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Real Madrid press report 17.1.14

Spain’s most sold newspaper, Marca, reports today that Iker Casillas is only 18 minutes away from beating the record of time without conceding a goal.

However, the Madrid daily main story is an exclusive interview with former Real Madrid manager Fabio Capello. The Italian claimed Los Blancos “are favourites to win La Liga and the Champions League.”

“They have an extraordinary squad, and with Ancelotti they’ll play a more direct game,” he told Marca. Russia national team boss said his candidates for the World Cup title are Spain, Brazil, Argentina and Germany.

Meanwhile, the other main Madrid sports paper, As, puts its focus on the possible signing of Sevilla’s left-back Alberto Moreno. “Target Moreno,” they title.

“Madrid has already decided he’s going to replace Coentrao,” they claim. “He’s 21 years old, he’s international for Spain and his buy-out clause is 30 million euros,” they report.

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Real Madrid may look to current European champions in Bayern Munich to anchor their back line, according to a report in SportsDirectNews.

The story indicated that Madrid are competing with Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City to land the services of Dante. The 30-year-old would be difficult to lure away from Bavaria, though, as he seems to be a favourite of Munich manager Pep Guardiola.

Los Blancos could use the Brazilian’s services to steady their defence. Sergio Ramos and Pepe have been shaky this season, while Raphael Varane has struggled to reclaim his stunning form from last year after knee surgery in May.

Anchoring the defence is especially important to Madrid’s title hopes as they aim to close the three-point gap on joint leaders Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

Dante is something of a lame bloomer — he only arrived at Munich at the age of 29 after a few consistent seasons at Borussia Monchengladbach. Since then, he has established himself as a crucial player in the Munich side. By December, then-manage Jupp Heynckes described Dante as one of the first names on the team sheet.

He played an important role in a treble-winning 2012-13 season with 43 appearances in all competitions, including the Champions League final, and has already made 22 starts in the first half of the 2013-14 season.

SportsDirectNews alleged that Madrid could begin their pursuit of the defender with a bid of £20 million, or about €24 million.

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Asier Illarramendi has said he was delighted with how his teammates performed to overcome Osauna in the second leg of the Copa del Rey, and added they are determined to keep their winning run going.

Los Blancos ran out 2-0 victors at the El Sadar stadium, making it four wins our of four in 2014 so far, and four consecutive clean sheets too. Having drawn the La Liga match in Navarra in December, Illarramendi said the team was happy to come away with a win this time and progress to the quarter-final of the Copa del Rey, where they will meet Espanyol.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men are still in the hunt for La Liga and the Champions League, and after a season empty-handed last year, are keen to secure some silverware this time round. Illarramendi, a summer signing from Real Sociedad, said: “We have to keep working, winning matches and gaining confidence.”

He added: “We knew that it was important to start the match well, we scored early and it made the playoff an uphill struggle for them. We drew here in La Liga, we did a good job today and we’re going home happy.”

The Basque midfielder has been on the sidelines in recent weeks thanks to the form of Luka Modric. When asked about how he felt his role in the squad was developing, he told journalists: “I try to do my best when I play. I always want more; I work every day to try to improve.”

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When Florentino Perez started his second period as Los Blancos president, he established a categorization in order to define five Real Madrid players salary groups depending on the players’ status.

Ballon d’Or winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka were the only players whose wage was above ten million euros a year. With the exit of the Brazilian and the pay rise for the Portuguese, CR7 gets six more million per year than Gareth Bale, who is the second best paid player at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The players that Perez considers as Ballon d’Or candidates form the second group below the Ballon d’Or winners. That includes Bale, Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema, who make between ten and eight million per season.

The third group is formed by world-class stars, such as James Rodriguez, Marcelo and Luka Modric, who have been recently joined by Pepe, as he has received a salary rise. These players make from six to four million euros per season.

Intermediate profile players such as Daniel Carvajal, Raphael Varane, Casemiro, Danilo, Keylor Navas and Isco earn around two million euros a year.

Youngsters and home-grown players are in the fifth group, in which most footballers earn 1.2 million, except Lucas Vazquez, who makes one million per season.

Table of Real Madrid players’ salaries

:

  • Ballon d’Or winners: Cristiano Ronaldo (17 million euros)
  • Ballon d’Or candidates: Gareth Bale (11 million), Sergio Ramos (10 million), Karim Benzema (8 million)
  • World-class stars: James Rodriguez (6 million), Toni Kroos (6 million), Marcelo (5 million), Luka Modric (4.5 million), Pepe (4.5 million)
  • Intermediate profile players:Casemiro (3 million), Alvaro Arbeloa (2.8 million), Daniel Carvajal (2.5 million), Raphael Varane (2.4 million), Mateo Kovacic (2.4 million), Danilo (2 million), Isco (2 million), Keylor Navas (2 million)
  • Youngsters and home-growns:Nacho (1.2 million), Jese Rodriguez (1.2 million), Kiko Casilla (1.2 million), Denis Cheryshev (1.2 million), Lucas Vazquez (1 million)

Please, note all the wages are defined in euros. All of them are net salaries: The quantity players receive after withholdings and taxes.

* UPDATE (24/12/2015): This list of Real Madrid players salaries has been updated on December 2015, taking into account the latest contract extensions of Sergio Ramos, Pepe and Marcelo, as revealed by ElEconomista.es.

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Carlo Ancelotti said he was delighted to see his side progress to the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey but warned his players the season will only get harder from here as they face tougher tests.

Goals from Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel di Maria gave Madrid a 2-0 win over Osasuna at the El Sadar stadium, and a 4-0 win overall – comfortably ensuring their progress to the next round.

For now, the focus switches back to La Liga, and having cut the gap on Barcelona and Atletico de Madrid to three points last weekend, Real will be keen to darw level with them this weekend if possible. With the Champions League set to resume next month as well, Los Blancos have many stern tests ahead.

Speaking at the press conference after the match, Ancelotti said: “The most difficult part is coming up and every match will be very important. We don’t always play fantastic football. We have a lot of matches coming up and to play well in every one of them is not easy, but the team is focused, working hard and keen to do well.”

He also praised Osasuna for making life difficult for Los Merengues, but said Ronaldo’s goal killed off their resistance.

“They tried to start the match with intensity and pressing hard up front, but after Ronaldo’s goal made it difficult for them. We controlled the match well from the start and the team was focused on the field. The match was not that difficult, mainly because we did a good job defensively,” he stated.

 

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Real Madrid press news 16.1.14

Madrid sports newspapers put their focus today on Real Madrid’s 0-2 victory over Osasuna, in the second leg of the Copa del Rey last-16 round.

“Cristiano and Jese, enough to qualify for the quarter-finals,” As titles. “Lucky goal for the Ballon d’Or winner and a brilliant play from Jese,” they point out.

“Real finished the game with only nine men on the field, due to Fabio Coentrao’s red card and Alvaro Morata’s injury,” As reports.

Marca’s main headline is “CR7’s effect.” Spain’s most sold newspaper emphasizes “Ronaldo celebrated his Ballon d’Or win with his 30th goal of the season.”

In other news, As also highlights that three Real Madrid players have been included in UEFA’s Best Team of 2013. Sergio Ramos has been picked as one of the best defenders and Gareth Bale has made it among the best midfielders alongside former Los Blancos player Mesut Ozil.

Obviously, Ronaldo has been named as one of the team’s strikers. As emphasizes the fact that “there’s not a single Barcelona player among the best 11.”

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Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane has alluded to a possible move for Juventus’ Paul Pogba in the near future.

The 20 year-old is considered by many to be one of the most promising young prospects in the world, and should he complete a switch to Los Blancos, then he would be following in the footsteps of Zidane.

“Everybody wants him,” Zizou told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“In a few years Pogba will surely be among the three finalists. He is still young, but in the future he could win the Ballon d’Or.

“It’s a major award for a player and it changes your life. I won it in 1998, the same year I won the World Cup and that means that it has changed my life,” the one time Ballon d’Or winner concluded.

Madrid could find themselves battling it out with Paris Saint-Germain who seem to be the only team capable of rivaling any bumper off they present to Juventus.

Pogba has scored five goals this season in 19 appearances and has really explodes since arriving in Turin from Manchester United in the summer of 2012.

Follow Louis Gibberd-Thomas on Twitter: @mercutio156

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Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his recent Ballon d’Or victory by scoring a goal that made things easy for Los Blancos in their visit to Osasuna.

The Portuguese scored in the 20th minute to leave the hosts without any hopes of moving into the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey, after the visitors had earned a 2-0 win in the first leg.

Carlo Ancelotti line-up almost all the regular starters, knowing that Pamplona is usually a tricky trip for Los Merengues –in fact they dropped two points there less than a month ago.

However, Osasuna had a brilliant start, pushing hard to score an early goal that would give them a chance of making it into the next round.

Real Madrid were slow in the first 20 minutes, but they got lucky in a free kick by the Ballon d’Or winner. Ronaldo stroke a powerful effort straight at the goalkeeper, but Andres Fernandez allowed the ball to move through his fingertips and between his legs.

The Portuguese gained confidence from that moment, and he became a horror for Osasuna’s defence. However, Alvaro Cejudo had the best chance of the first half, as he turned two defenders and curled one straight to the foot of the post.

The Rojillos needed to score four goals at that moment to qualify for the quarter-finals. If they still had any hopes, Jese and Di Maria destroyed them at the beginning of the second half. The Argentinian netted his effort after a brilliant play by the youngster, who showed his great state of shape.

The tie was completely over, and although both sides had chances to score, no goals were added to the scoreboard.

Yet, the game still left bad news for Carlo Ancelotti, as Fabio Coentrao got sent off in the 85th minute after being shown a second yellow card. Moreover, Alvaro Morata left the field injured with a bruise in his eye, after the ball violently hit him.

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Osasuna Real Madrid match preview

Real Madrid get back to action after Cristiano Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or victory celebrations. Los Blancos will seek to defend their 2-0 lead in the away leg of the Copa del Rey last-16 round against Osasuna.

Los Merengues come into the game in their highest pick of motivation so far this season, after seeing two team members receiving honours in the Ballon d’Or ceremony –Sergio Ramos was also named among the best defenders of the year– and having shortened Atletico Madrid’s and Barcelona’s lead in La Liga to three points.

Carlo Ancelotti men return to a stadium where they have already dropped points this season, a 2-2 draw in the league. However, tonight that result would be enough to qualify Real for the quarter-finals.

The Italian manager will miss Brazilian left-back Marcelo, with physical problems. Thus, Fabio Coentrao will make his return to a starting eleven after two months sidelined due to injury.

Ancelotti has also decided to rest Luka Modric, who has stayed at Madrid. Asier Illarramendi will be Xabi Alonso’s couple in midfield.

Los Blancos coach is not confident the 2-0 of the first leg will be a sufficient lead to have an easy visit to El Sadar, so he will line-up all the other regular starters.

Osasuna’s boss Javi Gracia will miss Manu Onwu, Emiliano Armenteros, Sisi and Nino due to injuries. Los Rojillos expect El Sadar crowd to help them make a historic come-back by upseting Real Madrid one more time.

Pamplona’s visit has traditionally been a difficult trip for Los Merengues, and despite the lead from the first leg, they’ll have to fight hard to get into the next round.

Possible line-ups:

Osasuna: Fernandez; Oier, Arribas, Flano, Damia; Silva, Loe; Cejudo, De las Cuevas, Torres; Riera.

Real Madrid: Casillas; Arbeloa, Pepe, Ramos, Coentrao; Alonso, Illarramendi; Bale, Jese, Di Maria, Ronaldo; Benzema.

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Osasuna Real Madrid betting preview

Real Madrid travel to Osasuna tonight for the second leg of the Copa del Rey tie with a 2-0 advantage, something that could mean we don’t see a classic at the El Sadar stadium.

With the hosts less than prolific, if Madrid get the first goal, the tie will be effectively dead as a contest and Los Blancos may look to take it easy and conserve energy for tougher La Liga and Champions League tests ahead. For that reason, those who fancy a flutter may be interest in odds of 8/5 for there being less than 2.5 goals tonight.

Still on a high having closed the gap to three points at the top of the league, and then seeing Cristiano Ronaldo named as the best player in the world on Monday, Real will go into the match as 1/3 favourites. Ancelotti has said he will make changes tonight, and we should see the likes of Isco and Coentrao in the starting lineup, while Luka Modric will be rested. Whoever the Italian goes with, it should be strong enough to overcome Osasuna.

The hosts are actually in decent form at home, and held Los Blancos to a 2-2 draw last month, are valued at 8/1 to win tonight with a draw available at 18/5.

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