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Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has said the La Liga race will go down to the very last day of the season.

Los Blancos missed the opportunity to move four points clear of rivals Barcelona after they could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Villarreal on Sunday night. Cristiano Ronaldo gave the hosts the lead via a penalty, his 30th goal in the league. But Real were pegged back just after the hour mark when Gerard Moreno fired past Iker Casillas.

After the match, Ancelotti said the players were disappointed but added they would work hard to keep hold of any advantage in the league, no matter how small.

“The team is improving. We’ve dropped two points, but La Liga will be decided in the final match. We have to focus on the two-point lead we’ve got, which isn’t much, but is a lead we must make the most of. Now we have to carry on and in the next game, which will be difficult, try to produce a good reaction,” he stated.

Speaking about the game itself he said Real regretted missing so many chances.

“After this draw we’re not satisfied, obviously, because it’s the first time we’ve drawn. It wasn’t impotence, because we created a lot of openings; we were unlucky, but we played a good second half.”

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Real Madrid dropped two points against a courageous Villarreal and saw Barcelona shorten Los Blancos lead in La Liga down to two points.

Cristiano Ronaldo put the hosts ahead with a penalty kick, but Marcelino Garcia Toral men savaged a point thanks to Gerard Moreno.

Despite resting most of the regular starters, Villarreal showed great confidence at the Santiago Bernabeu, threatening Iker Casillas from the start.

The visitors could have taken the lead before the 15-minute mark as Gerard Moreno caught the ball inside the box and brought an excellent save from Casillas. Moi Gomez caught the rebound but with the keeper scrambling Dani Carvajal came to the rescue clearing the shot off the line.

Los Blancos slowly started to take control of the game and Gareth Bale was close to scoring as he met a Toni Kroos cross and headed it a few centimetres wide off the post.

Carlo Ancelotti men were getting closer and another delivery from Kroos was met by Raphael Varane whose header narrowly missed at the far post.

The home side came into the second half determined to take the lead and Ronaldo had a great opportunity to score ahead after finding space inside the box, but his effort was saved by Sergio Asenjo.

Yet, a couple of minutes later Eric Bailly was booked for pulling the Portuguese to the ground inside the box and the Ballon d’Or winner stroke the penalty into the top corner to make it 1-0.

Asenjo made a superb save to deny Ronaldo in the next play, and Los Blancos started to struggle after that chance. Luciano Vietto and Mario Trigueros came in from the bench and rapidly changed the game.

Gerard Moreno made it 1-1 with a powerful shot from the edge of the box following a great play from Vietto.

Karim Benzema and Ronaldo were close to earning three points for Los Merengues, but Asenjo completed a brilliant performance denying both efforts.

Jese also missed a major chance as a long ball slipped through Asenjo’s hand, but the Canarian’s effort bounced wide at the near post.

Villarreal could have stunned Los Blancos in the last minutes as Moreno delivered a super cross towards Vietto, who flicked a header towards the bottom corner, but Casillas was down to make the save.

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Premier League side Liverpool have asked Real Madrid to keep them informed of Asier Illarramendi’s situation, according to reports.

Press in the UK and Spain claim the midfielder will be leaving the club at the end of the season having struggled to make an impact since his arrival from Real Sociedad in 2013. The 23-year-old is way down the pecking order and finds himself behind Toni Kroos, Lucas Silva, Luka Modric and Sami Khedira for a central midfield berth.

Reds boss Brendan Rodgers has asked Los Blancos to let them know of his availability as he looks to reinforce his squad for the next campaign, and to cover the loss of Steven Gerrard in particular, who will leave Anfield for LA Galaxy when his contract expires.

Illarramendi has been the subject of transfer speculation in recent months and Liverpool will have a battle on their hands should they wish to make a move. FA Cup holders Arsenal are said to be interested in taking the player to the Emirates to replace the aging Mikel Arteta and Matieu Flamini.

Real Sociedad are also keen on taking him back to the Basque Country but will be pushed hard to stump up 22 million euros Real would demand, while rivals Athletic Bilbao already had an offer turned down in the January transfer window.

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Former Real Madrid midfielder Michel Gonzalez has admitted he dreams of becoming Los Blancos manager, although he claimed he’s not obsessed about it.

“I can’t hide it. That’s the dream of any former Real Madrid player. Managing Madrid means reaching the top. It is the biggest club in the world and for a Madridista like me it would be a high honour to achieve,” Michel told Italian journalist Gianluca di Marzio in an interview.

The former Olympiacos boss explained he’s not obsessed about this dream: “I’ve been coaching for a few years and this is not an obsession. I work to be happy, obviously I would love to reach Real Madrid, but you can’t become obsessed in life. I’ve worked for other teams and I’ve been pretty happy in most of them.”

Olympiacos ditched Michel a few weeks ago after failing to qualify from their Champions League group and now he’s already thinking about next season: “I have a few offers but I haven’t made my choice. I have still three months ahead until pre-season. I would like to keep working in a club with great future,” the Spaniard concluded.

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Real Madrid host Villarreal on Sunday evening and will be looking to preserve their four-point lead over Barcelona in La Liga with one eye on the Clasico clash just a few weeks away now.

Since their hammering by Atletco three weeks ago, Los Blancos have responded with wins over Deportivo La Coruna and Elche while Los Cules at home last week to Malaga. Atletico have also lost since the derby, effectively wiping out the disastrous result for Real.

Villarreal are always a tough opponent for Madrid and are enjoying a great season to date. They are fighting with Valencia for the fourth and final Champions League spot, but two defeats in their last four have halted their progress in recent weeks.

In terms of team news, Luka Modric could feature from the bench after recovering from the thigh problem his picked up in November and that ruled him out since then. Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale should also be fit after recovering from slight knocks.

Los Blancos will still be without a host of first team stars though through injury, including Fabio Coentrao, Sami Khedira, Sergio Ramos and James Rodriguez.

For the visitors, Mario Gaspar, Bruno Soriano, Adrian Marin and Bojan Jokic are all expected to miss the game at the Bernabeu, as will Denis Cheryshev, who is prevented from playing against his parent club while on loan.

Possible line-ups:
Real Madrid: Casillas; Carvajal, Pepe, Varane, Marcelo; Silva, Kroos, Isco; Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo

Villarreal: Sergio Asenjo, Rukavina, Chechu Dorado, Jaume Costa, Bailly, J. dos Santos, Sergio Marcos, Moi Gomez, G. dos Santos, Campbell, Gerard Moreno

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Carlo Ancelotti to Real Madrid

Despite struggling to earn a regular spot among the starting eleven in his two seasons at Real Madrid, Isco has now convinced Carlo Ancelotti to have a guaranteed spot in the line-up.

“If he is fit, he will always start,” confessed Ancelotti asked about what Isco’s role will be when all the injured players return.

In a press conference prior to Villarreal’s game, Ancelotti explained “it is difficult to tell which is the best position for Isco, because he performs great anywhere he plays.”

The Italian manager admitted he’s not going to rotate players in the next few matches. “We haven’t played too many games, we’re fresh and playing well, so I’m not going to rotate. They criticise coaches who don’t rotate like me and they also criticise those who do. We don’t know what to do to avoid critics. You can only think it’s impossible.”

Asked about Luka Modric’s return from his three-month injury, Ancelotti explained “he’s not in the squad for Villarreal’s match but we hope he can make it for the second leg of the Champions League tie against Schalke.”

Speaking about Sunday’s game, Ancelotti praised Villarreal’s boss Marcelino Garcia Toral: “When a team plays that well it’s because they have a manager who works well. I love his methods and the way he talks. They are an intense team, like us, and the fact that they will rotate players isn’t necessarily good for us. We’ll have to fight.”

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Jese Rodriguez could leave Real Madrid on a temporary deal in the summer, according to reports in Spain.

The 22-year-old forward is currently the back-up striker to Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema or Gareth Bale and tends to feature when any of the trio are absent or in need of a rest.

But Onda Cero reports Los Blancos could be willing to part with their player on a loan deal in the summer in order to allow him to get valuable first team minutes under his belt and speed up his progression.

Jese, who recovered from a serious knee injury picked up in the Champions League last season, cut a frustrated figure last weekend when he was warming up for 40 minutes against Elche but only figured for the final 30 seconds and did not touch the ball.

Allowing Jese to leave on loan wouldn’t spell the end of the you forward’s career at the Santiago Bernabeu. Los Blancos routinely let youngsters leave in order for them to play elsewhere before bringing them back.

Daniel Carvajal spent a season in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkussen and has since established himself as the club’s first choice right-back, while midfielders Casemiro and Denis Cheryshev are currently on loan at Porto and Villarreal respectively but are thought to be part of Carlo Ancelotti’s first team plans for next season.

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Real Madrid face Villarreal on Sunday in a match that brings good memories for the Yellow Submarine, as they played their first La Liga game ever at the Santiago Bernabeu.

It was on August 30th 1998 in a game unusually played on Monday due to Los Blancos having played the final of the European Supercup the previous Friday, losing 1-0 to Chelsea with a goal scored by Gustavo Poyet.

That day, Villarreal made his debut in the Spanish first division after having earned a historic promotion in the 1997/98 season, beating in Sociedad Deportiva Compostela in the playoffs.

Their first La Liga match couldn’t start better, since Gica Craioveanu scored for the visitors with only three minutes on the clock and gave the rookies the lead against the reigning European champions.

However, two goals from Raul Gonzalez, one from Pedja Mijatovic and one more from Savio turned Villarreal’s dream into a nightmare, earning a 4-1 victory for Los Merengues.

The current Real Madrid assistant manager Fernando Hierro took part in that game as a Los Blancos player. He featured from the start an played 85 minutes. Thus, he can be considered one of Villarreal’s first executioners in La Liga.

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Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has reiterated his desire to one day manage Italy and lead them to success at the World Cup.

The Italian boss is held in high esteem at the Santiago Bernabeu and is not thought to be looking at anytime soon, but has never made any secret of wanting to one day lead his country of birth.

Ancelotti guided Los Blancos to success in the Champions League last season – his first as Real boss – and ended the club’s 12-year wait for La Decima. The calm and quiet Italian also masterminded victories in the Copa del Rey, European Super Cup and Club World Cup finals.

Prior to arriving in Madrid, Ancelotti had been hugely successful in three other countries. He won the Champions League among other trophies while boss of AC Milan in Italy. With Chlesea, he guided the Blues to double success – the league and FA Cup. And in France, he ended PSG’s 18-year wait for the Ligue 1 title.

Speaking to students at the Escuela Universitaria Real Madrid-Universidad Europea this week, Ancelotti said: “I never forget my dream of leading Italy one day. I hope that in the future I can complete that dream because I want to win the World Cup with Italy.”

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Denis Cheryshev will become a member of Real Madrid’s first team next summer after returning from Villarreal. The Russian winger, who is on loan at the Valencian club, has impressed this season with his brilliant performances and has reportedly convinced Carlo Ancelotti.

Spanish radio station Cadena COPE has revealed “at the moment, Los Blancos will is to bring Cheryshev back to join the first team, although this is constantly changing, but at the moment that is their intention.”

Cheryshev joined Los Merengues youth teams in 2002 at 12 years old. In 2010 he made it into Real Madrid Castilla, where he would spend three seasons. Last year, he left on loan to Sevilla, but he couldn’t feature regularly due to injuries.

Real Madrid sent him to Villarreal last summer and that has turned to be a superb decision. Cheryshev has reached his best level, becoming one of the most threatening wingers in La Liga. He has scored five goals and provided ten assists in 24 appearances.

Cheryshev is a confessed Real Madrid lover, and he always wears Los Blancos badge in his shinpads when he plays. Asked about his return to his life club a few days ago he said: “I will keep on wearing the shinpads, but it’s too soon to speak about returning. I have to respect Villarreal and enjoy this. My priority is to play. When the moment comes, we will see.”

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