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Real Madrid made it three wins in a row in La Liga, thanks to first-half goals from Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo, who has now scored nine goals in the last four games.

It was a thrilling game from the start, with the hosts constantly threatening Iker Casillas and Los Blancos counter-attacking.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale weren’t helping the defence, and Villarreal full-backs found space to constantly send crosses from the wings.

However, Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos had a superb performance, clearing every ball and keeping their team alive.

Real also looked very dangerous when Marcelo and Daniel Carvajal joined the attacks, and it was an end-to-end contest.

Yet, Los Blancos inspiration proved the difference. In one of Real’s first shots on target, Luka Modric gave the visitors the lead at the half hour mark, firing a powerful shot from outside the box that caught Sergio Asenjo unawares.

With Villarreal looking to equalise, Los Merengues found more spaces to counter attack. Five minutes before half-time, James Rodriguez sent a long pass to Karim Benzema. The Frenchman fount Ronaldo, who slid his effort into the bottom corner.

Madrid improved defensively in the second half, keeping their lines tighly closed. Villarreal were in control of possession, but didn’t get clear chances to score.

As the hosts started to feel tired, it became easier for Los Blancos to hold firm.

The European champions finally managed to bring the three points home and put some presure on leaders Valencia, Barcelona and Sevilla,

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Gareth Bale will return to the stadium where he made his Real Madrid debut, hoping to earn another victory for Los Blancos in their chase of leaders Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla.

The Welshman savaged a point for Los Merengues at El Madrigal last year with his first goal as a Madridista. This time, he will feature in the forward line alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, as Real look to get a fourth consecutive goal fest.

Carlo Ancelotti men have scored 18 in three games since last week, with Ronaldo showing a spectacular form. The Portuguese has scored eight goals in seven days and will look to extend his good run in a stadium where he has always scored playing for Real Madrid.

Ancelotti will miss Pepe, Fabio Coentrao and Sami Khedira, who remain in the sidelines due to injury.

On the other hand, Iker Casillas could return to the starting eleven, replacing Keylor Navas, who played his first official game against Elche.

Luka Modric is also expected return to the starting eleven after Asier Illarramendi had his chance in the last league match. The main doubt for the Italian manager will be whether to line-up Isco or James Rodriguez.

Villarreal will be a tough rival for Los Blancos, as they are also in good shape. Despite drawing last Wednesday at Eibar, the Amarillos play an attractive game, and they are very dangerous when playing home.

Marcelino Garcia Toral has all his men fit to face such an important rival, who sits just above them in the table with one more point.

Possible line-ups:

Villarreal: Asenjo; Rukavina, Musacchio, Gabriel, Mario; Espinosa, Jonathan dos Santos, Bruno, Cani; Uche, Giovani dos Santos.
Real Madrid: Casillas; Arbeloa, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Kroos, Rodriguez; Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale.

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Carlo Ancelotti to Real Madrid

Real Madrid boss has called on his players to improve their defensive solidity ahead of their trip to Villarreal.

Los Blancos have enjoyed a fine run of form, winning their last three games in all competitions and netting 18 goals in the process. But they have failed to keep a clean sheet in La Liga and the manager wants to see the defending improve starting with the trip to El Madrigal.

Speaking at his press conference, he told reporters: “The teams that have a better chance of winning trophies are those that are solid on the pitch. Not conceding goals is a good sign. At the end of last year we were solid and that’s why we won trophies. Looking for defensive solidity works to our advantage.”

The Italian spoke about the competition for places in the squad after confirming Pepe and Fabio Coentrao would sit out due to injury. He told journalists competition makes players train and perform better.

“It’s something that’s very good to have within the team. It makes the players train better so as to try to be in the team. At a big team, competition is necessary. We have a lot of matches and the same eleven players can’t always play,” he stated.

After coming in for stick for not scoring enough in recent games, Ancelotti stuck up for Karim Benzema and tried to take the pressure of his striker.

“Benzema shouldn’t be worried if a team-mate scores; he should be happy. This team has a lot of goals in it and Karim doesn’t have pressure on him to score goals. He has to help the team to play better and look for attacking solutions,” he said.

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Iker Casillas has congratulated Keylor Navas after the Costa Rican keeper made his league debut for the side at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday.

The summer signing from Levante was brought in by Carlo Ancelotti to provide competition for club captain Casillas following the departure of Diego Lopez to AC Milan.

Los Blancos enjoyed an easy 5-1 win over Elche and their was little Navas could do to stop the visitors scoring from the penalty spot.

Writing on his personal website, Casillas congratulated the 27-year-old keeper for making his home debut. “I want to hand it to my teammate Keylor on making his debut at the Bernabéu. Congratulations,” he wrote.

The World Cup winner also had words of praise for team mate Cristiano Ronaldo, who found the net four times on Tuesday evening.

“The team were magnificent, both in defence and in attack, and I would like to make special mention of Cris, because even though we are used to seeing these goalscoring figures season after season, it is not easy to score 4 in the same game,” he wrote.

Casillas then turned his attention to the weekend’s game against Villarreal and called on his team mates to keep up their recent good form. “It will be difficult, but we know we can do it. Come on,” he ended.

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Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos had agreed a move to Manchester United but changed his mind after the club appointed Louis Van Gaal, it has been claimed.

Former football and now journalist Jan Aage Fjortoft wrote on social media site Twitter that all had been agreed between the player and the Red Devils until the appointment of the Dutch coach, who lead Holland to the semi-finals of the World Cup this summer.

Kroos signed for Madrid for 25 million euros from Bayern Munich after helping Germany to lift the World Cup trophy in Brazil.

He had long been linked with a move to Old Trafford, and previous United boss David Moyes was close to signing the 24-year-old.

But Fjortoft wrote: “Been told from very good sources that Toni Kroos agreed to join Man Utd. But after Moyes out – Van Gaal in: Kroos said no.”

If the reports are true, it would be somewhat of a surprise as it was Van Gaal who gave a young Kroos his debut at the Allianz Arena when he was in charge of the German giants. It has always been thought the pair had a decent relationship, but Kroos pulling out of a switch to United would suggest otherwise.

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Real Madrid right back Alvaro Arbeloa has urged his team mates to keep up their good form at the weekend as they face a tricky trip to Villarreal.

Los Blancos drew with the Yellow Submarine at El Madrigal last season – Gareth Bale scoring on his debut for the club.

Real head into the fixture on the back of a great run of form having won their last three games and scoring 18 goals along the way. Nevertheless, Arbeloa said he expects the side to be in for a tough match in Castellon.

“It’ll be very difficult. They have a very good team and the match there is going to be a test of our level. They have a great coach, they play good football and we’re going to have to put in a real shift to get the win there,” he said.

The defender also touched on the form of Cristiano Ronaldo and said having him in the side always give Los Blancos an advantage. The Portuguese forward scored four goals against Elche, although Arbeloa says he could have scored even more.

“We kept calm, we were patient and we had Cristiano Ronaldo in terrific form. What he’s done is unbelievable. He has scored four goals, but he could have scored six,” he stated.

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The Madrid press once again focuses on the goalkeeping situation this morning – a subject that has rumbled on for many months now.

AS goes with quotes from Iker Casillas on the its front page this morning congratulating Keylor Navas on making his debut midweek. The Costa Rican made his home league debut for the club as Los Blancos ran out 5-1 winners over Elche.

But Marca says the club captain will take his place back in the team for this weekend’s trip to Villarreal. According to the paper, boss Carlo Ancelotti has told the 33-year-old he will resume his place, despite having conceded eight goals in his first four games of the season.

Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo is setting records off the pitch as well as on it. The 29-year-old has netted seven times in his last two games and is one hat trick short of equaling the club record 26. But there was more good news for him this week as he became the first sportsman to reach 30 million followers on Twitter.

According to data published in AS, Ronaldo reached that figure on the social media site this week. He is streets ahead of the second most popular sportsman, former Real star Kaka, who has 20.5 million followers.

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Real Madrid will face Villarreal on Saturday at El Madrigal, a trip that has historically been complicated for Los Blancos. However, the European champions will be favoured by the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo is in superb shape and he’s used to putting in good performances when travelling to Castellon.

The Portuguese international usually displays his best game when paying a visit to El Madrigal. Nevertheless, he has scored in all the games he has played there in La Liga –four matches in total. Ronaldo has scored a five goals in Villarreal’s stadium since he plays for Real Madrid.

Ronaldo’s special relationship with El Madrigal started on April 23rd 2009, in his first game there as a Madridista. The Portuguese scored in the first minute and his goal contributed to Los Blancos 0-2 victory.

Another statistic that can make Los Merengues optimistic over their visit to Villarreal is the fact that Ronaldo has never lost when he’s played at El Madrigal. He has earned two victories and two draws in his four visits.

Ronaldo also played at Los Amarillos ground with Manchester United, before joining Real Madrid, although those two games were not as satisfying as usual. The Portuguese didn’t score any goal, and the Red Devils got two draws from Castellon.

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Cristiano Ronaldo has had one of the best weeks of his career. The Portuguese star scored eight goals in seven days, in Real Madrid’s goal fests against Basel, Deportivo La Coruna and Elche.

The 29-year-old even scored a four-goal haul against Elche on Tuesday. It was the third time that he scored four goals in one match, a record that very few players have achieved in the history of the game.

Now, the best football player of the moment is also breaking records on Twitter. He has become the first sportsman to reach the 30 million followers mark on the social network.

The player announced it with the following tweet:

Wow! Reached the 30 million followers on Twitter, it’s amazing. Thanks everyone.

The Portuguese is by far the most followed athlete in the world, beating Kaka’s 21 million and LeBron James’ 15 million followers.

Ronaldo is very active on Twitter, and uses his account @Cristiano to comunicate with fans and share pictures or thoughts.

@Cristiano is the 13th most followed account worldwide, beating Jennifer Lopez’s 29 million and Shakira’s 27. American singer Katy Perry tops the ranking with 57 million followers.

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Real Madrid youngster Jese Rodriguez is eyeing a comeback to the first team by November. The striker returned to the training ground a few days ago, but his recovery is going slowly.

Jese has been sidelined since last March, when he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his right knee during Los Blancos victory over Schalke 04 in the Champions League.

He was operated in Germany by Dr Ulrich Boenisch to repair the ligament, but a few days later he suffered a post-operation infection that has caused him a lot of trouble.

Jese has been working hard to recover for the last six months and he recently posted a picture on Twitter, announcing he’s back to doing exercises with a football.

The 21-year-old also explained on Twitter that he’s been doing speed tests with great results: “Tough training session today with plyometrics and field action, reaching 32 km/h! Happy!,” he published.

Despite recent reports that a recent antibiotics treatment had been negative for his recovery process, the player is feeling better every day. Spanish newspaper Marca has claimed he will be back in contention next November.

* Get all the latest Real Madrid news by following us on Twitter @realmadridnewsw

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