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Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo said he has nothing to prove after his remarkable hat trick for Portugal against Sweden sent his side to the World Cup in Brazil next summer.

The match in Sweden lived up to the hype, with the visitors running our 3-2 victors to secure an overall 4-2 win. As predicted, Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were the stars of the show, with the Real Madrid man edging out his rival in the end.

His three goals means he overtakes Pauleta’s record for Portugal – adding another achievement for the 28-year-old in ever increasing list of records broken. But after the match he played down the significance of that, saying he just wants his country to do well.

Speaking to Publico, Ronaldo stated: “Records are there to be beaten. It was not a priority. I knew that Portugal needed me. I do not have to prove anything to anyone. I try to do my work and give answers on the pitch.

“I did my job for my team. It is the team who have to be congratulated. We suffered for sure but that is how great teams win things. We retreated a little [when Sweden scored], but then we were better and we played better.”

He also downplayed the media attention on him and Ibrahimovic, telling the press that the PSG striker is a “fantastic player”. He added: “I do not compete against him. I play for my team.”

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Manchester City coach, Manuel Pellegrini, still has his sights set on Real Madrid defender Pepe, despite failed negotiations to bring him to Etihad Stadium during the summer. In fact, the Chilean manager’s need to strengthen the Sky Blues’ defensive line, has only increased his interest in the Portuguese centre back, who was already one of the English club’s top targets.

With the mid-season transfer window coming up in January, City is looking to make a second attempt at bringing Pepe to Manchester. The Citizens have had a difficult start to the season, particularly in their defensive play. This has largely been the result of influential centre back Vicent Kompany’s absences due to recurring knee injury.

Although recent reports had suggested Real Madrid would renew Pepe’s contract, this may no longer be the case, and if an interesting offer were to come from the northern English city, Real could be open to negotiating his sale, according to Punto Pelota.

Pepe signed on with Los Blancos from Porto in 2007, the day after new coach Bernd Schuster’s arrival. The defender contributed significantly to the 2007-08 and 2011-12 La Liga titles, and has been a key player for all five managers the club has had during his time in Madrid, including Manuel Pellegrini, who undoubtedly feels that he could benefit from the Portuguese centre back’s toughness if he could bring him to his current squad.

“The Engineer”, as the Chilean is known, coached Los Blancos in the 2009-10 season, becoming the first manager in Florentino Perez’s second stint as president. Shortly after his arrival, the cascade of Galacticos began: Kaka from Milan, Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United, Karim Benzema from Olympique Lyonnais, and Xabi Alonso from Liverpool. The top priority for the season, as ever, was the elusive “Decima”, the tenth Champion’s League trophy Real has pursued since its last win in 2002.

Despite a club record 96 points achieved in La Liga (and a respectable second place behind Barcelona, who finished 3 points ahead), Pellegrini was sacked at the end of the season. The mild-mannered Chilean was replaced by his polar opposite, Jose Mourinho, who broke his record in the 2011-12 season.

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Premier League champions Manchester United are set to make a bid for Angel di Maria when the January transfer window opens, according to reports in the UK press.

The Daily Star tabloid reported Red Devils manager David Moyes is keen to land a star name to bolster his squad as they look to challenge for honours after a relatively slow start by their standards.

United sit 5th in the table after 11 games, but just five points behind leaders Arsenal. And reports say Moyes wants to add some creativity to his midfield to help unlock opposition defences.

Los Blancos winger di Maria has been linked with a move away from the Santiago Bernabeu in the past, with clubs such as Benfica and Chelsea mentioned as possible destinations as recently as last summer. But the 25-year-old stayed to fight for his place in the team following the arrival of 91-million-euro man Gareth Bale.

A chance of regular fist team  football in the months building up to the World Cup in Brazil next summer may be enough to tempt the Argentinean away from the Spanish capital. With a fee of around 35 million euros believed to be enough to tempt Madrid into selling.

United missed out on a number of high profile targets in the summer including Cesc Fabregas, Wesley Sneijder and Thiago Alcantara.

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Real Madrid’s defender Sergio Ramos was congratulated by journalists at Spanish national team training ground’s entrance.

The 27-year-old will be a father in 2014, after he and his partner Pilar Rubio recently announced the television presenter’s pregnancy.

Being congratulated by the journalists, Ramos said: “Thank you, this is very good news on a personal level and also for my family.”

“This is a very sweet moment in my life,” he told the reporters. This will be Ramos and Rubio’s first child.

The centre-back will not be the only Real Madrid player to become a father next year. Xabi Alonso and Iker Casillas will also have a child in 2014.

* Follow Real Madrid News on Twitter

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Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti revealed Real Madrid are not considering making any signings. In the presentation of his book ‘Il mio albero di natale‘ (‘My Christmas Tree’), Los Blancos boss said they will not bring anyone to replace long-term injured Sami Khedira.

“We’ve had very bad luck these last few days, with Xabi’s contusion and specially with Khedira’s injury. He’s a crucial player for the balance of the team.

“Now we need to find a solution and I’m sure we’ll fix this situation. We have various options, like replacing him with a player of similar characteristics or changing the system. We need to find a system the players are confortable with.

“I need to deeply think about it. Casemiro could be an option, but we’re not considering making any signings.

Ancelotti also spoke about the problems of playing so many international games: “This is difficult to fix. When I started coaching, players didn’t have so many matches. Nowadays it’s difficult for them to play every three days, and I think FIFA and UEFA have the chance of solving this with a different calendar.”

Speaking about his job at Real Madrid, the Italian said he has more pressure at Santiago Bernabeu “maybe because it’s the world’s most prestigious club.”

“However, my job is the same. I also had pressure in other clubs. You have to win, and the critics are the fuel to make you do better,” he added.

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Napoli winger Juan Zuniga has admitted that a move to either Real Madrid or Barcelona would turn his head, but is enjoying life at the San Paolo.

Zuniga rejected interest from Juventus, who were reportedly chasing the Colombian for several seasons, and signed a new contract with Napoli till the summer of 2019, saying that the Partenopei is a home to him.

However, when speaking to Italian sports paper Corriere dello Sport, Zuniga said “I have renewed my contract with Napoli and would not say too much right now on rumours that do not exist.”

“However, the stories are persistent and I know that in football a transfer is always around the corner. It could happen or not, but it is impossible to think of predicting the future. And honestly I’d also add – Barcelona and Real Madrid are a dream for any footballer.”

Zuniga also said that the three additions from Real Madrid should help Napoli in their race to win trophies, saying “We acquired [Gonzalo] Higuain, [Raul] Albiol and [Jose] Callejon – now we have a team who know what it means to win in La Liga, the World Cup, European Championship and how to manage the stress of being highly ranked.”

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Carlo Ancelotti has revealed Real Madrid owner Florentino Perez knew how to entice him to the club, with the possibility of further silverware a key factor.

The Italian will be presenting his book ‘Il mio albero di natale‘ (‘My Christmas Tree’) tomorrow. The title refers to the system Carlo himself created, the innovative ‘Christmas Tree’ formation (4-3-2-1).

“The president, Florentino Pérez, a very hospitable man, made me feel at home and took me to the trophy room. He obviously knew how to win me over: ‘there’s one missing’, but there are nine together, all alongside each other.

“I had never seen them. He looked at me and repeated: ‘beautiful, very beautiful, but there’s one missing'”.

The former AC Milan and PSG boss was happy to recall his past exploits in both Italy and France, firstly recounting the Parisian side’s missed opportunity in the Champions League last season.

“What a game it was against Barcelona in the Champions League! Every time I think about it again I’m more convinced that we deserved to go through and get into the semi-finals against Bayern Munich,” the 54 year-old claimed.

“[In the first leg] our error was being too psychologically dependant”.

Ancelotti was briefly asked about the famous Liverpool comeback in the 2005 Champions League final to AC Milan, much to his displeasure.

“In the second half, the Liverpool side that came out was different, which, at that point, didn’t seem to change the situation much,” the Los Blancos coach explained.

“Hamann came on for Finnan. The English side abandoned a 4-4-2 formation and moved to a 3-5-2. Perhaps we should have dealt with the changes they made better”.

Follow Louis Gibberd-Thomas on Twitter: @mercutio156

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With Spain playing South Africa in a friendly in Johannesburg tonight much of the focus in the sports pages today is the return of the national team to the scene of of their greatest triumph ever – Soccer City – where they defeated the Netherlands 1-0 to lift the World Cup three years ago.

In his pre-match press conference, Iker Casillas, captain on that famous night in 2010, revealed his still feels nervous watching the replays of the goal scored by Andres Iniesta. He also said the save he made from former team mate Arjen Robben, when the Dutchman was clean through on goal, makes him shiver.

“When I saw Robben advancing, I thought there was an equal chance of him firing wide or me making a save. Watching it again still gives me shivers – I held out for as long as I could and got my right toe to his shot to steer it wide, I was lucky. I just feel very happy to have been part of that group of players in that side and being able to make the people back home feel proud of being Spanish,” he said

In the past year of so, Casillas has had a tough time having been dropped from the Real Madrid side by Jose Mourinho and only being played in the Champions League and Copa del Rey by Carlo Ancelotti. Over the months, many team mates at club and country have backed the 32-year-old stopper, with the latest being Sergio Busuqets, the Barcelona midfielder.

Speaking to the press he admitted Casillas is working harder than ever to win back his place in the side, and to ensure he goes to the World Cup in Brazil next summer as the undisputed number one with Spain. Busquests said Casillas has always been a hard worker in training but is doing even more work now.

Away from Casillas and Spain, both Marca and AS say Xabi Alonso is close to signing a new deal at the Santiago Bernabeu, ending speculation he will leave for a new club in England, Italy or the USA.

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After suffering a cruciate ligament tear in Germany’s 1-1 draw against Italy last Friday, Real Madrid’s Sami Khedira is aiming for a return to football before next summer’s 2014 FIFA World Cup.

German national team doctor, Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt said: “Despite the fact he has had to undergo surgery, we are very hopeful that he’ll be able to return in time for the World Cup.”

Germany’s coach Joachim Lӧw also commented: “It’s a very hard time for Sami, but he always tries to think positively and I’m optimistic he’ll be back for the World Cup.”

The Los Blancos midfielder is projected to return to action in six months time, meaning the German is unlikely to see much playing time with Madrid before the domestic season ends.

FIFA are required to pay compensation – the wages of a player every day after he is out for more than four weeks after the injury is sustained – meaning that by his return FIFA will have paid Los Blancos around 2.5 million euros for Khedira, who earns €16,400 per day (€114,800 per week).

Though Real will receive this compensation, manager Carlo Ancelotti would indisputably prefer to not have lost such a crucial player as Real fight to win the Champions League and regain the La Liga title they lost last season.

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Napoli manager Rafa Benitez is set to make an offer for Real Madrid defender Alvaro Arbeloa when the transfer winter opens in January, according to reports in the UK.

The former Liverpool boss wants to strengthen his defence as his team launches an assault on the Seria A title and the Champions League, and the Spaniard is keen to link up with fellow countryman Arbeloa. Benitez was in charge of the defender for two years during Arbeloa’s stint at Anfield before his switch to the Santiago Bernabeu.

According to talkSPORT, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis had given Benitez the go-ahead to make a bid for Arbeloa, who has made 116 appearances for Los Blancos since his arrival in 2009.

Should the Spain international, who is comfortable at playing at full-back as well as in the centre of defence, complete a switch to Naples, he would become the fourth Real player to do so in recent months. Gonzalo Higuain, Raul Albiol and Jose Callejon all joined the club in the summer as the Real Madrid squad was revamped following the departure of Jose Mourinho.

Arbeloa still has two-and-a-half years to run on his contract in the Spanish capital and is believed to be keen on remaining at the nine-time European Cup winners, so Benitez would need to use his powers of persuasion to tempt him into any move away.

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