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Former Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Hierro says Los Blancos can have a strong second half of the season and are contenders for both La Liga and the Champions League.

Real progressed through their group easily and await Monday morning’s draw for the last 16 while they are just four points off Barcelona in the domestic title. Despite this, doubts have been around all season about how far the club can go because of Rafa Benitez’ preference for defensive football.

The 4-0 loss at home to rivals Barcelona raised serious question marks, although Real have since responded with five wins in a row in all competitions.

And Hierro, who was assistant boss to Carlo Ancelotti last season, believes the 10-time Champions League winners will get stronger and stronger as the season progresses.

He told Sq.ca: “Rafa Benitez is a coach with a lot of experience, he has shown his worth in the English and Italian leagues and knows our club very well having coached the youth sides. He has everything necessary to deal with this challenge.”

And he added: “If there is a team in the world you can never write off it is Real Madrid. We have extraordinary players. There is still a long way to go in the league. Madrid can be a very dangerous team in the Champions League and they will fight till the end in the Spanish league as well.”

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Chelsea have shown an interest in signing Real Madrid playmaker James Rodriguez, Spanish press has revealed.

The Blues are going through tough times right now, as they are only two points clear of relegation positions in the Premier League and have been close to being knocked out of the Champions League in the group stage.

Thus, Roman Abramovich is seeking to reinforce his squad with world-class footballers, and James Rodriguez is the last name he has added to his wish-list.

The Colombia international is one of the most talented players in the world, but since Rafa Benitez arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu he’s not getting all the minutes of action he would like.

Thus, many think he could start considering a move out of the Bernabeu, and Chelsea could be an interesting option for him.

However, Florentino Perez believes James will be a key player in the future of Real Madrid and he will not agree to sell it, no matter how much Abramovich offers.

James signed for Real Madrid from Monaco in the summer of 2014 on a 80-million-euro transfer. In his first season at the Bernabeu, he scored 17 goals in 46 appearances.

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Real Madrid have been rejected twice in less than 24 hours on their appeal against disqualification from the Copa del Rey for fielding suspended Denis Cheryshev against Cadiz.

The Spanish Football Federation appeals committee rejected the first appeal on Thursday, claiming that “every club is responsible for checking whether their players are eligible to play.”

Los Blancos then announced they would take their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAD) and stated they were positive “the final resolution will be favourable.”

However, it only took a few hours for the TAD to reject Real’s request for a precautionary suspension of their expulsion. This means that for now Los Blancos remain disqualified, but the TAD is going to study the case more in depth.

Thus, there is still a last hope for Los Blancos, but it seems highly unlikely that their final appeal will be successful. As a matter of fact, Osasuna were kicked out last season for a similar offence.

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Cristiano Ronaldo has hit back at his critics who claim most of his goals are penalties by telling them to look at the stats.

Some of his critics have given him the nickname ‘Penaldo’ as they claim most of his goals come from the penalty spot.

But the forward, who hit four goals against Malmo on Tuesday night to set a new goalscoring record in the group stages of the Champions League wih 11 goals in total, told those who criticise him to get their facts straight.

The 30-year-old became Real’s all-time leading scorer in October when he overtook Raul’s haul of 323 goals. Since signing for the 10-time Champions League winners from Manchester United in 2009, Ronaldo has netted a remarkable 334 goals in 320 games.

He told reporters: “You have to look at the statistics. How many goals have I scored for Real Madrid? And they are not all penalties.”

The striker was then asked about how many he thinks he can score before he retires, and he answered that he hopes to continue finding the back of the net on a regular basis.

He commented: “I will score as many as I can. 600, 700 – as many as I can. They will all be there for people to see.”

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Iker Casillas

Former Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas says he wants Los Blancos and current club Porto to meet in next season’s European Super Cup.

Porto were knocked out of the Champions League on Wednesday night and will now play in Europe’s second-tier competition. The winners of that title face the winners of the Champions League next August.

And the ex-Los Blancos captain, who lifted European football’s main prize in 2014 when Real won La Decima, said he wants reunion with his former club.

In quotes published by AS, he said: “I hope it all goes well for Madrid. They are through to the next round and I hope we can both win and meet each other in the Super Cup next year.”

Speaking about the loss to Chelsea that saw his team knocked out of the Champions League, Casillas said he preferred to look at the positives.

“That’s football, when you have a bad result it’s difficult. We needed to win but we have to think about the future and the new challenge we have.We made a couple of mistakes and we’re out of the elite competition, but the Europa League will be another challenge.

“Of course we wanted to go through in the Champions League, but you have to know how to accept defeats. The Europa League is a new competition for me and I’m looking forward to it,” he stated.

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The French Football Federation (FFF) has indefinitely suspended Karim Benzema from playing with the national team until the Mathieu Valbuena blackmail case is resolved.

The president of the French federation Noel Le Graet announced that the Real Madrid striker will be no longer picked by Didier Deschamps for any international game until the situation is clarified.

“I have decided, it’s a decision from the president of the French federation and not from the executive committee or the ethics committee, that Karim Benzema cannot play for France until the situation evolves,” Le Graet said at a press conference.

Le Graet confessed the decision is “heartbreaking” and added that “as long as the judicial system has not decided that everything that has been published on Benzema is excessive, the federation will not change its mind.”

Benzema published a note on Twitter, claiming he respects the decision of the French federation. Real Madrid have also published an statement on their website, explaining they “regret” the suspension, although they “respect it”.

Benzema is the top scorer of all current French international players with 27 goals in 81 appearances for Les Bleus. Yet, he will most likely miss the European Championship, as the case is not expected to be solved before June.

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Former Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho has taken a subtle dig at Iker Casillas after his Porto side were knocked out of the Champions League by Chelsea on Wednesday night.

The pair had a bitter feud while they were at Los Blancos with Mourinho believing the World Cup winner and ex-captain was the source of dressing room leaks to the press. He dropped Casillas in favour of Diego Lopez in his last season in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu.

On Wednesday, the pair met once more and Mourinho’s Chelsea got the better of Casillas’s Porto. The Stamford Bridge side won 2-0 on the night to secure top spot in their group while Porto ended up third, and playing Europa League football in the new year.

Speaking to the media afterwards, Mourinho was asked about Casillas. And he couldn’t stop himself having a slight dig at the fact the 34-year-old will be playing the Europe’s second tier competition rather than the Champions League.

“No problem. I’ve done my job and he has done his, and he has done well. Now Casillas can win the only trophy he hasn’t won: the Europa League,” the Portuguese manager said.

Mourinho spent three seasons in Madrid in which time he won La Liga and the Copa del Rey but failed to win the Champions League.

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Barcelona defender Gerard Pique is obsessed with Real Madrid, according to Los Blancos defender Alvaro Arbeloa.

The Catalan centre-back last week courted controversy when he took to social media to mock Real Madrid’s error in fielding Denis Cheryshev in the Copa del Rey tie against Cadiz. The Russian winger was supposed to be serving a one-match ban and Real were subsequently thrown out of the competition.

When asked about his Twitter post full of emojis crying tears of laughter, Pique admitted to reporters he found the whole episode hilarious.

It isn’t the first time the defender has mocked Madrid. At his team’s title winning celebrations last season, Pique took time out to thank Kevin Roldan, the singer who performed at Ronaldo’s birthday celebrations in February, hours after Los Blancos had lost 4-0 to rivals Atletico. The defeat was seen as the key moment where Madrid lost their grip on the title.

In quotes published by Marca, Arbeloa stated: “Pique seems obsessed with us. I’ll see him in a comedy club talking about Madrid. The last 10 years for Barca don’t equal Madrid’s history.”

Ronaldo himself was more diplomatic when asked about Pique’s stirring, saying: “It’s not worth talking about, I don’t want to give free publicity.”

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Cristiano Ronaldo has moved to put an end to speculation that he will leave Real Madrid by claiming he has no intention of quitting the Santiago Bernabeu.

Stories have emerged this season that he will look to move on in the summer, with former club Manchester United, French champions PSG or the MLS being options for the 30-year-old.

But in an interview with Antena 3, the club’s all-time leading goalscorer said he wants to stay in the Spanish capital. His current deal runs out in 2018.

He stated: “It is speculation. Every year, the same thing. I am calm, I feel good, and I am happy here. I have two years of contract and I am going to stay here.”

The talk of a move to PSG increased after he was seen hugging boss Laurent Blanc following the two teams’ clash in the Champions League. Ronaldo set the record straight though after people put two and two together and ended up with five.

“I have talked to many people. When people treat me well, I treat well. A muddle that does not exist was put together. What happened with Blanc was that he had spoken very well about me before and I only thanked him for his declarations and I told him that I had liked them a lot,” he commented.

With talk of a falling out with Rafa Benitez, Ronaldo also took time to back the Real boss.

“Benitez is doing a good job, he is adapting well and must be given time. We have won five games in a row and we are improving.”

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Real Madrid boss Rafa Benitez has been praised by Barcelona man Javier Mascherano, with the Argentinian saying his career was saved by Benitez.

The pair were on opposite sides last month when the fierce rivals clashed at the Santiago Bernabeu and Mascherano was the happier of the two then after Los Cules went home having thrashed Real 4-0.

Since then, Benitez has been under the spotlight although Tuesday’s 8-0 win over Malmo eased the pressure somewhat on him.

But speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Mascherano, a midfielder-turnded-defender, said it was a different story almost 10 years ago when he was signed by Benitez for Liverpool after struggling at West Ham.

He had made the switch to the Premier League from Corinthians but did not settle in London. Benitez saw the potential though and signed him for the Anfield side which already had Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Mohamed Sissoko in midfield.

Mascherano said: “He’s a great man, and a diligent and excellent coach. I’ll always be grateful to him for having rescued me from the big black hole I was stuck in. At West Ham, I was hardly given any playing time.

“It was the first time I’d played in Europe and then Rafa came to Liverpool and took me there. People didn’t understand it, with them already having players like Xabi Alonso, Mohamed Sissoko and Steven Gerrard in midfield. But Benitez said to me that none of those three had the talent that I did.”

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