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Cristiano Ronaldo has won another trophy. This time is the Best UEFA Player award of the year beating Gareth Bale and Antoine Griezmann. The Portuguese attended the UEFA show in Mónaco and could receive another trophy for his gallery.

After winning the Champions League trophy with Real Madrid and the Euro with Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo was the favourite one to win the trophy. And he won it. Now, Cristiano is the main favourite to lift his fourth Ballon D’or in December.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the last penalty in the shoot-out round against Atlético de Madrid in Milan and helped Portugal winning their first Euro scoring three goals. In the Champions League, the Real Madrid striker scored 16 goals including a hat trick in the quarter-finals against Wolfsburg and two goals against Roma in the Last 16.

In La Liga he also was one of the best players of Real Madrid. The striker scored 35 goals in La Liga including one goal in Camp Nou against Barcelona. After season of records, Cristiano Ronaldo is able to continue breaking records and lifting trophies. Will he be able to lift the Ballon D’Or in December?

The Portuguese forward received the award from Ángel María Villar, UEFA president. Cristiano wanted to remember the other two finalist, Gareth Bale and Antoine Griezmann:
“It wasn’t fair if I don’t mention these two great players”, the Portuguese said.

Cristiano also wanted to speak to Griezmann, who lost two finals against Cristiano Ronaldo last season: “I’m very sorry for the two finals but you did an amazing job”. Finally, Cristiano Ronaldo was asked for his dream when he was a child and he replied: “Become football player. Sometimes, dreams come true”.

This time, another dream has come true for Cristiano Ronaldo and he can enjoy another award.

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Real Madrid are going to play in the Group F of the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon and Legia Warsow in the Group Stages of the Champions League. The current champion has to face a very difficult group in their first step to achieve for the first time in the history of the Champions League back to back wins.

The first rival for Los Blancos will be Borussia Dortmund. The German side played against Los Blancos twice in semifinals. The first one, with José Mourinho on the bench, Real Madrid lost 4-1 in Dortmund with Robert Lewandowski as a star scoring four goals. The Spanish side tried to come back at Bernabéu but only could score two goals. There was revenge only one year after in the quarter finals. Then in the 10th Champions League way, with Carlo Ancelotti already on the bench, Real Madrid beat the German team 3-0 at Bernabéu and suffered to keep the result and lost 2-0 in the Westfallen Stadion. It’s certainly the toughest team in the group and Real Madrid should be very careful to not get a surprise with Aubameyang and other players.

Real Madrid will also face Sporting Lisbon in the group stage. It will be a very special game for Cristiano Ronaldo, who will come back home. The Portuguese side did a great Liga Sagres last season and finished second, only behind the city rivals Benfica. It’ll be tough to face Sporting Lisbon although Real Madrid have usually good experiences in Portugal.

The last team in Group F is Legia Warsaw. After 20 years, a Polish team finally qualified for the Champions League group stage. Legia Warsaw knocked out Dundalk, the Irish team, but the Polish side had to suffer in their pitch to go through. Finally, they are going to have the excitement of playing against the current Champions League title holder.

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Everything started on the 9th of August in 2005. A young Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first goal in European competition against Hungarian side Debrecen. Nobody could expect that this goal was the first of many.

Cristiano Ronaldo is fighting with Gareth Bale and Antoine Griezmann to win the Best European Player award given by UEFA. The Portuguese star has ended the best season of his career in terms of trophies after winning the Champions League and the Euro 2016 in Paris against France.

UEFA wanted to emphasize the quality of Cristiano Ronaldo and they’ve prepared a video with all his goals in European competition. The video is really long as Cristiano Ronaldo has been the top scorer of the Champions League in the recent years.

The numbers in Europe are amazing. Last season, the Portuguese scored 16 goals to help the team to arrive to the final in Milan. In 2014/15, when Real Madrid lost against Juventus in semifinals, Cristiano scored 10 goals. In the previous season, Real Madrid won again the trophy and Cristiano Ronaldo was very important, giving the team 17 goals. In total, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 78 goals in Champions League with Real Madrid.

We have to add to the stats the goals he scored for Manchester United. In 4 years, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 16 goals, including the first one against Debrecen in his season debut. With the Red Devils, Cristiano won one trophy, against Chelsea in Moscow, and lost another final against Barcelona in Rome.

In total, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 99 goals in the Champions League. These are numbers that only the Portuguese star could have, breaking all the records so far. He is only 31 years old and he has extended his contract with Real Madrid so at the end of his career the numbers could be unbeatable for any other player.

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Cristiano Ronaldo was nominated by UEFA as the best player of the year along with Antoine Griezmann and Gareth Bale. The Portuguese can end the year winning this award and Ballon D’Or as the perfect end for a perfect season. Actually, Cristiano says it’s been the “best season in my career”.

Cristiano Ronaldo has spoken with UEFA after his remarkable season and he is now ready to start a new successful year: “In terms of trophies it was possibly the best of my career”, Cristiano said, after winning the Champions League and the Euro. He also finished topscorer in the Champions League and did a good Euro with Portugal: “It really was a top-drawer, excellent season for me”, he said.

It wasn’t an easy season though. Everything changed when Zidane arrived to Real Madrid in January. Cristiano Ronaldo only has good words for his coach: “Zidane was key. He’s a great professional, a great person and, in my opinion, his biggest quality is his ability to give his players a sense of calm”. For Cristiano Ronaldo, “Zidane deserves a lot of credit” after his successful first season as a top-flight club manager.

Zidane’s best achievement was to win the Champions League against Atlético de Madrid, a very important day for Cristiano Ronaldo: “It was an amazing experience”. Cristiano Ronaldo thinks that Real Madrid was the best team in the pitch but he was also sincere when he talked with UEFA: “We had a bit of luck in the shoot-out because penalties are always a lottery”.

After winning the Champions League, Cristiano played the Euro with his national team. No one could expect that Portugal were able to win the trophy, not even his captain: “To be honest I didn’t think Portugal could win the EURO. But match by match I started believing it was possible”.

Finally, Cristiano Ronaldo wanted to highlight the great season of Pepe, his team mate at Real Madrid and at Portugal: “Pepe was extraordinary this year. It was possibly his best season”, the Portuguese star admitted.

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Real Madrid defence line had several problems against Real Sociedad. Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane were the two full back chosen by Zidane and their mistakes almost caused some goals to Real Madrid. Luckily for Los Blancos, the Basque team wasn’t accurate at all and they missed all the chances.

The good news for Zidane is that he is going to have more people to include in the defence soon. Pepe was training yesterday with the squad and he is set to return to the team. He could be included in the list for the next game against Celta this weekend at Santiago Bernabéu. However, maybe is too soon for the Portuguese defender, who came back from holidays on the 10th of August.

He could enjoy longer holidays after winning the Euro trophy with Portugal. Pepe was the Real Madrid footballer who played more minutes (630) in the Euro. The defender was a key player in the Portuguese squad and was chosen ‘Man of the Match’ in the Euro final against France.

Initially, Pepe should be the third full back for Zidane. Last season, the Portuguese also started on the bench with Rafael Benítez but his good performances changed the coach opinion and he was finally included in the starting eleven. Last year, Pepe played 21 games in La Liga, all in the initial line up.

Pepe is about to start his tenth season at Real Madrid. He has been a very important player in the recent history of the club and he will be fighting for a place in the squad together with Sergio Ramos, Varane and Nacho.

Zidane might want to wait a bit more for Pepe and leave him out from the list for the game against Celta. The French coach has been very cautious with the injury players in this start of the season. After this weekend, there will be time for the national teams, so Real Madrid won’t play again until the 10th of September, time more than enough to recover all the players with physical problems.

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Martin Odegaard with Real Madrid

Martin Odegaard will not play next season at Rennes, in the Ligue One. Real Madrid and the French side agreed a transfer deal for the Norwegian winger, including a season on loan at Rennes. However, the French side has confirmed that the deal cannot be made because of the FIFA rules.

Mikael Silvestre, close to the Rennes board, confirmed the news to the French radio station RMC: “Martin Odegaard will not come this summer for an age problem. He is still under 18 and he’ll turn 18 in December. Real Madrid don’t want to take any risks, they’re still under threat from FIFA, and they are still waiting for an answer from the Appealing Court. The player will stay at Real Madrid. He could go on loan to any other Spanish club, but he will not come to Rennes”, Silvestre told the French station.

The deal was already done and reported by all the media. Although there were a lot of German clubs interested in Odegaard -especially Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg- the player, after listening Zidane’s advice, decided to sign for Rennes. Liverpool was also reported to be interested in the young winger.

Now, Real Madrid have to look for a new club in Spain. Los Blancos don’t want Odegaard to spend another year at Castilla -the second Real Madrid team- and he doesn’t have any space at the moment in Zidane’s squad. Therefore, it urges to find him a new club within La Liga.

Odegaard played 45 games with Castilla and scored two goals in one season and a half. The Norwegian arrived to Madrid in the winter transfer window in 2015. Real Madrid won the battle to many other major European teams who also wanted to sign the winger. However, in his years at Castilla, he failed to help the team to get promoted to the second division of the Spanish football.

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The summer is coming to an end and so is the summer transfer window. It could be the last days of James Rodríguez at Real Madrid although the situation is getting very complicated as there aren’t many opportunities to leave the club.

Last year Real Madrid waited until the last minute to sign David de Gea from Manchester United and sell Keylor Navas to the Red Devils instead. However, the deal couldn’t be done as the fax arrived late and the paperwork didn’t get in time to the Spanish capital. Finally, Keylor Navas stayed in the club and he was one of the best players in the teams.

The situation could be repeated with James Rodríguez. The Colombian might leave the club this summer but with only 9 days until the end of the transfer market, the time is running out for both the player and the club.

According to the Spanish TV show ‘El chiringuito de Jugones’, “Zidane told the Colombian that he wasn’t going to kick out anyone but he should decide whether to stay or leave because there were three players before him in the squad: Modric, Asensio and Isco”, the TV show said.

James Rodríguez and Real Madrid shouldn’t have any problem with the offers. Los Blancos have received several proposals for the Colombian this summer but the club rejected them all. The last club to show interest on James Rodríguez was Chelsea, who wanted to sign the Colombian as soon as possible.

Only the Ligue One is interested in the playmaker. He had experience playing for Mónaco and PSG could be the right destiny for him. A team full of stars and fighting for the Champions League. The position in the starting eleven should be safe at PSG, whereas at Chelsea, he would have to fight with Eden Hazard, Oscar, Cesc or Willian for a place in Conte’s team.

No matter what, James Rodríguez has to decide whether to fight for a place in the European champion club or leave Madrid to find a suitable club, like Mesut özil or Ángel di María did in the past. None of them have won big trophies at the moment. Looking for the glory outside Real Madrid is not always easy.

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Real Madrid board is working to secure the future of the club. Cristiano Ronaldo is about to extend his contract and now is the turn for Gareth Bale, who will renew his contract until 2021, according to the Spanish newspaper Marca.

The Welshman contract end in 2019 and the club wanted to extend the period until 2021. With the contract extension, Gareth Bale will also earn more money. Now, the British winger will be the second highest paid player in the squad after Cristiano Ronaldo. Bale will earn more than €10M per year, according to the press.

Bale has confirmed himself as a leader of the team. The Welsh finished in great form the last season, while Cristiano was injured, and he guided the team to win the 11th Champions League trophy. After, in the Euro, he proved himself as a leader with Wales and arrived until the semifinals of the tournament. At the beginning of the current season, Bale has also scored two wonderful goals to lead Real Madrid’s victory over Real Sociedad.

Taking this in consideration, Real Madrid board didn’t want to let the Welshman go away. The club want to secure the future tying up the best players. Gareth Bale will be the first one, then Cristiano Ronaldo and also the young Odegaard.

Gareth Bale arrived at Real Madrid in 2014 from Tottenham Hotspur after a record transfer fee of €100M. In his first season, Bale scored very important goals in the final of Copa del Rey against Barcelona and in the final of Champions League against Atlético de Madrid in Lisbon.

His second season was much worse. The forward appeared in 31 games in La Liga scoring only 13 goals, two less than in his debut. Last year he had several problems with the injuries, a major problem for Gareth Bale. However, he was able to score 19 goals in just 23 games in La Liga, his best numbers except for his last season at Tottenham, when Bale scored 21 goals.

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Diego Pablo Simeone squad didn’t start La Liga well. Atlético de Madrid only drew (1-1) at home against the newly promoted squad of Alavés, who return to the First División ten years after.

The Basque side was also very lucky as they scored the draw goal in the 94th minute with a great shoot from outside the box by Manu García. Atlético de Madrid scored before at the 92nd minute thanks to Kevin Gameiro after a penalty committed to Fernando Torres. The Madrid side had a lot of chances, but Alavés goalkeeper was great and frustrated every option of scoring a goal.

This goalkeeper is Fernando Pacheco, who grew up at Real Madrid before leaving the club to play in Alavés. The goalie arrived last season to the Basque country side and helped the team to be promoted playing 40 games in the second division and two other games in Copa del Rey.

Pacheco was the third goalkeeper at Real Madrid in the year 2014/15, just after winning the 10th Champions League trophy. Iker Casillas and Keylor Navas were still the owners of the position and Carlo Ancelotti had to split minutes between the two internationals.

With few opportunities at Real Madrid, Pacheco flew away and arrived to Alavés, where he got the promotion with his team mates. Now, after his first game in the first division, everybody is talking about him and how he saved his team at a difficult stadium like Vicente Calderón.

Real Madrid followed the same policy as they used with Álvaro Morata or Daniel Carvajal. The club included a clause in Pacheco’s contract where they can buy back the player in two years time. Therefore, Los Blancos could buy Pacheco at the end of this season. According to the Spanish newspaper Marca, the price would be only €4M for a goalkeeper who has already played with the Under 21 Spanish national team.

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Real Madrid supporters are really happy after the great victory against Real Sociedad in the first game in La Liga for Los Blancos. It was a very difficult test for the European Champion but the team answered with great game and was able to overcome all the injuries.

The whole team played at a great level, like Zinedine Zidane said after the game in press conference. However, there are four players who shone more than the other and whose performance will be very important in their future.

Marco Asensio. It was the biggest surprise again in Zidane’s line up. However, the youngster wasn’t surprised at all, as he said after the game, and played really as well as in the European Supercup. The Spaniard is winning the battle for a position in the starting eleven to Isco and James Rodríguez. His first goal in La Liga was superb and, if he continues playing in this way, it’s going to be very difficult for Zidane to remove him from the team.

Álvaro Morata. With Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema’s absences, the Spanish striker had to step up and show why Real Madrid bought him this summer. Despite not scoring any goal, Morata played a good game, created a couple of good chances by himself and helped the team with his work.

Gareth Bale. The Welshman was the leader of the team from the initial whistle. He scored a wonderful goal with a header in the second minute and finished the game with another goal. He’s showing the supporters that with Cristiano Ronaldo absence, he is the leader of this team. Bale finished the season in great condition and he has started the new one with a superb performance.

Mateo Kovacic. Some rumours pointed out the interest of some Italian teams in Mateo Kovacic. Inter, Milan and Juventus wanted to hire the Croatian midfielder after a first disappointed season. However, Kovacic was included in the line up against Real Sociedad and was a great replacement for Luka Modric, who was banned for the game. If he continues at this level, Kovacic will have many minutes in the team.

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