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Rafa Benitez twice turned down the opportunity to take over as Real Madrid boss when he was in charge of Liverpool, his agent has revealed.

The now Napoli boss was approached in 2008 and 2009 by Los Blancos, according to Manuel Garcia Quilon, but decided to stay on Merseyside because his family was settled and enjoyed the strong bond they had with the Reds fans.

Benitez started his career as a coach in the Real Madrid youth set up and has gone on to have huge success in the game, winning the Champions League and Europa League among a host of trophies.

Real were going through a tougher spell at the time and were struggling to find the right manager to take them forward – Bernd Schuster, Juande Ramos, and Manuel Pellegrini all came and left in fairly quick succession.

It was during that period that Florentino Perez twice sounded about Benitez on taking the job.

Garcia Quilon said: “Rafa was for two consecutive years given the chance to become coach of Real Madrid. We received a very interesting proposal from the Blancos five years ago and the year before that.

“In order to convince him to accept the offer, Florentino Perez flew out in person with a private jet to England. He tried, without success, to convince Rafa’s wife Montse to follow her husband in this new adventure. However, as Rafa had just renewed his contract with Liverpool and is a man of his word, he turned down the offer from his beloved Real Madrid despite the fact it was the best economic and sporting proposal he’d ever received.”

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Spanish newspaper El Confidencial claims Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho turned down a bid from Real Madrid for midfielder Ramires in the summer.

Los Blancos reportedly sounded out a potential 28-million-euro move for the Brazilian player but were told the west London club would not be selling to the Spanish giants.

Real manager Carlo Ancelotti was linked with a number of central midfielders in the summer including the likes of Arturo Vidal, Marco Verratti and Ramires.

His failure to land a defensive midfielder has come back to haunt him. Xabi Alonso told Los Blancos he wanted to leave the Bernabeu towards the end of the transfer window and completed a move to Bayern Munich.

Sami Khedira, who was rumoured to be heading towards the exit door, stayed at the club in the end, but will be missing for the next eight weeks with a thigh strain.

It means Los Blancos are short in the centre of the park, with Ancelotti having to turn to Asier Illarramendi to fill the void.

Following the arrival of Cesc Fabregas at Stamford Bridge this summer, Ramires has had to settle for a place on the bench so far this season. Although there is now word yet of Los Blancos going back in for him, a move in the January transfer window could yet happen.

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Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

The European Club Association (ECA) has named Real Madrid as the European Club of the year, thanks to their success in the Champions League and Copa del Rey last season.

The ECA award recognise the outstanding work football clubs do on the field and off the field, and Los Blancos were also recognised for the work carried out by the Real Madrid Foundation.

On the field, the team enjoyed great success. After a 12-year wait, the team won their 10th European Cup, defeating city rivals Atletico de Madrid 4-1 in extra-time.

In April, Carlo Ancelotti also guided his team to success in the Copa del Rey, seeing off Barcelona in a thrilling final in Valencia, where Gareth Bale scored an outstanding solo goal.

The ECA also honoured Los Blancos for the work it has community work it has carried out around Madrid, and in particular one of the more run down areas called El Gallinero.

Real’s vice-president, Pedro Lopez, and the club’s director of institutional relations, Emilio Butragueño, picked up the awards at the ceremony in Geneva.

Scottish champions Celtic picked up the award for Best Achievement: Marketing for their efforts in installing stadium-wide wifi, while Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg picked up the Best Sporting Progress award.

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The international matches are now out of the way until the November friendlies, and the Madrid papers this morning have turned their attention to this weekend’s derby clash between Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid.

Los Blancos have a few injury concerns going into the game – Cristiano Ronaldo is the main one. He has made good progress in the last couple of weeks having sat out Portugal’s matches to work on his recovery from a number of niggles. The 29-year-old should make it and is training normally with the rest of the group.

Daniel Carvajal is a major doubt having injured his hamstring while on international duty for Spain, while there is some doubt over Fabio Coentrao’s participation too.

Elsewhere, Marca has quotes from Chicharito, who has enjoyed his first full week of training since his move from Manchester United. He told the paper that nobody trains all week to then be happy to sit on the bench and he is aiming to play as much football as possible this year with Los Blancos.

Finally, despite losing out to Atletico de Madrid in the Spanish Supercopa, AS takes a look at the betting odds for this weekend, and says Real are the overwhelming favourites to take the three points and kick start the La Liga campaign after the shock 4-2 defeat to Real Sociedad in the last round of fixtures.

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New Real Madrid forward Javier Hernandez will be a success as the Santiago Bernabeu, according to David de Gea.

The Spain goalkeeper played alongside Chicharito at Old Trafford and has seen him at close quarters and says the Mexican has all the attributes to lead the line in the Los Blancos attack.

The 26-year-old arrived in the Spanish capital on transfer deadline-day on a season-long loan and will compete with the likes of Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Gareth Bale for a place in the front three.

Speaking o Madrid-based Marca, de Gea said playing alongside such established stars will not phase Chicharito and he will be a useful addition for Carlo Ancelotti as Los Blancos look to win more trophies this year.

“He is a great person – one of the best people I have met in football. He will do very good things in Madrid. He doesn’t play very often but he scores a lot of goals,” the former Atletico de Madrid keeper said.

The Mexican signed for the Old Trafford side in 2010 and netted 19 goals in his first season in Manchester as the Red Devils won the Premier League and reached the final of the Champions League.

He found the back of the net 10 times in the next two years, but found himself struggling for regular first team football following the arrival of Robin van Persie and scored four goals from just six starts last year.

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Real Madrid have dropped their interest in signing Inter Milan midfielder Fredy Guarin, according to reports.

A number of media outlets in Italy suggested Los Blancos were keen on taking the midfielder to the Santiago Bernabeu before the transfer window closed but were put off by a loan fee of three million euros.

Instead, they switched their attention to bringing in a forward on transfer deadline day, and worked on the deal that saw Chicharito move from Manchester United to the Spanish capital.

Guarin was one of a number of midfield options being assessed by club president Florentino Perez, by the 10-time European Cup winners have ended their interest in signing the 27-year-old any time soon.

The Colombian joined the Seria A side in 2012 and despite the talk of a switch to the La Liga giants, actually has a long-term deal that lasts until 2017, meaning that any transfer would be an expensive one for Los Blancos.

Guarin’s international team mate James Rodriguez made the move to the Santiago Bernabeu this summer though, completing an 80-million-euro switch from Ligue 1 side Monaco after impressing at the World Cup in Brazil where he finished as the top scorer with six goals in five games.

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Iker Casillas is still committed to playing for the Spanish national team, Cesc Fabregas has said.

The former Arsenal and Barcelona man has won a host of trophies an international level with 33-year-old Casillas, including the World Cup and two European Championships.

But Casillas has come in for more criticism than most in recent months following Spain’s showing at the summer’s World Cup in Brazil when they crashed out at the group stage.

Many pundits have questioned whether he should still be in the side at international level and indeed still playing between the sticks for Real Madrid following the arrival of Keylor Navas.

Speaking to journalists at a press conference, 27-year-old Fabregas said Casillas is determined and committed as ever to represent La Roja.

“To me, Iker seems committed and dedicated. We all know that he went through a very delicate time at his club but here, with the national side, he looks happy and settled.

And he continued: “For his character, he’s the kind of player who will make his exit with dignity when he feels it’s time to call it a day but that moment hasn’t arrived yet. He seems fine to me.”

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Real Madrid are keeping tabs on Yaya Toure’s situation at Manchester City, according to reports in the UK press.

The Mirror suggests Los Blancos could make a move for the City star as early as the January transfer window to plug the gap left in central midfield following the departure of Xabi Alonso to Bayern Munich.

Toure insists he is happy at the Etihad Stadium for now, although he was reported by be unsettled earlier in the summer. It was claimed he felt he had been disrespected by senior figures at the club when they failed to wish him a happy birthday sufficiently.

The Ivory Coast player has played a key role in City’s success in recent years and was one of their top performers last season as Manuel Pellegrini’s side lifted the Premier League and Carling Cup.

The Mirror goes on to suggest Los Blancos have made the signing of a defensive midfielder their number one priority in January following the surprising defeat to Real Sociedad last weekend, when Carlo Ancelotti’s side blew a 2-0 lead to lose 4-2.

On the field, Toure would add pace and power in the middle of the park, while he would also have a huge marketing impact being one of the most famous African footballers.

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Spain got back to winning ways last night as they kicked off their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with an emphatic 5-1 win over Macedonia.

Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos was the star of the show, scoring a cheeky paneka penalty, banishing the ghosts of his miss for Los Blancos against Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League semi-final when he blasted it over the bar.

Speaking after the game, the central defender said he didn’t have the intention to take such a cheeky penalty but when he saw the keeper move early, he decided to go for it. Ramos also spoke about the important role the senior players in the squad, including himself, have to play as La Roja start a new cycle and he called on Spaniards to be patient while the younger players get used to the demands of international football.

Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo is training with the ball again as he steps up his preparations ahead of this weekend’s derby. The Portugal front man has been working on his fitness for the past couple of weeks and sat out his country’s international matches.

Finally, with just four days to go before the Madrid derby, there are less than 800 tickets available for die-hard fans to get hold of. Those in Madrid this weekend and wanting to see the game should check out the official Real Madrid website for more details.

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Despite not playing any competitive football for almost three weeks, Cristiano Ronaldo is not taking it easy, training up to six hours a day to prove his fitness.

The Portugal star was left out of his country’s most recent squad for the first Euro 2016 qualifier to allow him to focus on overcoming a number of injury niggles that have hampered him for some months now.

The 29-year-old also sat out Los Blancos’ last game before the international break – the 4-2 loss at Real Sociedad.

But according to AS, Ronaldo has been working six hours a day to improve his fitness and be ready in time to face Atletico de Madrid in the La Liga clash this weekend.

The striker suffered tendonitis in his knee towards the end of last season as well as a thigh problem. He managed to play through the pain to help the side lift the Champions League trophy, but was not at his best at the World Cup in Brazil as Portugal crashed out early.

His pre-season was then hampered by a back problem picked up in the European Super Cup win over Sevilla.

AS reported that even on his days off, Ronaldo has been working hard to be ready in time for the weekend. He has also put in the extra hours to shake off the injuries to be fully fit for the rest of the campaign, the paper says.

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