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More than two years after leaving Real Madrid, Iker Casillas has spoken about his feeling in an interview with the Spanish newspaper MARCA. The goalkeeper is doing a great season with Porto and they face Benfica on Saturday in ‘O Classico’ in the Portuguese football.

Iker Casillas has still really good memories of Real Madrid: “I will always be thankful to Real Madrid. I could accomplished my childhood dream, play in the team of my heart and I have only thankful words […]. I’ll always consider it my home. With all due respect to the other, but this is my home”.

Casillas suffered a lot in his last years at Bernabéu stadium, when he had to listen some whistles from his supporters. Now Keylor Navas is in a similar situation: “What can I say? I don’t like it, I lived it, not only for me, but when another player was booed. You have to be very courageous to forget this. It’s a very demanding club and come year ago there was a mini fracture because of some circumstances we saw and we lived”, the goalkeeper said.

He wanted also to defend Keylor Navas: “The whistles are always at Bernabéu and it’s curious because I think Keylor, last season, it’s amazing how he cannot be included among the two or three best goalkeepers in the world. After what Keylor did last year, winning the most important competition in Europe, that neither UEFA nor FIFA have awarded him… Perhaps not the best, but at least the second. Or also Jan Oblak. We are speaking about two men that did an amazing Champions League”.

Casillas was also asked about the whistles he heard at Bernabéu and if he understand the supporters now: “When the time passes you understand it, of course. But that’s it, it’s the past, you are not going to go around this thing. To the four or five people I did that gesture, I said that I regretted it, but perhaps I will do the same again, I don’t know”, Casillas analyzed.

Casillas was one of the most important players in the last La Liga title Real Madrid won with Mourinho: “It was a season with a tough start, we lost the Spanish Supercup against Barcelona. We lost against Levante and then we drew against Racing, we were five points behind. We could comeback and in Christmas we had five points of advantage […]. It was an amazing season for everyone. The pity were the penalties against Bayern Munich, really bad luck”.

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Real Madrid welcomed last week Alan Souza’s agent, Juan Fíger, in the Santiago Bernabéu’s offices. Los Blancos are already in talks to sign the young pearl from Palmeiras, who have recently won the South American U-17 Tournament. According to Marca, Florentino Pérez and José Ángel Sánchez attended to the meeting with the agent.

Real Madrid and FC Barcelona were following also his team mate Vinicius Junior but Los Blancos have made the first approach for Alan Souza. He plays as an offensive midfielder and Souza is only 17 years old. The idea is signing the Brazilian at the beginning of the season 2018-19, when the player will turn 18.

At the moment, his club, Palmeiras, is asking for him €50M because his contract expires in 2019. At the moment, the Brazilian club doesn’t want to reduce this price, so it will be tough to sign him. However, there will be a huge opportunity to tie him up in 2019, when his contract expires. Another teams like Inter Milán have already asked for Souza, but Palmeiras requested the amount of his release clause.

Real Madrid continue with their politics of spotting new and young talents. The Spanish giants signed some months ago Sergio Díaz, a Paraguayan striker for the second team. Besides, we’ve seen how Los Blancos eyed some players in the national market like Marco Asensio, Jesús Vallejo o Marcos Llorente. Most of these players had the opportunity to play in Castilla, Real Madrid second team, and, if they are doing well, they can promote to the first team or leaving on loan to another European club. This is the case of Martin Odegaard, who left Madrid to play in the Eredivisie.

At this moment, Real Madrid are getting ready for the transfer market and, besides working on the signing of a new Galáctico, they are also trying to spot new talents in South America and Spain. For this reason, all the possibilities are opened and Florentino Pérez is working in both directions.

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Fabio Coentrao

Real Madrid supporters might agree this time with Fabio Coentrao, who spoke with the Portuguese newspaper Record about his situation in the Spanish capital. The left back is very harsh with himself and he admits he doesn’t have the skills to play for the Spanish giants at the moment.

Despite his poor season, Coentrao leaves the door open to continue in Madrid: “I have a deal with Real Madrid until 2019. If they want me, it’s perfect, otherwise I’ll follow my path. But it’s true that I’m living a complicated period in my career this season”.

One of Coentrao’s problems are the injuries: “I’m fully recovered. I’ve been training without any problems the last two season. My future expectations are varied, but I want to be at my best in the next season”, the Portuguese defender commented.

Due to these injuries, Coentrao admits he doesn’t have the skills to play at Santiago Bernabéu: “I don’t have any problem to admit that I’m not at my best to play in a club like Real Madrid. Everybody should admit their limitations in a particular period in their life and I have the feeling that this club has a very high level, which I don’t currently have”, Coentrao says very sincerely.

For this reason, Coentrao is expecting a decision for the club: “In football, everything can change at the very last moment, for this reason I train every day, so my conscience is calm. If I go back home, I go back to a great Portugal because we don’t have to despise the Portuguese clubs compare to Real Madrid. Probably I’ll need to go back to recover the level I showed one day”.

Coentrao is only 29 years old, so he expects to improve: “My intention is to play at least three or four more years at a high level, and I know I could do it. If Real Madrid don’t want me, I’ll do it in any other club. But we have to think about it at the end of the season, now we have to work hard, fight for minutes and help Real Madrid to win all the titles available this season”, Coentrao finished.

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Sergio Aguero

Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero could be living his last season as a Manchester City player. His relationship with Pep Guardiola is not working and Gabriel Jesús arrival push the Argentinian to find a new club in the summer transfer window. Real Madrid are favourites number one to sign the forward according to some bookmakers.

Manchester City signed Sergio Agüero in 2011 from Atlético Madrid for a €45M transfer fee. He’s been the star of the sky blue team since then but his importance in the squad has decreased recently, especially with Guardiola’s arrival. The Catalan coach is very demanding and he has pushed Agüero to defend as well, but the Argentinian is not willing to do it.

In the winter transfer window, Manchester City decided to sign Gabriel Jesús from Palmeiras, paying €32M to the Brazilian team. The striker was supposed to fight with Agüero for the striker position, but he won easily the battle in the first games. Besides, he had a stunning debut in the Premier League, scoring three goals in two games against West Ham United and Swansea City. Unfortunately, he suffered a metatarsal fracture, so he will miss the rest of the season.

This injury allowed Agüero to play the most important games of the season, including the Champions League Last 16 round fixtures against Monaco. The Argentinian striker missed many chances in both games and he couldn’t help the team to go through the next round.

Despite the tough season, Agüero’s numbers in Manchester City are far from being poor. He’s scored this season 13 goals in 22 Premier League games and 8 goals in 8 Champions League matches, including two goals in the first leg against Monaco. In three of his six seasons at the Etihad Stadium, Agüero was able to score more than 20 goals. In this time, he helped the team to win two Premier League trophies, the last one in 2014.

Taking all this in consideration, his time at Manchester seems over. Pep Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain are working together to improve the squad for the next project and the Argentinian is not in their mind. For this reason, some bookmakers have already opened a market to bet in which team Agüero will play for in the next season. You can have a look at some betting sites and back Real Madrid to buy Agüero in the next transfer market.

It won’t be easy for Florentino Pérez, though. Eden Hazard is the target number one this summer and Los Blancos will have many competitors to sign Manchester City star. PSG, Atlético Madrid or Chelsea could join the bid for Agüero. Besides, Real Madrid have already covered the forward position with Karim Benzema and Álvaro Morata in the squad. They will have to sell one of them, if they want to undertake this signing.

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Madeira_cristianoRonaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo has everything in his life: luxury hotels, a fashion brand, Golden Balls, Champions League, Euro Cups, Premier League trophies… And now he has even an airport named after him, although he is only 31 years old. The Real Madrid star went to the unveiling of the Airport Madeira Cristiano Ronaldo in his hometown, Funchal.

Cristiano Ronaldo was very “happy and honoured” with the new name of the airport. The new name was heavily criticized by some people in Portugal because it was very controversial but the president of the region, Miguel Albuquerque, defended the proposal. The critics said that it wasn’t normal to name an airport after a person who is still alive as this is usually given as a tribute to dead people.

“I know some people don’t agree and some of them are here right now but we are free and we live in a democracy”, Cristiano Ronaldo said in the unveiling of the new name at Funchal.

The Portuguese star said that “this was very special” and that he feels “proud of my roots and my land”. Finally, he also wanted to “continue serving Portugal and especially Madeira”, the striker said.

From now on, Cristiano Ronaldo can feel proud of having an airport with his name: ‘Madeira Airport Cristiano Ronaldo’.

Portugal played on Tuesday a friendly game with Sweden so Cristiano Ronaldo took the opportunity to assist to the unveiling of the new name. The Portuguese national team captain brought to the island the Euro trophy won in Paris last summer with him. Thousands of fans went to the street to see their national team and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Real Madrid player scored the first goal for his team but Portugal were defeated by Sweden (2-3). Cristiano Ronaldo was substituted at the beginning of the first half and the whole stadium cheered him as a hero.

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Florentino Pérez continues to bring money to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Real Madrid and Telefónica have signed a billionaire sponsorship deal for the next two seasons. The agreement will be announced tomorrow at the stadium with the presence of Florentino Pérez, José María Álvarez-Pallete, Telefónica chairman, and the squads of football and basketball.

This new agreement for Real Madrid will mean to cash even more money thanks to the sponsorships. However, Telefónica logo won’t be written in the white t-shirt because Los Blancos still have an deal with Fly Emirates. The flying company from Dubai has recently extended its contract with Real Madrid and they will pay around €50M per season thanks to this deal.

This new agreement with Telefónica will be a sponsorship at a club level. Both enterprises will join their forces to expand their reach all over the world. We have to remember that Telefónica is the most important Spanish company in telecommunication and also it’s present all over the world, especially in South America and the United Kingdom.

In the new agreement it will be included the installation of a Wi-Fi network all over Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and a new app with the technology provided by Telefónica. This agreement is not thought to be as the main sponsor of the team, although it will be one of the most importants of the club.

Now Florentino Pérez wants to extend the deal with Adidas. The German brand and the Spanish club are already in talks to agree a extension of the contract, so Los Blancos will continue to wear Adidas brands.

This is not the Telefoníca’s first agreement with a sports club. They already sponsor a very important cycling team -Movistar-, with the Colombian star Nario Quintana in it. Besides, they sponsor a futsal team, Inter Movistar, very popular in Spain. They also have an agreement with the MotoGP pilot Maverick Viñales or the basketball team Estudiantes. Now, they’ve given a step up with the deal signed with Real Madrid.

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Spain beat France (0-2) on Tuesday in a friendly game in Paris and some of the Spanish national team players spoke after the game with the journalists, including Gerard Piqué. The FC Barcelona full back didn’t avoid any question and he took the chance to criticize Real Madrid again and the relationship with the press.

Raúl González, Real Madrid symbol, said this week that he didn’t discard working for FC Barcelona in the future. Piqué was asked about this issue and he didn’t miss the opportunity to attack Los Blancos: “I don’t doubt about Raúl supporting Real Madrid, but I will never work for Real Madrid. I don’t like the values Real Madrid transmit. I appreciate the players and many of them are my friends”.

The journalists asked again why he didn’t like this values: “What I don’t like seeing is many important people in the box seats and how they handle this country. The person who charged Messi and Neymar, and by coincidence he had a different treat with Cristiano, was besides Florentino Pérez in the box seat”.

The full back didn’t stop there and he tried to explain his speech: “I don’t like what they transmit as a club. I don’t know the name of the judge. I’m not going to say a list, like Mourinho. We know how this works. But I don’t have any problem with the players. We are almost all friends and I play cards with them”, Piqué explained.

Piqué was also asked about the referees: “When did the referees help us? In La Liga long time ago. Are you arguing with me a comeback with 6-1 and you don’t speak about the goal in offside scored by Ramos in last year final? I got fined already twice but they are not right. I only said that the referees have to improve their jobs. I’m convinced that Real Madrid and Barcelona get more favours. I compare between them, not with Leganés”, Piqué finished.

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musacchio-GI

The mystery with Pepe’s future continues in the air and neither Real Madrid nor the player have said a word. Only Zinedine Zidane spoke early this year to confirm that he wants the defender to stay and that he will count on him until the end of the season.

Pepe’s contract expires on the 30th of June, so the player could be opened to negotiate with any other club. Actually, he had a lot of offers coming from China but at the moment he has not signed any contract with any other club. It seems like the footballer is willing to stay in the Spanish capital, but he wants to sign a two-year deal instead of the one offered by the club.

In case Pepe finally leaves Real Madrid, Los Blancos have to think on a suitable replacement for one of the most important players in the squad in the last years. Taking in consideration that Nacho is a guarantee both as a right back and as a full back, the idea is not signing a star. For this reason, the first name who came up was Jesús Vallejo.

Vallejo is shining with Eintracht Frankfurt in Bundesliga, where he is currently on loan. He is still very young and the German side would like to extend the deal one more year. For this reason, Los Blancos are looking for new options in the market.

Some weeks ago, we wrote about the interest in Felipe Monteiro, a Brazilian defender from Porto. According to the Spanish site OKDiario, Real Madrid are also interested in Mateo Musacchio, the Villarreal defender.

Musacchio is currently 26 years old and he arrived to Villarreal in 2009 from River Plate. In all these years at Villarreal, he has seen how the club played in the Champions League and also how the were relegated to the second division in 2012. Since 2010, he’s been one of the most important players in the defensive line and this season he’s played 17 games.

Musacchio’s release clause is €50M, but he could leave the club for less money, because his contract expires in 2018. According to the same sources, the transfer fee would be around €20M. However, first of all, Real Madrid should know about Pepe’s future.

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Marco Asensio

Marco Asensio is one of the good surprises of the season for Real Madrid supporters. The 21-year-old Spanish player is making a great season debut with Los Blancos and he has won Zidane’s confidence in these first months. Now that the season is coming to an end, the winger said that he would like to continue playing with the white t-shirt.

The Spanish national team Under 21 played on Monday a friendly game at Olimpico de Roma against Italy U-21. Spain won 1-2 that game and Marco Asensio was one of the best players of the game, although he couldn’t score. After the game he spoke with the press about the relationship with Zinedine Zidane: “He speaks a lot with me, he trusts me and I feel valued”, Asensio said.

There are a lot of competitors in his role as a winger because Isco or James Rodríguez could also play there. Despite this situation, Asensio would like to continue in the Spanish capital: “I want to be successful at Real Madrid, so my intention is to stay and continue here”, Asensio affirmed.

The youngster also spoke about his team-mate Isco Alarcón, who has been linked with Barcelona but he’s now very close to sign a deal with Real Madrid: “He has a lot of talent and I’d rather he staying in the club”, Asensio despite fighting with him for a place in the starting eleven.

In his first season with Real Madrid, Asensio has played 15 games in La Liga, only 6 from the beginning, and he has scored 3 goals. Besides, he has been able to score in the European Supercup, Copa del Rey or Champions League in his first season with Los Blancos. Last year, he played on loan with Espanyol, with 34 appearances and 4 goals in the whole season in La Liga.

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Isco’s long story to renew his contract with Real Madrid is about to end. The club and the player are very close to seal a deal, so the playmaker could stay five or six years more in the Spanish capital. FC Barcelona were tempting the midfielder, but he prefers to stay in Madrid.

According to the Spanish newspaper As, Real Madrid are in talks with Isco and his agents, and the deal is very close to be signed. Los Blancos have offered Isco a new contract until 2023 or 2024 and his salary will be dramatically increased. Isco is currently earning around €3M per season and this will be raised up to €8M gross per season.

Many clubs have asked about Isco in the last months, including some Premier League teams. Also, FC Barcelona have shown a lot of interest in recent weeks and they’ve made even contact with the player and his agents. However, Isco said that this rumours were totally untrue after the game Spain played against Israel on Friday.

Isco’s contract expires in 2018. For this reason, Real Madrid had to move quickly and extend the deal. This summer the agreement should be close, otherwise Isco will have the opportunity to negotiate with other teams and leave the capital for free.

Isco arrived to Real Madrid in 2013 from Málaga after paying €30M for the transfer fee. In that season, he lead the Andalusian team to the Last 16 Round of the Champions League, but they were beaten in the very last minute by Borussia Dortmund. He arrived very young to Madrid, he was 21, but he has proved himself to be one of the best playmakers in Europe.

In his time with Los Blancos, he has won two Champions League, two European SuperCups and one Copa del Rey, among other trophies. He has also scored 28 goals and has given 41 assists in 179 games with the white t-shirt. Hopefully, he will have much more time to improve these stats if the agreement is finally sealed.

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