Marcelo’s eight-year-old son, Enzo, nailed a header challenge in the dressing room after training on Tuesday to spark scenes of delight from the Real Madrid players.

The youngster was hoisted in the air by players celebrating his remarkable achievement of exchanging headers with each of them before nodding the ball into the bin.

A video was posted on Instagram showing Enzo heading to each player in turn. He nodded the ball to Sergio Ramos last before heading the defender’s return into the bin. His feat cued pandemonium in the dressing room as the players surrounded the little boy and raised him above their heads in celebration.

Zinedine Zidane is preparing his players for the final league game of the season at Villarreal on Saturday. Los Blancos lie third in the table and need to win at La Ceramica and rely on city rivals Atletico to lose their final match in order to finish runners up to Barcelona.

Despite the disappointments of a poor league campaign, Zidane is hoping to end the season on a high by delivering a record-breaking third successive Champions League title. Real take on Liverpool in Kiev’s Olympic Stadium on Saturday 26 May and the Villarreal match could be last chance for some players to stake their claim for the trip to Ukraine.

Zidane admits he faces a selection headache for the big match. Welsh international Gareth Bale was considered out of contention by some pundits who believe Bale should look for a move this summer. The 28-year-old has started only one of Real’s six knockout games in the Champions League but has forced himself back into the reckoning on recent performances.

Zidane is quoted on the Sky Sports website as saying: “It’s better like this, to have everyone firing on all cylinders.

“Of course now deciding a starting 11 for the final is going to give me a real headache.

“He [Bale] played very well and I’m happy for him, but the important thing is that everyone is in great form heading to the final.”

The Real Madrid boss is hoping key players will be fully fit for the Champions League Final. Cristiano Ronaldo and Dani Carvajal have overcome their injury problems and were among the first team that trained at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.

Ronaldo has been taking it easy since picking up an ankle knock in the 2-2 draw at Barcelona on 6 May. Carvajal’s thigh injury was more serious and the defender has been out of action since being withdrawn from the Champions League semi-final first leg against Bayern Munich on 25 April.

Real Madrid have announced support of FIFA’s recommendation for a 24-team Club World Cup starting from 2021.

The proposal will see FIFA going up against UEFA by trying to rival the Champions League as the top club competition in the world.

Speaking on Real Madrid TV, the club’s director of institutional relations, Emilio Butragueno, said: “We think that for fans it could be a very interesting competition.

“Honestly, we think it could be a very attractive competition. We are talking about the best European teams and from other continents.

“We think that for fans it’s very interesting, it’s how we see it and other important clubs in Europe, who are also keen on the possibility, see it.”

FIFA is proposing a multi-billion deal featuring clubs from Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, North America and Oceania. The tournament would take place over three weekends in June or July, subject to the international footballing calendar.

According to a report in the New York Times last Wednesday, representatives of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain met with FIFA for a private meeting on the subject.

The clubs have a massive global appeal with combined revenues of over £3 billion for 2017. FIFA wants Europe’s top clubs to form a new competition as it seeks to close the gap with EUFA who make three times more than the organisation which owns the World Cup.

Plans for a new Club World Cup have brought tensions with FIFA’s rival and EUFA president Aleksander Ceferin blasted his counterpart Gianni Infantino recently. Ceferin feels the tournament will only benefit the elite clubs with little consideration given to the remainder.

Ceferin told Kicker: “About the so-called Club World Cup. The players are at the limit. FIFA is behaving strangely here too.

“They are discussing with only a few European clubs. They only invite the clubs that FIFA thinks are the important ones. The ECA is the associations of clubs in Europe, not only seven clubs,” he said.

“Do you think only one club in Germany, two in Spain and two in England are important? FIFA should respect every single club.

“I cannot imagine that UEFA invites only seven associations or clubs to discuss things that affect the future of all of European football. We conduct our consultations with everyone.

“And of course the clubs are sceptical of the FIFA proposal. I know that at least three of the seven clubs that were invited do not agree with FIFA’s approach.”

Rafa Benitez has assessed the chances of Real Madrid and Liverpool in the Champions League final and can’t decide between his two former clubs.

The current Newcastle United manager believes the Champions League finalists have contrasting advantages with Real Madrid having the benefit of experience while Liverpool offer a greater intensity about their game.

Real have had to overcome some challenging moments, no less so than the remarkable fight back by Juventus in the quarter-final which required a late penalty to send Los Blancos through to the semi-finals. Liverpool meanwhile, have blitzed opponents scoring seven times at Porto in the round of 16 and putting five past Roma at Anfield in the semi-final.

Quoted in Marca, Benitez said: “It will be a very interesting final,” Benitez said. “Watching Madrid against Juventus and Bayern, you realise they have experience and quality, know how to manage difficult situations in games. … That is a plus.

“Liverpool, by contrast, have a lot of intensity, quality, rhythm. … The rhythm in the Premier League is above other leagues, and you saw that against Roma.”

Benitez doesn’t see a clear winner ahead of the game.

“Both could win,” he said. “The first goal will determine how the game develops. … I have a lot of respect for both sides. May the best team win.”

Benitez managed Liverpool for six years from 2004 to 2010 and led the club to their first European success since the famous sides of the 1980s. In a classic final against Inter Milan, the Merseysiders came from 3-0 behind at half time to level the score 3-3 in the space of six minutes before lifting the Champions League trophy on penalties.

His time at Real Madrid was much shorter. His three-year contract was terminated after only six months in January 2016 following a turbulent spell which included a 4-0 home defeat in El Clasico and Real Madrid being disqualified from the Copa Del Rey for fielding an ineligible player. Zinedine Zidane took over from Benitez and went on to win the Champions League and La Liga double with the same group of players.

Of his tie at Real Madrid, Benitez said: “In my final stage at Madrid, those who understand and analyse a little what goes on around the club know why what happened happened.

“It was not as bad as people think, as things were done very seriously and professionally. In any case, I have many years of good memories at Madrid.”

After Mohamed Salah’s incredible debut season at Liverpool, he was bound to attract the interest of the European elite. Rumours suggest that Real Madrid have eyed up the Egyptian winger as their next Galactico, and may make a sensational swoop for the speedy star in the summer transfer window.

According to the Express, the Reds winger has already issued his transfer demands to the Spanish giants. The English paper claims that the former Chelsea man has said that he would be willing to ply his trade at the Santiago Bernabeu, but only for a salary of around £12 million-per-year. This is likely to enrage the club’s regulars, who would be upset to see a new player on the books earning massive amounts more than them. The wage demands would put Salah on a par with Cristiano Ronaldo, who earns around £250,000 per week, and the Portuguese talisman has warned the Egyptian to lower his asking price if he is serious about a move.

Zinedine Zidane may be eying up Salah as a potential long-term replacement for Ronaldo, as the Liverpool man can operate in the same areas as the 2017-18 Champions League top goalscorer. With Ronaldo’s contract expiring in 2021, the top executives at Real may be tempted to monitor Salah for another season or so before making a swoop for the player. The risk with that would be that if the 25-year-old continues to perform at such a high level, his transfer fee would skyrocket further. As it stands, though, it looks unlikely that Salah will move in the summer – bookies have placed him at 9/1 in the La Liga betting to leave Liverpool for Los Blancos.

Liverpool signed Salah for just over £30 million in the summer, and the player is now surely worth three times that amount after his stellar campaign at Anfield. In the Premier League, the pacey trickster has scored a goal every 92 minutes, and quickly joined an elite club of stars who have bagged over 30 goals in a top-flight campaign. The only other players to have achieved this feat are Alan Shearer in 1994-95 and 1995-96, Kevin Phillips in 1999-2000, Thierry Henry in 2003-04, Ronaldo in 2007-08, Robin Van Persie in 2011-12, and Luis Suarez in 2013-14.

There is no way that Liverpool will want their star man to go, and Jürgen Klopp will be hoping that the Egyptian shines on Merseyside for many years to come. The 2017-18 campaign marks the German’s most successful one yet while in the hot seat at Anfield, and the former Borussia Dortmund boss will be looking to build on that next term.

The problem for Klopp is, when Real Madrid want someone, they nearly always get their man. And just as they had to admit defeat when Barcelona came knocking for Philippe Coutinho, if Salah’s head is turned by the Galacticos, there won’t be much that Liverpool can do.

Real Madrid full-back Dani Carvajal is confident he will be fit to face Liverpool in the Champions League Final in Kiev on Saturday, 26 May.

Carvajal has not played for Los Blancos since picking up a hamstring injury in the first leg of Real’s semi-final against Bayern Munich on April 25.

The Spanish international quashed fears that the injury would stop him making the trip to Ukraine when insisting he will be fit for the final.

“I’ve already started playing with the ball and I feel fantastic,” said Carvajal quoted by Marca when speaking at Francisco de Vitoria Unversity.

The 26-year-old assured the audience he will be taking no risks with the injury and is totally focused on going to Kiev.

“I’ve had no pain for days and already have my mind set on Kiev, so I won’t even take the slightest risk.”

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are Madrid’s opponents in the Champions League Final. The former European champions boast one of the hottest strikers in the world in Mo Salah but Carvajal warned Liverpool are not just a one-man team.

“No team reaches a Champions League final with only one player,” he said

“They have done very well and their path has not been easy, they are there on their own merits and it will be a very exciting final.”

Real Madrid have eliminated some of the strongest sides in Europe to reach their third successive Champions League Final. Los Blancos faced French champions PSG in the group stages and knocked out Serie A title holders Juventus and German champions Bayern Munich on route to Kiev.

Carvajal has already won three Champions League titles with Real Madrid and is proud to play his part in the club’s bid to claim a 13th European title.

“It is clear that this is a wonderful cycle for us,” said Carvajal.

“It isn’t easy to reach the final of the Champions League and it is clear that the club have been managed very well.

“We have had fantastic squads and we are in a winning team, hopefully claiming the 13th.”