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Madrid got their week off to a great last last night, dispatching Levante 5-0 at Cuitat de Valencia.

And the papers this morning are full of praise for the side, who now head into a tough few days ahead as they face Liverpool and then Barcelona in next weekend’s Clasico.

Marca hails the team’s attacking threat on its front page this morning, saying the 10-time European Cup winners have the best attack in the world. Los Blancos have already scored 30 goals in just eight league fixtures, and have scored five or more on three occasions already this season.

At a rate of four goals a game, the side is on course to smash the current La Liga record of 121 goals in a season – held by Real when they won the league in 2011/12.

AS looks at the goals per minutes ratio of the forwards, and in Ronaldo and Chicharito, who both netted last night, Real have two of the most lethal strikers in world football. The Portuguese has scored a phenomenal 15 goals in 630 minutes of La Liga action this season, meaning he scores a goal every 42 minutes.

The on-loan Mexican forward scored his third for the club in just 144 minutes of play –  meaning he gets a goal every 48 minutes.

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Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed the headlines for the umpteenth time in his career as he scored another brace as Los Blancos eased to a 5-0 win at Levante.

Javier Hernandez, James Rodriguez and Isco grabbed the other goals as Madrid got off to the best possible start to a difficult week ahead as the face both Liverpool and Barcelona.

The 29-year-old Portugal forward went into the game having scored 13 La Liga goals in just seven games so far this season, and netted his 14th of the campaign after just 13 minutes, converting a penalty after on-loan striker Javier Hernandez had been brought down by Juanfran in the area.

Levante reacted well to falling behind and enjoyed a spell of pressure. Indeed, they would have equalised if it had not been for a brilliant goal line clearance by Luka Modric from Diop’s effort.

Ten minutes before the break, Carlo Ancelotti’s men found themselves further ahead, with Hernandez finishing off inside the area after being picked out by Rodriguez.

Los Blancos continued to take control of the game after the break with the front three looking dangerous all afternoon. The three points were secured on the hour mark when Ronaldo netted his second of the day and 15th in the first eight league games, a new record, when he skipped past a number of defenders before finishing coolly.

Things got better for the 10-time Champions League winners just five minutes later when summer signings Toni Kroos and Rodriguez combined for the Colombian to poke home Madrid’s fourth of the afternoon.

And midfielder Isco put the icing on the cake with a sublime curling finish. Real have now won their last five league games and are looking stronger as each game goes – a good sign ahead of a huge week for them.

 

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Real Madrid will face city rivals Atletico Madrid in the last-16 round of the Copa del Rey if both sides defeat third division sides Cornella and L’Hospitalet in the first round.

Los Blancos have been paired with Cornella, a modest club that got promoted to the Spanish Segunda B last season, and currently seat tenth in the Group III table.

The amateur players of the Catalonian side celebrated the result of the draw as if they’d won a title, knowing this will be the most important match in the club’s history.

The first legs are due to be played on December 3rd, while the return matches will be played on December 17th. However, Los Blancos had been forced to change the date of the away leg, due to their participation in the Club World Cup. Thus, Los Merengues will visit Cornella on November 29th.

Atletico will also visit the Catalonian region of Llobregat to face L’Hospitalet, and if the two Madrid clubs succeed they will meet again in the Copa del Rey. Last year, in the semifinals, Los Blancos defeated their arch-rival.

The team that reaches the quarter-finals would most likely face Barcelona, so Los Blancos will have a tough title defence.

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Levante Real Madrid match preview

Real Madrid will look to earn their fifth straight win in La Liga as they continue to chase leaders Barcelona.

Los Blancos will pay a visit to Levante, in a stadium where they have recently suffered a few upsets. Yet, with the hosts having a difficult start to the season, Real are expected to bring all three points home this time.

Carlo Ancelotti will miss Karim Benzema and Raphael Varane, who suffered from fever after coming back from France international games. Sergio Ramos will also rest looking to fully recover from his muscle injury.

As usual, Sami Khedira, Fabio Coentrao and Jese Rodriguez remain on the sidelines.

With Pepe having only played one game since he returned from injury, Ancelotti will have some trouble in defence. Nacho is expected to start at centre-back alongside the Portuguese, while Marcelo and Carvajal will feature at the sides.

The main doubt for Ancelotti is whether to pick Isco or Chicharito as Benzema’s replacement. The Spaniard has more options of starting, thanks to his recent good performances.

Meanwhile, Levante will miss David Navarro, Tono Garcia, Martins, Vyntra and Nabil El Zhar, although they will recover veteran Juanfran. After having won only one game of their first seven, they desperately need to earn some points.

Possible line-ups:

Levante: Marino; Lopez, Rodas, Adoua, Juanfran; Garcia, Diop, Camarasa, Morales; Casadesus, Barral.

Real Madrid: Casillas; Carvajal, Pepe, Nacho, Marcelo; Modric, Kroos, Isco; Bale, Ronaldo, Rodriguez.

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Carlo Ancelotti to Real Madrid

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti insists the game against Levante this afternoon is the most important fixture right now and his players aren’t thinking about anything else.

Los Blancos begin a huge week with a trip to Cuitat de Valencia before taking on Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday and end it by hosting Barcelona in the first Clasico fixture of the season next Saturday night.

Speaking to journalists ahead of the game against Levante, Ancelotti said the team is fully focussed on the game and nothing else matters for now.

“We are preparing for the games we have ahead in the next few days by focusing on tomorrow’s match. That is the most important game, after that we will have time to prepare for the others. We don’t have any problems. We are used to playing a lot of games in short space of time,” he stated.

The boss insists the defensive problems at the start of the campaign have been sorted out for now, and that conceding a lot of goals was as a result of a lack of full match fitness.

“I’ve already said that we’ve been made to pay for lapses of concentration in certain stages of games and because of a lack of fitness, as we didn’t have enough time to train properly during the pre-season. We have addressed those problems and have to keep up the consistency. We are on the right track now,” he commented.

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Real Madrid get back to business in La Liga after the international competitions break facing Levante at Ciudad de Valencia. The hosts will recover defender Juanfran from injury, a player who brings bad memories for Carlo Ancelotti.

The Spanish left-back was present in one of Ancelotti’s toughest matches as a manager. It was back in March of 2000. At that time, Ancelotti was coaching Juventus and Juanfran was playing at Celta de Vigo.

That day, the ‘Vecchia Signora’ met the Spanish side in the last-16 round of the UEFA Cup. The Italians were confident ahead of their visit to Balaidos, since they had won the home leg 1-0. However, it was not a pleasant game for Juve.

In the first minute of play, Claude Makelele tied it with a quick goal, and the rest of the match was a nightmare for Ancelotti’s men. Celta thrashed Juventus 4-0, with the Italians down to nine men after Conte and Montero were sent off. Juanfran played the whole 90 minutes and was one of the men of the match, punishing Juve’s defence every time he joined the offensive.

After that night, Ancelotti was harshly criticised in Italy. He had one of his worst days as a manager when he faced Juanfran, but he might be able to take revenge on Saturday at Ciudad de Valencia stadium.

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Real Madrid return to action today after the international break and head to Ciutat de Valencia where they take on Levante.

With a huge Champions League fixture against Liverpool looming large on Wednesday, the papers this morning say Carlo Ancelotti may not play all of his big guns, so there should be some playing time for Isco. The midfielder is keen to get more first team action at the club and recently challenged the boss to follow up on an interview in which he said the 22-year-old deserves to play more.

Sergio Ramos is close to a return, but is unlikely to be risked for this afternoon’s game with the Liverpool game in mind, meaning Nacho Fernandez should start. French defender Raphael Varane is missing with a fever, as is compatriot Karim Benzema, so Javier Hernandez should also get a run out.

Elsewhere, with the Clasico taking place next weekend, LFP president Javier Tebas has urged Real Madrid fans to show respect to Leo Messi should the forward break the league goalscoring record against them. He becomes the second person to publicly call on Madridistas to honour Messi after Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubiarreta expressed his hopes that Los Blancos fans would respect Messi.

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Alvaro Arbeloa deserves praise for the way he has played for Real Madrid and defended the shirt with pride, says former team mate Jose Callejon.

Arbeloa celebrates 10 years since making his debut for the club this weekend, and he has enjoyed great success in his two spells at the club – winning La Liga, the Champions League, Copa del Rey, Spanish Supercopa and European Super Cup.

Having grown up in the youth teams he made his first team bow a decade ago. But with regular first team football limited, he moved to Deportivo La Coruna before a stint in England with Liverpool. He rejoined the club in the summer of 2009.

Speaking about his former team mate, Callejon, who now plays for Napoli, said:  “I saw the news, he deserves the acclaim as he’s given a lot to the club. He’s a very normal person – quiet but very close to his companions. Myself and him were especially because we lived close together when I we were both at Madrid. He’s got a great sense of humour.”

And Callejon added: “He has always defended Real Madrid with sincerity. I like players like that. The people in Madrid love him very much. When a player acts like he does, it connects with everyone.”

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Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti  has hailed James Rodriguez for the impact  he has had on the side and how quickly he’s settled into life in Spain.

The 22-year-old winger arrived in the Spanish capital in an 80-million-euro deal from Monaco in the summer after excelling at the World Cup with Colombia.

He scored six goals in five games during the tournament in Brazil, picking up the top scorer award and the goal of the tournament prize for his effort against Uruguay – a sensational long distance volley.

Los Blancos endured a tough start to the campaign, losing two of their first three league games. The defeats to Real Sociedad and Atletico de Madrid lead to claims that Real had lost the balance in their side having sold Xabi Alonso and Angel di Maria.

The side have since been on a fine run of form. Much of that is how the team is defending better and the adaptation of Rodriguez, who has had to work in the defensive side of his game.

Talking to Real Madrid TV, the boss said: “There are some very important players in the team that are getting used to defending better. It was something that was unusual for James when he first arrived, but he’s doing very well now.”

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Barcelona striker Luis Suarez has said he is ‘feeling good’ about his physical condition as he prepares to make his debut for the club in next weekend’s Clasico clash.

The Catalan outfit visit the Santiago Bernabeu just hours after Suarez’ four month ban comes to an end. The Uruguayan striker has been banned from making an appearance for his new side after biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini while on World Cup duty in the summer.

Incredibly, it was the third time in his career that he has been found guilty of biting an opponent.

Suarez, a one-time target of Real Madrid, made his return for Uruguay last week as he represented his country in two friendly matches.

And ahead of his Azulgrana debut, he said it was great preparation for him. Speaking at an awards ceremony in the UK where he picked up the Golden Boot after scoring 31 goals for Liverpool last season, Suarez stated: “Every player has to be prepared to play every game – I feel good.

“Maybe if you had asked me two weeks ago the answer would not have been the same but after the two friendlies with Uruguay I am very happy with the condition I am in. I feel a lot better than I thought I would.”

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