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Manchester United are looking to sell Javier Hernandez in the summer, reports in the UK press has said.

The Daily Telegraph claims United boss Louis van Gaal sees no future for the Mexican at the Old Trafford side and is willing to listen to offers at the end of the season.

The 26-year-old is currently on a season-long loan at Real Madrid but has failed to convince manager Carlo Ancelotti that he should be in the starting eleven. Chicharito has only started one La Liga fixture since his arrival in the Spanish capital and has been largely used from the bench.

Although Los Blancos have the option to sign him at the end of the campaign, it is widely believed the 10-time European Cup winners will not take up deal and he’ll head back to Old Trafford where he has one more year left on his current contract.

Hernandez, who signed for Manchester United from Guadalajara in 2010 for 10 million euros, has made 14 appearances for Real Madrid this term, scoring four goals. He netted twice on his debut for the club in an 8-2 thrashing of Deportivo La Coruna in September. For his national side, Chicharito has scored 38 goals in 69 appearances.

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Atletico Madrid Real Madrid match preview

Real Madrid visit Atletico de Madrid in the first leg of their Copa del Rey clash on Wednesday evening in what is set to be another mouth-watering tie between the two rivals.

The headline attraction at the Vicente Calderon will be the return of Fernando Torres, who rejoined Los Rojiblancos last week on an 18-month loan deal from AC Milan. The 30-year-old forward left the club seven and a half years ago to sign for Liverpool, but he has remained a cult hero at the club.

Los Blancos have already been beaten by Diego Simeone’s men in the league this season and also lost the Spanish Supercopa against them. Carlo Ancelotti’s men saw off their city rivals on route to winning the Copa del Rey last season, and also famously defeated them 4-1 in the final of the Champions League in May.

Real will be keen to get back on track after losing to Valencia at the weekend. The 2-1 reverse saw an end to the 22-game winning run that started back in September. Both managers should have near complete squads to choose from. James Rodriguez will be hoping to start having made the bench at the weekend. Luka Modric remains a long-term absentee, while the hosts will be missing MIranda who has a hamstring injury.

Probable line-ups:

Atletico de Madrid: Oblak; Gamez, Jimenez, Godin, Juanfran; Saul, Mario, Gabi; Garcia, Torres, Griezmann.

Real Madrid: Navas; Carvajal, Pepe, Varane, Marcelo; Bale, Khedira, Kroos, Isco; Benzema, Cristiano.

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Carlo Ancelotti has defended Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale, saying he is not a selfish player.

The 25-year-old came in for some criticism following the 2-1 defeat to Valencia at the weekend, with some football pundits in Spain suggesting he could have provided Ronaldo and Benzema. There was even some suggestion the pair were still angry with him in the days following the loss.

But speaking to the media ahead of the clash with Atletico de Madrid in the Copa del Rey, Ancelotti said Bale is a very fair player and works hard for the good of the team.

“I do not think Bale is selfish. I have seen the situation again and it was not easy to pass the ball, it was very complicated. He had no room and he tried to shoot,” the Italian told reporters

We went on to add: “There is no need to talk about Bale. He knows very well when he needs to pass but he took the right decision. If he feels pressure it is positive because he has scored goals in the finals he has played in. Against Atletico he will play.”

When pressed about the issues at Barcelona, Ancelotti said he is not worried about what goes on at other clubs.

“I look at my own team, not what happens in Barcelona. Let’s just say that teams have problems during the season.”

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Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has confirmed recent Los Rojiblancos signing Fernando Torres will make it in the starting eleven for his debut at the Copa del Rey clash against Real Madrid.

“Torres came well trained from Milan. I see him in good shape. He has played ten league games and he’s been training with us for a few days already, so tomorrow he will play from the start and we hope he’ll give us what we expect from them,” the Argentinian explained.

Asked about their rival in the Copa del Rey, Simeone believes Los Blancos are “a huge rival with a great coach.” “We will try to play a great game, not only with words, but with actions,” he added.

Simeone also commented on Iker Casillas great state of shape: “When I said Casillas was the best of Madrid, some laughed. He has recovered the starting goalkeeper role and now they don’t laugh that much.”

Keylor Navas will most likely feature on goal against Atletico. “He’s a great goalkeeper. He’s doing well and he will feel the need to show all his quality against us,” Simeone said.

The Argentinian thinks Luka Modric will be an important miss for Los Merengues, although not crucial: “They have been unbeaten for many matches and that has allowed Isco to grow. They are a very talented team, but we want to bring the match to our field. We want to do something big,” he concluded.

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Former AC Milan and Ukraine forward Andriy Shevchenko has said Manuel Neuer should win the Ballon d’Or ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi.

The Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper is hoping to be just the second shot stopper to pick up the award, while Ronaldo is hoping for a second consecutive Ballon d’Or and third of his career.

Neuer played a key role in helping the Bavarians to the domestic double last season before lifting the World Cup with Germany in Brazil last summer. Barcelona man Messi once again has a superb season for his club, leading them to second place in La Liga, before carrying the Argentina team to the final of the World Cup.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, has set all sorts of goalscoring records and helped his side to four trophies in 2014 – the Champions League, European Super Cup, Club World Cup and Copa del Rey.

Speaking to FIFA’s official website, 2004 Ballon d’Or winner Shevchenko said: “Neuer is fantastic because he is more than just a traditional goalkeeper.”

He added: “I still think Cristiano and Messi are the favourites. Ronaldo won the Champions League and was the star. All three have the potential to be big winners, but I would choose Neuer because I think he did something special in the World Cup and also during his season with Bayern. He was fantastic throughout the year.”

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French side PSG have emerged as contenders for Sami Khedira’s signature should he decide to leave Real Madrid, reports have suggested.

Carlo Ancelotti’s former side are on the lookout for a new midfielder and have targeted Newcastle’s Moussa Sissoko as their number one target, reports in the UK say.

But the Magpies, managerless after Alan Pardew left for Crystal Palace last week, don’t want a repeat of last season when they sold Yohan Cabaye to the Parisian club and suffered a loss of form in the second half of the campaign.

Should the Premier League side be unwilling to sell Sissoko, it is claimed PSG boss Laurent Blanc will switch his attention to Khedira, who is into the last six months of his deal at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The German has hardly featured for Los Blancos this season, a mixture of injury and falling behind in the pecking order the reasons for his lack of action. He insists he is willing to sign a new deal and wants to stay in the Spanish capital, but while any contract remains unsigned there is doubt about his future.

Arsenal have been most heavily linked with the World Cup winner and are thought to still be keen on him, while Khedira has also been linked with a move back to his native Germany with Bayern Munich.

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Karim Benzema

Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema is facing a fine from his club after he went skydiving while on holiday in Dubai.

Los Blancos played a friendly against AC Milan in the city last week and the Frenchman stayed on for a few more days after the players were given some days off to rest. But resting was the last thing on Benzema’s mind, as he was spotted jumping out of a plane doing a tandem skydive.

He could face a fine, according to Spanish newspaper Marca, because skydiving is a dangerous activity, and one which Real Madrid players are prohibited from doing while under contract at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Benzema didn’t suffer any injury but Marca says he broke the code of conduct. “A code of conduct in place at the Bernabéu expressly lists certain activities considered too dangerous for the players to be involved in,” it stated.

Benzema, who signed for the 10-time Champions League winners from Lyon in 2009, has has a productive season to date, scoring 14 goals in 24 appearances. He played a key role in the team last season, spear heading the attack and helping the side to four trophies – the Champions League, Copa del Rey, European Super Cup and Club World Cup.

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Pepe has said Real Madrid played well enough to get at least a point against Valencia and certainly didn’t deserve to lose.

Despite taking a first half lead thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty, Los Blancos slipped to a 2-1 defeat, ending their 22-game winning won. They last experienced defeat against local rivals Atletico de Madrid in La Liga three months ago.

Talking to reporters after the match at the Mestalla, Portugal defender Pepe claimed the team had played well enough to take at least a point.

“We didn’t deserve to lose. It’s true that we didn’t get off to a good start in the second half of the game but we had our  chances.  There’s a lot left of the season and we’re still very much in the fight.  It would’ve been difficult to win everything until the end, we need to accept our errors and the loss.  We’re still La Liga leaders and we need to keep working hard.  There’s a lot left of La Liga and it’s going to be difficult,” he said.

And he added: “We’re not influenced by records, today we played well but in the end, we couldn’t get the win.”

The defender then looked ahead to the Copa del Rey tie against Atletico, saying the players want to get back on track as soon as possible.

“We need to get over it, we need to prepare well for the match because it’s going to be difficult, a very important tie.  We want to bring joy to our fans,” he stated.

 

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Real Madrid left-back Marcelo has said the players knew they would be in for a tough match against Valencia.

Los Blancos fell to a 2-1 defeat at the Mestalla – ending their 22 game winning run in all competitions. They maintained their place at the top of La Liga, however, as Barcelona suffered a shock defeat at Real Sociedad hours later on Sunday evening.

Speaking to the press after the defeat against Los Che, the Brazil defender said they knew it would be hard game against Valencia and the players realised they would lose some day.

“We come off the back of a good run but winning the match wasn’t to be. I think that we had to lose some day, we can’t win every game. Losing didn’t go through our heads, but we knew that it was going to be a really tough match. We tried to get the win. Matches here are always really tough, it wasn’t violent,” he said.

And he added: “The team looked good to me, we ran and fought. I felt good. We have a great team, regardless of the defeat. We have had a good run, but it doesn’t hurt so much because of that than because of the defeat.”

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Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has said Valencia need to be congratulated for their performance after they defeated Los Blancos 2-1.

Los Che ended Madrid’s remarkable run of 22 consecutive wins in all competitions on Sunday, coming from behind after Cristiano Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot to register his 26th league goal of the campaign.

Speaking to the press afterwards, Ramos said the Madrid players were disappointed with the result as they had opportunities to kill of the game when they were in the lead. And he added that they would work extra hard to get back to winning ways – particularly with Atletico de Madrid coming up next in the Copa del Rey.

“There were several phases to the game and we had chances to kill off the match, but we didn’t manage it. Valencia are an opponent who play very good football, it’s a very difficult ground to come to and we mustn’t take anything away from them. We have to congratulate them on their win,” he said.

And he added: “You come away from it hurting because after such a good run of wins, and being top of the table, we would have liked to get the year underway with the three points. It wasn’t to be, but we’ll carry on working as we have been.”

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