been linked with a move away from the Santiago Bernabeu all summer with Manchester United and PSG mentioned as the most likely destinations.

He was left out of the European Super Cup win over Sevilla earlier this month, intensifying speculation that he was about to leave the Spanish capital for pastures new following the arrival of James Rodriguez, who plays in the same position as him.

But the 27-year-old has responded well to the speculations and put in a superb performance against Fiorentina at the weekend, and also came off the bench in the first-leg of the Spanish Supercopa against Atletico de Madrid.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Ramos said he doesn’t think di Maria is looking to leave, and that any player playing for Los Blancos normally thinks of staying for life as there is no bigger club in the world to play for.

“It’s clear that Di María was very good last season and that he is a player who is really loved by the fans. I’m not one for recommendations.  We live in a democratic country.  Di Maria knows what it is to be out and he’s at Real Madrid.  I don’t think Di Maria’s intention is to leave and in my cause, I signed up to be here for life.,” he stated.

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The papers in Madrid have largely dealt with the reaction from the first-leg of the Spanish Supercopa and are turning their attention to the second-leg, which takes place tomorrow evening at the Vicente Calderon.

The biggest concern for Real Madrid ahead of the game is the fitness of Cristiano Ronaldo, who was replaced at half-time on Tuesday night because of a thigh problem.

AS says on its front page this morning that the Portuguese forward has been wrapped in cotton wool ahead of the second game against Atletico de Madrid. The paper also have a number of stats about the star man, revealing how he has played within himself in recent games. On average, Ronaldo takes 6.8 shots per game, but on Tuesday he only had one effort – perhaps a sign he was wary of overdoing it so soon in the new season.

Going in the game, Marca says Los Blancos are still the favourites, despite giving away a late goal on Tuesday allowing Atletico to salvage a draw. Betting companies have Carlo Ancelotti’s men as the favourites, and Los Blancos haven’t lost to their city rivals at the Calderon since 1999.

Finally, Marca goes with a picture of di Maria on its front page, and says the Argentina winger has convinced club coaches and directors that he should stay. The players want him to remain a Los Blancos player and the winger himself is keen on staying at the Santiago Bernabeu.

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Real Madrid playmaker James Rodriguez has expressed his delight at scoring on his debut at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The 80-million-euro summer signing from Monaco, who was top scorer at the World Cup with Colombia, opened the scoring in the Spanish Supercopa first-leg against city rivals Atletico de Madrid. Los Rojiblancos leveled with three minutes remaining to take a slight advantage into the second-leg on Friday, but that couldn’t dampen the 22-year-old’s spirits.

Speaking to journalists after the game, Rodriguez said: “My debut was great, I’m happy, it’s a day people dream about and today it came true for me, I’m happy because I scored.”

Looking ahead to the match on Friday at the Calderon, the Colombian urged his team mates to be calm and play their natural game. If they do that, Los Blancos will win their second trophy of the season, the forward said.

“They closed up the passing lanes, they always want to play quickly and we need to train well and come out to win on Friday.  There, we’ll need to have patience, look for space, pass and try to score.  We need to be calm, as a big team, we must go out to win.  They have a lot of respect for Madrid.  We deserved more, we had more chances to score,” he stated.

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Colombian striker Radamel Falcao will arrive at Real Madrid in the next winter transfer market, French media have claimed.

Carlo Ancelotti announced a few days ago that Los Blancos will not make any more signings this summer, and it could be true, despite claims that Florentino Perez would still be seeking a striker to replace Alvaro Morata, who is now at Juventus.

Los Merengues have spent more than 100 million euros this summer in bringing Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez and Keylor Navas. The only way they could afford a new first-class signing would be finding a buyer for Angel di Maria and Sami Khedira, which seems more unlikely as the last day of the transfer market gets closer.

However, Real directors know there is only one pure striker in the squad -Karim Benzema- and they doubt they can face such a long season and fight for six competitions with just the Frenchman up front.

Thus, they are considering postponing the signing of a new striker until January, and French newspapers believe they are trying to convince Monaco about a winter Falcao move.

The Colombian is determined to play at the Santiago Bernabeu, and he knows he is Florentino Perez’s favourite for the job. Yet, his high price could make Los Blancos consider other options. Alvaro Negredo was also linked with Los Blancos, but his recent injury has ruined his chances of returning to Madrid.

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Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has revealed young forward Jese Rodriguez is making good progress in his recovery from a serious knee injury.

The 21-year-old striker has been sidelined since March with a cruciate knee ligament injury sustained in the Champions League quarter-final against Schalke.

The injury came at an unfortunate time for the forward as he was in a purple patch that saw him move ahead of Alvaro Morata in the pecking order and become the first alternative should any of the front three of Bale, Benzema or Ronaldo miss a game through injury or suspension.

There was even talk in some sections of the media that Rodriguez had caught the eye of national team boss Vicente del Bosque who was thinking of naming him in his World Cup squad.

Since then, the striker has had to focus on getting fit again, and he’s spent the summer at Valdebebas building up the strength in his knee.

In a question and answer session on social media network Twitter, manager Carlo Ancelotti was asked about Rodriguez’ fitness now and when he would be making a come back to the first team.

And the Italian responded: “Jese Rodriguez is doing specific work to recover. He will be ready to play very soon.”

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Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has admitted Atletico de Madrid hold a slight advantage going into the second-leg of the Spanish Supercopa because of their late away goal on Tuesday night.

Raul Garcia scored for the visitors with just three minutes left after James Rodriguez had scored his first goal for Real Madrid since his 80-million-euro summer move to open the scoring. That equaliser for Los Rojiblancos means Real must score at the Calderon as a 0-0 will be enough for Diego Simeone’s side to lift the trophy.

Speaking to journalists after the game, Ancelotti said despite the draw, he was pleased with what he had seen and was confident his players could get a result at the home of their city rivals.

They have a slight advantage because we have to score in the Calderón. We’re going to try and score goals there. If we can repeat today’s match we’ll win the Supercup of Spain,” the Italian boss said.

And he continued: “The team played well. In the first half we did not have a huge amount of pace but in the second we did very well. We controlled the match throughout, pressing up front and played well. The three midfielders did very well.”

He also played down the seriousness of Cristiano Ronaldo’s injury. The Portuguese front mas came off at half time with a thigh problem, but Ancelotti said it isn’t a long-term issue.

“He felt something and was uncomfortable. We’ll evaluate it tomorrow, he’ll undergo all the checks and we’ll see what it is. It doesn’t seem to be anything serious,” he commented.

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The 1-1 draw in the Santiago Bernabeu in between Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid in the Spanish Supercopa first-leg mean the tie is still hanging in the balance and will decided on Friday night.

The papers in Madrid look back on another hard fought derby in which James Rodriguez opened his Real Madrid account in the 81st minute, before Raul Garcia equalised for the visitors with three minutes to go. That equaliser was unjust though as Atletico had set out to defend all night and showed little interest in playing attacking football.

Cristiano Ronaldo once again is taking up plenty of column inches in both Marca and AS. The Portuguese was replaced at the interval suffering with an issue in his left thigh. The 29-year-old is a major doubt for the second-leg at the Vicente Calderon on Friday.

Another player who many are writing about is Angel di Maria. The Argentine has been linked with a move away from the club but showed what he can do with a great performance against Fiorentina at the weekend. He was named on the bench last night and came on during the game, perhaps a hint that he does have a future at the club.

After the game, Diego Simeone described di Maria as Madrid’s best player, while James and Sergio Ramos both said the winger should stay at the club as he is valued by the rest of the squad.

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Atletico Madrid earned a precious draw at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg of the Supercopa, thanks to a poor defending from Real Madrid in a corner kick. Los Blancos dominated possession, but their rivals defence put them in serious trouble.

The visitors were very intense defensively from the first minute. In fact, they earned two early bookings, shown to Siqueira and Koke.

Los Blancos had the possession but struggled to reach their rival’s box. Atletico had the first chances in a couple of counter-attacks, but both shots were straight at Casillas.

Gareth Bale and Daniel Carvajal were the most dangerous Real players, as they sent a few crosses into the box from the right wing, but all of them were cleared by Atletico’s defenders.

The best chance for Los Merengues in the first half came when Bale moved to the left side of the attack. The Welshman sent a cross that Cristiano Ronaldo met it inside the box, but his header just dropped wide of the post.

The Portuguese started to suffer muscle problems and was replaced by James Rodriguez at half-time. With the Colombian on the field, Los Blancos found a connection between midfielders and attackers, and they starting threatening Miguel Angel Moya.

Bale came close for Madrid after bursting into the Atletico box, but his effort was straight at the keeper. Minutes later, a powerful shot from the Welshman forced Moya to hurriedly parry, and Kroos was unable to turn home the rebound.

You got the feeling that Real were about to score, and James made it 1-0 in the 81st minute. A cross was blocked by Miranda and half-cleared by Juanfran, allowing the Colombian to squeeze home a close-range finish. It was his first goal in an official match for Real Madrid.

However, the league champions leveled with three minutes to go as Raul Garcia bundled home from close range following a corner from the left. It was a poor defending from Los Blancos that allowed Atletico earn a precious draw they didn’t deserve.

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Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid match preview
Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid match preview

Real Madrid take on Atletico de Madrid in the first leg of the Spanish Supercopa tonight at the Santiago Bernabeu hoping to build a lead and move a step closer to securing their second piece of silverware this season.

The city rivals have met on four previous occasions in the calendar year, with the last one being the Champions League final. The 4-1 win for Los Blancos secured their 10th European Cup, but the scoreline doesn’t reflect the closeness of the game, with Carlo Ancelotti’s men equalising right at the death in Lisbon.

Since then, both playing squads have changed somewhat. The hosts have added World Cup winner Toni Kroos in midfield and the tournament’s top scorer James Rodriguez in an attacking role. The addition of the Colombian, for 80 million euros, means the attacking unit of him, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale is one of the most feared in the world. At the other end, Diego Lopez departed for AC Milan and was replaced by Keylor Navas.

Atletico lost a number of players this summer, including Thibaut Courtois, Diego Costa and Felipe Luis, who all ended up at Chelsea. They have added some dangerous forwards though in the form of Mario Mandzikic and Antoine Griezmann.

In terms of the line ups for tonight, Pepe and Bale are the only doubts for Madrid having missed training earlier this week. Should they fail to make it, Raphael Varane and Isco are the likely candidates to fill in.

For the visitors, influential midfielder Arda Turan misses out with a thigh injury, but everyone else should be available.

Line ups:
Real Madrid: Casillas; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Coentrao; Kroos, Modric, Rodriguez; Bale; Benzema; Ronaldo

Atletico de Madrid: Oblak; Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Ansaldi; Garcia, Thiago, Gabi, Koke; Mandzukic, Griezmann

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Copa del Rey final facts and figures

The first leg of the Spanish Supercopa takes place tonight and sees Real Madrid take on Atletico de Madrid in a re-run of the Champions League final.

Playing at home first, Real are 4/7 favourites to defeat their city rivals and take a lead into the second leg, which takes place on Friday evening. For their part, Diego Simeone’s men are at 11/2 to win tonight – not a bad price considering their beat Real at the Santiago Bernabeu in La Liga last season, and in the Copa del Rey final the season before.

Los Blancos have struggled for goals in the last few games in pre-season, just five in five, and all of them scored by two men – Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.

And Carlo Ancelotti will be looking for his two star men to turn on the style again tonight. Bale started life slowly in the Spanish capital but ended last season on a high, scoring in both the Copa del Rey and Champions League finals to prove he is a man for the big occasion. Bookies have him at 6/5 to get his name on the scoresheet.

Ronaldo has a superb record against Atletico, with 13 goals in 14 matches. Bet365 has the Portuguese forward at 8/11 to score at any point and 11/4 to open the scoring. Champions League hero Sergio Ramos, who equalised for Los Blancos with almost the last touch of the game in the initial 90 minutes in Lisbon, loves to come up for set pieces and can be backed at 13/2 to score against Los Rojiblancos.

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