Sergio Ramos returned to his former club and found himself in the thick of the action as Real Madrid lost 3-2 in Sevilla.

Ramos had the opportunity to reply to goals from Wissam Ben Yedder and Steven Nzonzi but smashed his spot kick against the bar and then turned a cross by Gabriel Mercado into his own goal to give Sevilla a 3-0 lead.

Real were able to reduce the margin of defeat with late goals from Borja Mayoral and Ramos who made no mistake with his second penalty awarded in injury time.

Los Blancos missed the chance to go second in the table above city rival’s Atletico but seem to have lost interest in La Liga as the team focus on the Champions League final later this month.

Zinedine Zidane made sweeping changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Barcelona on Sunday with no place in the lineup for Keylor Navas, Raphael Varane, Marcelo, Luca Modric, Toni Kroos, Gareth Bale or Cristiano Ronaldo who is carrying a knock.

The final score flattered the visitors who were chasing the game after 26 minutes when a route one ball from Nico Pareja was headed into the path man-of-the-match Ben Yedder for Sevilla’s first goal.

Thereafter, Sevilla had the better of chances and could have been three ahead before the end of the first half in which Real Madrid managed only two touches inside the Sevilla box. The home side were denied minutes before Ramos’ missed penalty when Casilla saved a goal bound effort from Ben Yedder and the stand-in keeper made another good stop after Muriel was sent through on goal.

Zidane felt he’d named an eleven capable of winning the game but admitted the result will have no effect on their goal for the rest of the season, which is the Champions League Final against Liverpool.

Speaking after the game, Zidane said: “This defeat is not going to affect us at all for the remainder of the season. We can’t be happy with what we did in the league, but with our performance tonight we can be.

“The team I put together was capable of winning the match. I don’t regret anything. It’s a pity. I have nothing to criticise the players for because in the second half they did everything to win.

Real have two league games remaining before they face Liverpool in Kiev on Saturday, 26 May. They are at home to Celta Vigo on Saturday with the final game at Villareal one week later. It leaves seven days to prepare for the Champions League Final when Zidane hopes to have a fully fit squad to choose from.

As rumours of Neymar’s move the Real Madrid escalated this week, Zinedine Zidane refused to be drawn on the future of the Brazilian international.

Neymar, who moved to Paris Saint Germain from Barcelona a year ago, returned to France to finalise treatment on a foot injury which has kept him sidelined since February. The 26-year-old was amongst the crowd at the Stade De France on Tuesday to witness PSG complete the domestic treble with a 2-0 victory over Les Herbiers in the final of the Coupe de France.

His return sparked more reports of an impending move to the Bernebeu with Spanish media outlet AS running a front page feature claiming Neymar met twice with a Real Madrid delegate in Brazil last month.

Zidane was asked to comment on the possible transfer deal at Tuesday’s post-training press conference but the Real coach refused to be drawn.

“[Neymar] is not my player,“ he said

“I am not getting into this. I am just concerned with finishing the season well.”

Reports suggest Real Madrid will have to pay €260m as PSG want to make a profit on the player they signed for €220m last summer. Neymar is thought to be frustrated at playing in the French league and is keen on making a return to Spain.

Real have been a launching a charm offensive and according to AS, Neymar met up with Real Madrid new boy Vinicius Junior in Rio de Janeiro in March. The pair posted a selfie on social media sparking suggestions that Real Madrid wanted them to get to know each other before teaming up at the Bernabeu in the future.

Vinicius told The Guardian he wanted to play with Neymar at Real Madrid.

“I know I am still no one and I have done nothing so far,” he said. “I want to become one of the best players in football and win a World Cup. I want to reach my goals and make my family proud.

“If God wants, Neymar and I will play together at Real Madrid. I would definitely be in favour of him moving to Madrid because it would be my big dream to play in the same side as Neymar.

“He is my idol in football. If had a chance to play with him, I would feel very happy.”

There were reports last month that Neymar’s father had been in discussions with Florentino Perez who is expected to finance an overhaul of the squad in the summer.

Neymar was still in Brazil at the time but the agent is said to have put forward his son’s recommendations to improve the Real Madrid squad.

Zinedine Zidane was unable to say how long Cristiano Ronaldo will be out of action following an ankle injury suffered in the 2-2 draw against Barcelona on Sunday.

The Portuguese star hurt his ankle when equalising Luis Suarez’ opener early in the 14th minute. He managed to struggle through remainder of the first half before being substituted for the second period.

Zidane was quoted on the club’s official website: “I don’t know how long he’ll be out,” he said.

“He said it wasn’t much, but we’ll see tomorrow.

“We’ll do some tests to see the extent of the damage done to his ankle. He was a little worried because it was a bit swollen, but he said that it’s nothing serious.”

Reports from Spain confirm the player’s assessment and Ronaldo is expected to join his team mates in training later this week. It’s unlikely that he’ll travel to Sevilla for Wednesday’s game in La Liga and may not be risked in the final two league matches, at home to Celta Vigo on Saturday and away to Villarreal on Sunday 20 May.

Ronaldo has two weeks to get fully fit before heading to Ukraine for the Champions League final against Liverpool in Kiev on May 26.

It was an intense Clasico which saw Real twice come from behind and Barcelona reduced to ten men following Sergio Roberto’s dismissal on the stroke of half time.

Suarez had opened the scoring after ten minutes before Ronaldo equalised four minutes later. Barcelona regained the lead through Lionel Messi seven minutes after the break and then Gareth Bale curled home a first time effort to conclude the scoring with 18 minutes remaining.

Speaking after the game Zidane said: “I’d have liked to have won. There was nothing at stake but it was a good Clasico – high intensity and chances. They played well and so did we.

“Everyone who likes football can be happy with a game like that. Football is always more important than the controversy that you want to create.

“We had a good opportunity to win today, clearly, we had a lot of chances to score, especially in the first half. In the end it was a draw and that’s that. There are two games left and, in the end, Barcelona will finish the season unbeaten.”

The result left Real three points behind city rivals Atletico Madrid but as Zidane’s post match comments infer, priorities at the Bernabeu lie elsewhere.

As Real Madrid prepare for a third consecutive Champions League final the draw takes place at the Bernabeu today to distribute tickets allocated for the showpiece in Kiev later this month.

The NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium can hold 70,050 people but the capacity has been reduced to 63,000 for the Champions League final. 40,000 tickets will go to fans, of each club and general fans worldwide, while the remainder will be allocated to “the local organising committee, UEFA and national associations, commercial partners and broadcasters, and to serve the corporate hospitality programme,” according to UEFA.

Both finalists have been allocated 16,626 tickets and the clubs must decide how to share an allowance that doesn’t come close to demand. Los Blancos have 892 fewer tickets than they received for the Champions League final in Cardiff twelve months ago and over 24,000 requests have been submitted for the final in Ukraine.  

1164 tickets have been held back for international and special supporters while 2,660 will be distributed to players, staff, sponsors and other organisations affiliated to the club.

The club will hold a raffle to determine who will receive a ticket from a pool of 12,802 allocated for members. The draw takes place at 5.00pm CET at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu and the club has advised that tickets are non-transferrable and can only be used by the member making the request.

Strict security measures have been put in place to manage the crowd and fans can expect similar controls to those put in place on Matchdays.

The full break down of Real Madrid’s ticket distribution is as follows:
12,802 (77%) tickets available for members via the raffle
100 (0.60%) tickets for the 100 oldest club members
70 (30 + 35) (0.42%) tickets for members with reduced mobility
994 (5.98%) tickets for national and international supporter clubs
800 (4.81%) for the first team
160 (0.96%) for the board of directors
150 (0.90%) for veteran football and basketball players
200 (1.20%) for the football staff
50 (0.30%) for the basketball staff
400 (2.41%) for club sponsors
50 (0.30%) for the Real Madrid Foundation
120 (0.72%) for the VIP area
600 (3.61%) for employees of the club according to the Collective Agreement
130 (0.78%) for Protocol and Institutional Relations

While most Real Madrid players will undoubtedly be concerned with their impending Champions League semi final meeting with Bayern Munich, you could forgive some of the players for having one eye on the World Cup. Yes, the Champions League is Madrid’s competition, but World Cups only come around every four years.

Indeed, Russia 2018 is less than 50 days away now, with the big kick-off set for 14^th June at the Luzhniki Stadium. It begs the question then, which Real Madrid players are likely to report for pre-season at the Santiago Bernabéu with a World Cup winners’ medal in their pockets? Below is a very much non-scientific rating of their chances:

Ramos, Carvajal, Nacho, Isco, Asensio and Vasquez (Spain)

Chances Rating: B+

Obviously, not everyone is guaranteed their place in the squad here, but the form of Madrid players will be essential to Spain’s success in Russia. Isco, in particular, has an opportunity to prove that he belongs among the elite level of world football. Spain’s odds, currently around 7/1, look like pretty good value, especially when you consider that they seem to have rediscovered their identity again after the shock exit of 2014. You can back La Furia Roja with these sports free bets. They have a real chance this year.

Toni Kroos (Germany)

Chances Rating A+

Of course, Toni Kroos already has a World Cup winners’ medal. However, if anything, Germany look even better now than the side that became the first European team to win a World Cup in South America in 2014. The experience is still there, but they have added some brilliant young talent like Leroy Sané and Timo Werner. They are 9/2 co-favourites and deserve to be so.

Marcelo, Casemiro (Brazil)

Chances Rating B-

Everyone has been raving about how coach Tite has turned around Brazil’s fortunes since they were humiliated by Germany at the last World Cup. But has he done enough to justify their tag as 9/2 co-favourites? Indeed, some bookmakers have them on their own at 4/1. One could argue against it, but there is a chance that Brazil could struggle in Russia.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Chances Rating C

Madrid fans know well enough now not to put anything past the great Portuguese, but can he really fire 25/1 shots Portugal all the way to World Cup? They join Spain in Group B along with Morocco and Iran. While Portugal may make the quarters, the European champions may come up short against some of the top nations.

Raphael Varane (France)

Chances Rating A-

France arguably bring their best squad to a Finals since current coach Deschamps and current Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane led them to win it all in 1998. They are 6/1 to win their second World Cup. They undoubtedly have the talent, it’s just all about Deschamps making it work.

Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic (Croatia)

Chances Rating C

Ivan Perisic and Ivan Rakitic join the Madrid men as the class acts of this Croatia team, who at 40/1 will be plenty of punters dark horse picks. Indeed, it will be interesting to see if they can top Group D ahead of a struggling Argentina. Odds of 3/1 say they can.

Keylor Navas (Costa Rica)

Chances Rating D

It is not going to happen for Costa Rica (750/1) or their hero goalkeeper who helped them do so well at Brazil 2014. If they did make it to the World Cup Final, you can be certain that the whole world would unite to cheer them on.

The guard of honour, or ‘pasillo’, is a traditional sign of respect given to league title winners but Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has decided his players will not be lining up outside the tunnel for Barcelona when La Liga champions run out for El Clasico at the Camp Nou on Sunday.

It’s a tradition that has happened in past meetings between the Spanish giants but Zidane insists his team will not do it this time.

“We are not going to give them a pasillo,” the Madrid coach said recently. “It’s my decision and that’s it. I don’t really understand this thing about the pasillo, so in the end it’s not going to happen.”

The Frenchman noted that Barcelona didn’t provide a guard of honour for Real when they played at the Bernabeu following Madrid’s success in the Club World Cup in December. At the time, the Catalan club said it was policy to give the pasillo when it plays in the same competition as its opponent.

Barcelona defender Jordi Alba insisted his team would have provided a guard of honour if Real had won the league.

“Barcelona has done it for Madrid in the past, even at the Bernabeu,” Alba said. “But each team can make its own decision and it has to be respected.”

Real Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos played down the tradition and said the team will follow the manager’s decision.

“We are giving too much attention to the pasillo,” Ramos said this week. “They have the title, which is what they wanted. The pasillo doesn’t mean anything to them or to us. We’ve said that it’s not going to happen and it’s not going to happen. That’s it.”

It’s been 10 years since the last guard of honour happened between the rival clubs. Barcelona did it for Madrid in the Bernabeu when Los Blancos had mathematically won the league prior to the home game against their rivals.

Madrid did it for Barcelona in 1991 when the local crowd in the Bernabeu jeered as the Barca players entered the field of play. And, Barcelona gave the guard of honour at the Camp Nou after Real had won the league title in 1988.

Real Sociedad right back Alvaro Odriozola is the latest transfer target linked with Real Madrid who are said to be considering the future of Dani Carvajal.

Reports in the Spanish media outlet Don Balon suggest Real president Florentino Perez is eyeing the 22-year-old defender who is one of the hottest prospects in Spain at the moment. The story comes as Los Blancos look to strengthen in defence. Current right back Dani Carvajal has had an erratic season and missed the Champions League semi final second leg at the Bernabeu through injury.

Don Balon also report that Cristiano Ronaldo has recommended his Portuguese teammate  Jaoa Cancelo for the right back slot. The Valencia defender has been on loan at Inter Milan where he has impressed in Serie A. Odriozola and Cancelo both have youth on their side and bring an attacking threat to their game in addition to sound defensive qualities.

Carvajal has been a stalwart at the Bernabeu since being bought back from Bayer Leverkusen in June 2013 and has made 130 appearances for Real Madrid. Although not having his best season Carvajal is seen as one of the most reliable defenders at the club. The signing of another right back will not necessarily signal his departure as it is a position that could use some extra cover.

Real will face competition from La Liga rivals Barcelona should they decide to pursue interest in Odriozola. The Catalan club have been monitoring the Spanish international closely as they look to bolster options on the right hand side. Sergi Roberto has been a regular in the right wing back role this season but is said to prefer playing a more advanced role.

Carvajal is currently racing to be fit for Sunday’s clash with Barcelona and coach, Zinedine Zidane is facing a defensive crisis with French left back Raphael Varane nursing a calf injury sustained against Bayern on Tuesday. Zidane is not one to risk hurrying players back from injury and will be considering his options for El Clasico.

Real Madrid must break a British jinx if the team is to lift a record third consecutive Champions League title after Liverpool qualified for the final last night.

The Premier League side lost 4-2 in a thrilling semi final second leg in the Olympic Stadium in Rome but go through having won the tie 7-6 on aggregate.

It will be the fourth time in the club’s history that it has faced British competition in a European final and Los Blancos have yet to leave with the trophy. Chelsea defeated Real in the 1971 European Cup Winners Cup final. The teams drew 1-1 in Athens before playing the replay two days later, which Chelsea won 2-1.

Liverpool had the strongest side in Europe during the 1980s and the Merseysiders defeated Real 1-0 in the 1981 European Cup final in the Parc des Princes, Paris. Hopes of third time lucky were dashed by Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen side in 1983. The Scottish club won 2-1 in Gothenburg after the European Cup Winners Cup final went to extra time.

The 2018 Champions League final will take place in Kyiv on Saturday 26th May. The Olympic Stadium is home to Dynamo Kiev who have hosted Real three times in the Champions League. Los Blancos have yet to win on their visits to the Ukraine capital, losing 2-0 to Dynamo in 1999 and earning 2-2 draws on two later visits in 2004 and 2006.

This season’s final brings together two of the most successful clubs in history. Between them they have won 17 European Cups, Real have contributed 12 compared to five-time winners Liverpool.

Since losing the European Cup final to Liverpool in 1981, the two clubs have met four times in the Champions League. Liverpool defeated Real 1-0 in the first leg of their last-16 tie in 2009 before winning the return leg 4-0 to record a 5-0 aggregate victory.

Los Bancos avenged the humiliation when they next met in the group stage in 2014. Real won 3-0 on Merseyside and took the return fixture 1-0.

Real Madrid made history by becoming the first club to reach three consecutive European Cup finals for the second time.

Los Blancos drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich at the Bernabeu on Tuesday to clinch a place in the Champions League final in Kyiv on 26 May. In doing so, the holders reached their third Champions League final in a row, making them the first team to do so on more than one occasion.

Real’s famous side of the 1950s lifted the European Cup five times in a row between 1956 and 1960 and today’s team led by Cristiano Ronaldo will bid to win Europe’s top domestic prize for the third consecutive season when the play Liverpool in the final later this month.

The journey has not been an easy one and Real coach Zinedine Zidane admitted he has “suffered” as his team rode their luck in an enthralling semi final against long standing European rivals Bayern Munich.

“It was a mad game but a lovely one,” Zidane said after Real held on for a 2-2 draw to go go through 4-3 on aggregate.

“You have to suffer in football. You can’t reach a final without suffering and it’s even better like this. Well, maybe not for the heart. But it is.”

Responding to a question about how his players always find a way through, he said: “It’s not just the team, it’s the club. It’s a history that comes from a long way back and now it’s a history we are writing, just as those other teams did. This team never surrenders. We know it is hard but we believe in what we do and keep fighting.

“I feel very good, because when you do something like this it’s very nice. We like football because of this kind of emotion. We still haven’t won anything, but we’re in the final and that’s enormous. We can be happy because it’s not normal to be in the final for a third year in a row.”

Real survived some nerve-wracking moments, Keylor Navas made fine saves from efforts by Corentin Tolisso and Thomas Muller shortly after Karim Benzema’s goal early in the second half. Los Blancos made seven blocks as they were forced onto the back foot by the visitors who were desperately seeking to salvage the tie.

Sidelined Bayern defender Arturo Vidal was compelled to sharing expletives on social media when his team were denied a penalty appeal for what looked like handball by Marcello.

In the end, Real succeeded by making the most of their chances. The home side produced two goals from three shots on target while Bayern suffered, as they did in the first leg, by not making more of their opportunities. The visitors goals coming from ten efforts on target.

Zinedine Zidane has a double injury concern ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich and is considering bringing in Nacho Hernandez who has been out injured since the end of March.

Zidane is considering his options as he looks for a replacement for the injured Dani Carvajal and awaits news on Isco who is racing to recover from a shoulder injury suffered in the first leg.

Nacho only recently joined the first team squad in training but the Real coach insists he’s ‘ready’ if needed. Speaking in Monday’s pre-match press conference, Zidane said: “Nacho has been out for a month but has trained a lot, maybe less so with the team, but he’s ready.”

Isco surprised pundits with his swift return to training after spraining a shoulder last week and Zidane is keen for him to play his part in the second leg.

“The important thing is the nature of the injury. Physically, both are good,” he said.

“Tomorrow you will see. A player has to be 100 percent, if they are on the bench it is because they are [fit].

“I don’t have to say anything to Isco, he knows what he has to do, we all want him to play.

“If he has discomfort, we will do everything possible for him, but without risking anything. His health is the most important, as well as what he can do later on.”

“Both have trained with us and now we have a bit of time until tomorrow’s game to think about what we are going to do. We will see. The important thing is that the players are 100 percent.”

Central defender Nacho will not be able to provide cover for Carvajal and the coach may ask Lucas Vasquez to fill the role at right back.

“I will not say if I have it planned out or not,” he replied when asked.

“You are going to analyse what I say, but what I tell you is that whatever happens we are a team, we are many and we can do anything.

“The important thing is the motivation of the players, everyone wants to play and that includes all of them who can play right-back.

Real Madrid can go a step closer to winning a third consecutive Champions League title with victory over Bayern Munich in the semi final. Los Blancos take a 2-1 lead into Tuesday’s second leg at the Bernabeu and are favourite’s to progress to the final where they will meet either Liverpool or Roma.