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Real Madrid’s  quarter-final tie with Espanyol is not decided yet, despite Los Blancos taking a first-leg lead back to the Santiago Bernabeu.

A Karim Benzema header was enough to give Los Merengues a slender 1-0 lead at Cornell-El Prat, and ensured Madrid keep their impressive record of having won every game played in 2014 and without conceding a goal.

Speaking at the press conference after the match, Ancelotti said he was happy with the team’s intensity and desire. He admitted that without the second goal, it made for uncomfortable viewing at times, but the defence once again did a superb job.

“We only suffered a bit at the end. The team played well, with quality, pace and intensity. We recovered the ball well, had no problems at the back and finished without conceding. It was a good match, it is normal that we suffered a bit at the end after having not scored the second,” he stated.

The Italian warned his players that Espanyol will come out fighting in the return leg at the Bernabeu, and they will need to be alert.

“It is the cup quarter-finals and we have to put out our best team; the tie is still to be decided. Espanyol played very well and with a lot of spirit. The tie is still to be decided and we will play with our best team in the second leg,” he said.

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Madrid press report 22.1.14

Madrid sports daily As continue their campaign to bring Iker Casillas back to the starting line-up by putting their focus on the goalkeeper’s excellent last-minute save to give Real Madrid a 0-1 victory over Espanyol.

“Cornella’s crowd chanted ‘Iker, Iker’ when he denied Cordoba’s shot,” As titles. “Casillas beat his personal record of time without conceding a goal: 592 minutes,” they point out.

Casillas only had to interfere in the match once, as Los Blancos were in control of the game. Perhaps his rival Kiko Casilla deserved a front page more than Iker did, as he prevented Los Merengues from earning an emphatic win, with a number of fantastic saves.

Meanwhile, Marca’s main headline is “Unbeatable.” “Madrid continues their good run and put a foot in the Copa del Rey semi-finals,” they report.

“It was an excellent first half from Los Blancos,” they argue. “It’s now eight consecutive wins and six games without conceding a goal,” they point out.

Marca takes a different approach on Casillas’ save, highlighting the keeper’s words after the game: “The goalkeepers’ debate bores me,” Real’s captain said.

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President Anibal Cavaco Silva has honoured Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo for his accomplishments in the game and for his country, while the Portugal forward admitted that bringing the World Cup trophy home would surpass anything he was achieved in his football career.

The 28-year-old awarded the Ballon D’or last week, and throughout his career has he helped his teams win several titles including league titles and the Champions League.  But he said he hopes to lead Portugal to victory this summer in the World Cup, in what would be he best achievement.

In an interview with copadomundo.com, Ronaldo said: “Winning the World Cup would be the pinnacle of my career.”

He hopes to triumph with both his club and his national team.”First, you need to think in the group stage, and then we’ll see what happens.My dream is to be champion of Europe (with Madrid) and the world with Portugal.”

The Portuguese president acknowledged the influence the 28-year-old had onto others as he referred to him “an athlete of international repute converted into a symbol of the country.” He awarded Ronaldo with Portugal’s Grand officer of the Order of Infante Dom Henrique.

If Ronaldo maintains his playing style in international matches like the World Cup Play-Off against Sweden, his dream may come true.

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Real Madrid put a foot in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey as they earned a 0-1 win over Espanyol at Cornella El Prat, the same result they had obtained nine days ago in La Liga.

Karim Benzema’s header did justice for Los Merengues, as they controlled the game from the beginning. However, goalkeeper Kiko Casilla prevented them from getting a better result for the second leg.

Carlo Ancelotti didn’t finally line-up Isco in the striker position, as he had suggested in a previous press conference. The Andalucian was left on the bench and the Italian displayed his usual BBC forward line: Benzema, Bale and Cristiano.

Los Blancos had a bright start, getting the ball down and enjoying plenty of possession. Ancelotti had ordered his men to press high up the pitch and Espanyol struggle to settle on the ball.

Real nearly went in front as Ronaldo came into the box from the right and sent a shot wide of the far post. The Portuguese was close to scoring again in the 21st minute, firing a shot towards the bottom left corner that hit the post.

Los Merengues were in total control and they finally made it 0-1. Alvaro Arbeloa sent a cross from the right, Bale flicked it on and Benzema dove forward to head the ball into the back of the net.

Espanyol tried to equalize in the second half. Sergio Garcia was very active, but Madrid’s defence worked well to break up all his attacks.

Ronaldo missed a great chance to seal the victory as he headed a cross from Di Maria straight to the bar.

At the hour mark, the visitors begun to move up the gears again, but Espanyol’s goalkeeper Kiko Casilla, who grew up at Real’s youth teams, denied all Madrid efforts with fantastic saves.

The hosts also had a good chance for equalising in the last minutes, but Iker Casillas made a massive save to block Jhon Cordoba’s shot.

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Real Madrid travel to Cornell- El Prat tonight for the second time in as many weeks, this time for the first-leg of the quarter-final of the Copa del Rey against Espanyol.

A below par Los Blancos ran out 1-0 winners last time thanks to Pepe’s bullet of a header. Since then though, Carlo Ancelotti’s men have found top gear, and put five past Real Betis at the weekend. The nine-time European cup winners now stand just one point behind Barcelona and Atletico de Madrid at the top of the table having been five behind at the turn of the year.

Indeed, Madrid have started 2014 in fine form, winning all of the La Liga and Copa del Rey matches, without conceding a goal along the way. For this reason, the 32-times La Liga winners go into the match as 1/4 favourites. A win for the home side is available at 8/1.

Should you decide to have a flutter, odds of 21/20 of Madrid keeping yet another clean sheet may be tempting for you. As well as Madrid being tight at the back, Espanyol haven’t set the world on fire when attacking. Of the top eight teams in La Liga, they have scored just 23 goals, 13 fewer than the next lowest.

 

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Espanyol vs Real Madrid La Liga preview

Real Madrid playmaker Isco might find himself in an unusual position as Los Blancos visit Espanyol in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-final.

Carlo Ancelotti has revealed he’s thinking of lining-up the Andalucian as a striker, in order to gain possesion and leave more spaces for Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale to reach the box.

Los Blancos struggled to take the victory home nine days ago in the same stadium, where they earned a hard-fought 1-0 win thanks to a header by Pepe. Thus, Ancelotti is considering different approaches to the game in order to correct the mistakes they made back then.

Real seek to extend their great run in 2014, as they have won all matches and they are yet to concede a goal.

Ancelotti will miss Fabio Coentrao due to suspension, and Sergio Ramos is a doubt with a problem in his knee. Youngster Nacho is expected to come in to pair with Pepe at centre-back. The 24-year-old could face his brother Alex, who will very likely start as central midfielder for Espanyol.

Raphael Varane has not made it into the squad, despite having returned to normal training with the team after two months out due to injury.

Espanyol will try to obtain a good result for the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu. Their main concern will be not conceding any goals, and keeper Kiko Casilla aims to be the man of the match once again, after his brilliant performance against Los Blancos in La Liga.

The Periquitos will see his manager Javier Aguirre return to the bench after suspension. The Mexican coach will only miss injured midfielder David Lopez. Meanwhile, Manu Lanzarote and Joan Capdevilla have returned to the squad, although they’re not expected to feature tonight.

Possible line-ups:

Espanyol: Casilla; Lopez, Colotto, Sidnei, Alvarez; Torje, Sanchez, Fernandez, Pizzi; Cordoba y Garcia.

Real Madrid: Casillas; Arbeloa, Pepe, Nacho, Marcelo; Xabi Alonso, Modric, Di Maria; Bale, Isco, Ronaldo.

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Guest Blogger: Chris Lisinski

The Ballon d’Or is broken.

Some may call Franck Ribery a sore loser for his recent comments that the award is too political and that he should have won over Cristiano Ronaldo, but he raised a valid point: Team accomplishments are not valued nearly as much as they should be.

“I have won everything with the team and individually,” he was quoted as saying. “Ronaldo won nothing [in 2013]. I’m not sad, but it hurts the heart. Do not get me wrong, I am proud to have been there. I feel I deserved this title. There are so many politics.”

Ribery was phenomenal for Bayern Munich as the Bavarian giants won the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup treble. He provided the assist on Arjen Robben’s winning goal in the 89th minute of the Champions League final against archrivals Borussia Dortmund. His efforts, however, were not enough, and he lost out to Ronaldo in last week’s award ceremony.

It is not that Ronaldo is unqualified. He and his Barcelona rival Lionel Messi are head and shoulders above everyone else in the world in terms of individual talent. Former Madrid manager Jose Mourinho even described the two as “from another planet” after a thrilling 2-2 draw back in October 2012.

Their ability to score goals is unrivaled and we have seen one (or both) completely change the course of a game with individual brilliance. Ronaldo made such a case by single-handedly dragging Portugal to the World Cup with his hat trick against Sweden.

But the collective obsession with their individual skills has broken the Ballon d’Or.

For the past several years — and perhaps before it was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year — the award has been dominated by popularity. The simple math of it is that people like goals, and the two players who score goals better than anyone are most popular.

What this means, then, is that no player other than Messi or Ronaldo will win the award for the next several years.

The award has seemingly switched its standards several times, and we are left with a hollow gesture given not to the most deserving player, but to the favourite for the year.

In 2010, the first year since the award’s merger, Messi won for the second year in a row. Barcelona had won the league in the 2009-10 season with the Argentine as their top scorer, and they would go on to win the league and Champions League in the 2010-11 season.

But Messi was not the most deserving candidate. It is baffling that the 2010 Ballon d’Or did not go to Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder or a Spanish player in Barca’s Andres Iniesta or Xavi Hernandez.

Sneijder was the most vital player in the Inter squad when they captured the treble in the 2009-10 season, and he would repeat his form in the 2010 World Cup with the Dutch national team. He scored five goals — good for joint top scorer — and was named man of the match in four games en route to the finals.

If that is not enough, both Iniesta and Xavi (who finished second and third in the 2010 Ballon d’Or, respectively) were World Cup winners while maintaining scintillating form for Barca. Iniesta even scored the only goal in the World Cup final in the 116th minute, but it was not enough to dethrone fan-favourite Messi, who scored 60 in all competitions in 2010.

The following season, the standards were reversed. Ronaldo became the first player to score 40 goals in a single La Liga season and finished with 53 in all competitions to Messi’s 52, but the Barcelona man again took the award due in great deal to contributing to his team’s triumphs in La Liga and the Champions League.

Then, in 2012, Messi won a fourth time in a row for his quite frankly astounding 91 goals in all competitions. Ronaldo, however, had been instrumental in leading Madrid to the 2011-12 La Liga title and had taken Portugal to the semifinals of the European Championships. For that year, Messi’s goals outweighed Ronaldo’s contributions to his teams.

Such inconsistency in the nature of the Ballon d’Or reveals that it is an award with no clear standards, one for which the voters simply select which player they like to watch the most.

It should not be considered as prestigious as it is. Ronaldo may bask in his pride of reclaiming the award, as may Messi for his four-year run, but we should not hold it in such high esteem. The Ballon d’Or must be fixed if it is to receive the level of respect that it once held.

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Real Madrid are fully focused on the Copa de Rey fixture against Espanyol tonight as they aim for glory on three fronts this years.

Los Blancos have had an excellent couple of weeks in La Liga, and with Barcelona and Atletico de Madrid dropping more points at the weekend, Madrid sit just one point off the top of the table.

But speaking at the press conference ahead of his side’s second visit to Cornell-El Prat in as many weeks, Ancelotti said their attention was 100% on the Copa, and not on La Liga for now.

“We are going into the match thinking about it being a quarter-final over two legs. We have to play well. I was happy with how we did against them in La Liga. We have to play like that again, or better if possible. Our aim is to take the advantage in this match. I know that the tie will be decided at the Bernabéu and that we have to play well both matches,” he stated.

He did take time out to hail his team for fighting back into contention in La Liga though, and said the players had upped their games since the setback in the Nou Camp at the end of October, when Los Blancos lost 2-1.

“A lot of the credit for having cut the gap goes to the team because they have kept fighting in the competition. We improved after the match with Barcelona,” Ancelotti said.

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Real Madrid press report 21-1-2014

Madrid-based sports daily Diario As highlights today on its front page the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo received the honour of being named Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry, one of Portugal’s greatest decorations.

“Great Official Cristiano,” they title. Portugal’s President Anibal “Cavaco Silva decorated him,” they point out.

As also reports the latest news on Real Madrid’s visit to Espanyol tonigh in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals. “Ancelotti says Isco might play as number nine,” they highlight.

The other main Spanish sports newspaper, Marca, states that “Espanyol want to end the party” of a “happy Real Madrid.”

The Madrid paper claims “everything is good news for Los Blancos in 2014.”

“They’ve won all their matches, they haven’t conceded a single goal, they’ve shortened the differences with Barcelona and Atletico to one point, the defence is in great shape, and Cristiano Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or,” they publish.

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Defenders and goalkeepers across Spain and Europe will be quaking in their boots after Carlo Ancelotti confirmed their worst fears – Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo will share free-kick duty for Real Madrid.

Bale scored his first goal for Los Blancos in the 5-0 rout over Real Betis at the weekend, his goal coming from a direct free-kick which he buried in the corner of the net without the goalkeeper moving from his spot. It was third direct free-kick the Welshman has scored for Madrid this season.

And with Ronaldo deadly from a deadball situation too, Madrid hold two of the best free-kick specialists in the world among their ranks – something Ancelotti is well aware of.

Speaking to journalists ahead of his side’s match with Espanyol in the Copa del Rey quarter-final, the Italian boss confirmed the two most expensive men in football (unless you believe reports Barcelona paid 100 million for Neymar) would share free-kick duty.

When asked about Bale’s record, Ancelotti stated: “Clearly he has better chances from the free-kicks on the left, then we have Cristiano Ronaldo for the ones from the right. That’s what we’ve decided. Cristiano Ronaldo is stronger from the right and Bale from the left.”

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