Page 70

By -
0
Isco-Spain-Gi

Spain got the qualification for the Russian World Cup on Saturday after beating Italy at Santiago Bernabéu stadium. Real Madrid players were very important to get the victory against this important team and they could enjoy a magical evening at their stadium playing with the Spanish colours. Especially, we have to highlight Isco Alarcón, the star of the match.

Julen Lopetegui, Spanish coach, included in the line-up several Real Madrid players: Sergio Ramos, Carvajal, Isco and Asensio. All four players had a great evening but Isco was the best player on the pitch, scoring two great goals and showing his great skills in the midfield. Marco Verratti went crazy, chasing up Isco around the pitch, unable to steal the ball.

Isco opened the scoreboard with a great free kick in the first half. The ball went above the barrier and Gigi Buffon couldn’t save it. After great crosses and dribblings, Isco was able to find the net in the second half with a great shot from outside the box. By then, Santiago Bernabéu stadium was cheering his name. At the end of the game, Lopetegui substituted him, so it was the perfect moment for the supporters to cheer him.

This could be a great important season for Isco Alarcón. The playmaker is gaining confidence and he’s always in Zidane and Lopetegui’s line up. His situation changed dramatically in only one year, because at the start of the past season he was unable to start the games, facing great competence at Real Madrid, with James Rodríguez or Bale occupying his position.

Now, Isco and Asensio should be the present and future of Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. Both are enjoying a great moment in their club and finding the net easily. Hopefully, Isco and Asensio can go back on Thursday fit to the Spanish capital and get another victory for their club.

By -
0
Quinta del Buitre

Real Madrid were the best team in Spain in the 80’ and one of the best European clubs in these years despite Los Blancos weren’t able to win the European Cup. The reason of this success were five young players grown in La Fábrica, able to stay several years at Real Madrid conquering many titles. They were ‘La Quinta del Buitre’.

Actually, La Quinta del Buitre won 16 trophies: 2 UEFA Cup, 6 La Liga titles, 3 Spanish Cups and Four Spanish Super Cups, among other trophies. Five of these six La Liga titles were obtained in a run from 1986 to 1990. The team was able to score 107 goals in La Liga, setting a record until Mourinho’s side broke it in 2012 with 121 goals.

The only title this generation couldn’t win was the European Cup -now known as the Champions League-. They played two semifinals in 1988 and 1989 but PSV and Milan, trained by Arrigo Sacchi, knock out the Spanish giants. Manolo Sanchís was the only one able to win the trophy, in 1998. La Quinta del Buitre won two UEFA Cups in 1985 and 1986 after beating Videoton and Koln.

The journalist Julio César Iglesias created this nickname after Butragueño, the best player of the generation. Surprisingly these five players only played one game together in the World Cup, in Italy 1990, with the Spanish national team. Before making their debut with Real Madrid CF, they won the Second Division of La Liga in 1983 with Castilla -the second team of Los Blancos-, being the only time a second team of a big club has ever won the second division.

Members of La Quinta del Buitre

Miguel González ‘Míchel’, Manuel Sanchís, Rafael Martín Vázquez, Miguel Pardeza and Emilio Butragueño were the members of this amazing generation. All of them were raised in La Fábrica, Real Madrid school for young children and they all made their debut with the first team between 1982 and 1984, being Butragueño the last one to wear the white t-shirt.

They played together until 1987, when Pardeza left the club to play with Real Zaragoza. Later on, in 1990, Rafael Martín Vázquez signed with the Italian team Torino. It was a shock for Real Madrid fans, who never forgave the midfielder. He went back in 1992 to win another Copa del Rey and La Liga. Míchel and Butragueño left the club in 1995, leaving La Liga to play in Mexico.

This generation was known by these great five players grown up at Real Madrid. However, at that time, there were other great footballers who helped them to win all these titles. Jorge Valdano, Hugo Sánchez, Bernd Schuster, Fernando Hierro or Gordillo were also part of the history of the time at that time.

Di Stéfano, Amancio Amaro, Luis Molowny, Leo Beenhakker or John Benjamin Toshack were some the managers of this great generation, being Alfredo di Stéfano the one who allowed them to make their debut with Real Madrid.

By -
0

For first since Florentino Pérez is Real Madrid’s president, Los Blancos have closed the summer transfer market with more income than expenses. Real Madrid have decided to sign young players with a good future instead of multimillionaire players as Mbappé, Aubameyang and De Gea. 

After the galactic era, in which Florentino Pérez broke all the records in the signings with Cristiano Ronaldo, Bale or James, Los Blancos have decided to earn money and wait to a better opportunity to sign. In this transfer market the prices have risen a lot with the signings of Neymar to PSG for an amount of €222M and Mbappé €180M.

Los Blancos closed the summer transfer market with five new players in the squad. Florentino Pérez decided to sign Theo Hernández to Atlético Madrid after his great season playing on loan at Alavés. The French left back has arrived to Madrid for an amount of €40M, with the goal of giving rest to Marcelo, who didn’t have a natural replacement. Real Madrid have also sign Dani Ceballos. The Betis former player, was chosen the MVP of the U21 Eurocup and Florentino didn’t doubt in paying his release clause that was quite low if we compare it with the amount of money that the teams are paying for these type of players, €16M. Mayoral, Vallejo and Marcos Llorente have also return to Real Madrid after their experience on loan and it looks like they will have several minutes this season.

There are also important players who have decided to leave Real Madrid after the great last season; Danilo, James, Morata, Mariano, Pepe and Coentrao. Six departures that have left a lot of money in the club where we can highlight the signing of Morata to Chelsea for an amount of €80M. Danilo, who has been one of the worst signing in the last years, signed with Manchester City (€35M) while Mariano signed with Olympique Lyon (€8M) with the aim of having more minutes and grow as a player. James moved on loan to Bayern Munich (€10M), who in June of 2019 he can sign with the German side for an mount of €35.2M. Finally, Pepe and Coentrao have left the team free to Besiktas and Sporting Portugal because they finished their contract. This means that Los Blancos have collected M133€ only in sales.

We can say that Los Blancos have one of the most complete squad of the world despite there have been very important departures as James and Morata. Now Zinendine Zidane has a squad full of young players that have already experience and that can grow even more in the next seasons.

By -
0
marcosllorente_RM_GI

At the end of the last season, Sergio Ramos said that he wanted the same squad for the year to come. However, Real Madrid had to sell Álvaro Morata and James Rodríguez because both players wanted to leave. Besides, Pepe and Fabio Coentrao left also the club, leaving room for the new signings, Theo Hernández and Dani Ceballos. Two other youngsters, Marcos Llorente and Jesús Vallejo, arrived to the Spanish capital. But Florentino Pérez had to reject many offers, especially for Marcos Llorente, the most wanted man in the team.

According to the Spanish newspaper MARCA, Real Madrid had to reject up to 20 offers from Marcos Llorente. Several great teams, most of them participating in the Champions League this season, called to Madrid interesting in getting the midfielder, but Real Madrid always answered ‘no’.

During the summer, Zinedine Zidane and the club thought about giving Llorente again on loan another season. He played great at Alavés last season, even arriving to the Copa del Rey final, but he won’t have many minutes with Los Blancos due to the great competitivity in the squad. For this reason, it was a good option to give him on loan again.

Atlético Madrid, Sevilla or even PSG asked about the player. Valencia were also very interested in getting him, but they finally bought Kondogbia from Inter Milan. Real Madrid finally decided to keep the player, because the season is very long and he will have many opportunities to grow as a player at Santiago Bernabéu.

Zinedine Zidane wants to keep the same strategy followed with other youngsters. Therefore, he doesn’t want to rush with Marcos Llorente. So far, he’s barely played in the first five official games of the season. He had the opportunity to play against Valencia CF because Casemiro had to play as a full-back, but Zidane prefered Kroos and Kovacic in the stopper role.

By -
2
Mbappe-Monaco-GI

Not very often Florentino Pérez wishes are not accomplished. This summer, Real Madrid president was decided to give the supporters and the coach a new Galáctico. After Gareth Bale’s signing in 2013, Los Blancos have not signed any star. In this time, the club won three Champions League and have become one of the greatest teams ever.

However, Florentino Pérez thought it was time for a change and he saw in Kylian Mbappé the opportunity to reinforce the squad. Zinedine Zidane agreed because he has a very good relationship both with Kylian Mbappé and his father, Wilfried. The player shone with Mónaco in the last Champions League and helped his team to win the Ligue 1.

Nevertheless, Real Madrid had the problem of the BBC. With three great players in the attacking line, Kylian was not decided to arrive to Madrid because he might stay on the bench in several games. A member of the BBC had to be sold to leave some room for the French player and the chosen one was Gareth Bale.

But Gareth Bale is very comfortable in Spain. He doesn’t want to leave the club and Manchester United didn’t bid for the Welshman, so the winger stayed in the Spanish capital. At the same time, PSG gathered even more money for a huge offer for Mbappé, and the player couldn’t reject it.

Kylian said several times that his dream was playing at Real Madrid and Mónaco prefered to sell his star to a foreign team rather than to PSG, his rival in the league. It seemed that PSG had accomplished the signing of the summer when they got Neymar from FC Barcelona for €224M, setting a new record in football. But Al-Khelafi money is endless and he was able to offer Monaco €180M for the player. Real Madrid were keen to arrive to that number, but the issue was that PSG gave €15M to Mbappé per year, much more than Los Blancos offer.

Therefore, Mbappé chose PSG and Monaco were forced to sell the player to their great rival. One day before the closure of the transfer market, Al-Khelafi completed his great team with the signing of Kylian Mbappé. Now, PSG have become one of the best teams in the world.

By -
0
CristianoRonaldo_Portugal_Volley_GI

Cristiano Ronaldo looks unstoppable in the beginning of the season. Despite starting training later than his colleagues because of the Confederations Cup, the Portuguese striker is shining every time he has the chance. On Thursday he played with his national team and scored a hat-trick against Faroe Islands.

It wasn’t only a hat-trick against a weak team, but the Real Madrid striker lead again his national team. Besides, he scored one of the best goals in his career in the 3rd minute, with a great volley without looking the goal.



“I was looking for this kind of goal long time ago. I haven’t had the chance to watch it yet and I hope to enjoy it. Now we have to go to Hungary and win there. I have still two games ban with Real Madrid, but I only have to think about Portugal now”, Cristiano Ronaldo said after the game.

With these three goals, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 14 in the World Cup qualifying, beating the record in the European qualifications. He can now beat Honduras striker Pavón, who scored 15 in 2002, or the Australian player Thompson, with 16 goals. Besides, Cristiano Ronaldo has found the net 78 times with Portugal, overcoming Pelé, who scored 77 with Brazil.

Cristiano Ronaldo has now to travel to Budapest to face Hungary in a key game in their way to the World Cup. Portugal have three points less than Switzerland, the top of the group.

The Real Madrid striker looks very fit in this start of the season. In his only official appearance with Los Blancos, he scored a great goal against FC Barcelona in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup. Then, he was sent off for diving and he pushed the referee, getting a five-game ban. In the Santiago Bernabéu Trophy against Fiorentina, he also found the net with a superb goal.

By -
2

17 Real Madrid players left the Spanish capital to join their national teams in this international break. Even Zinedine Zidane left Spain to attend the UEFA Coach Forum at Nyon (Switzerland) with the best managers of Europe, so few players stay in Madrid to train and prepare the next game against Levante on the 9th of September.

Real Madrid footballers will play 18 games in 17 different cities, travelling 128.500 kilometers in this time. Most of them will fight to get a spot in the next World Cup in Russia, but the U-21 footballers will play a friendly game and a qualifying game for the next Euro. Dani Ceballos or Marcos Llorente are among these players.

Brazilian footballers will need to travel to Brazil and Colombia to play against Ecuador and Colombia, so Casemiro and Marcelo won’t have time to rest. Besides, Keylor Navas travels to the United States and then to Costa Rica to face Mexico on the 6th of September, so he’ll be the last one to land in the Spanish capital. Perhaps, Zidane decides to give him some rest against his former team, Levante, and Casilla could make his season debut. These American players will travel 65.500 kilometers in these days.

European players have also very important fixtures. Spain play against Italy on Saturday at Santiago Bernabéu, a key game to qualify for Russia. Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal, Isco, Marco Asensio, Nacho Fernández or Lucas Vázquez will play in their stadium, so at least they won’t have to take a plane across the ocean.

Cristiano Ronaldo will have the opportunity to play again with his national team against Faroe Islands at home and against Hungary. Gareth Bale, after facing controversy with Real Madrid, will be the star of Wales in their meeting against Austria and Moldova.

Karim Benzema is one of the few players who will stay in the Spanish capital because Didier Deschamps didn’t include him again in the list with France. Raphael Varane also misses these games with France because he’s still recovering from an injury.

By -
0

UEFA organized his week their Coaches Forum in Nyon (Switzerland) with the best managers of the continent. Zinedine Zidane was the star in the meeting after winning two Champions League in a row, a milestone in the history of the competition. The French coach couldn’t direct the training session of Real Madrid because he travelled to Switzerland to attend his forum.

Zinedine Zidane shared the table with José Mourinho, Rafa Benítez, Massimiliano Allegri, Rui Vitoria, Ernesto Valverde, Bruno Genesio, Sergio Conçeiçao or Maurizio Sarri. The French coach is now the fourth with more titles in the meeting, after Mourinho, Benítez or Allegri, all with much more experience than Real Madrid coach.

UEFA summoned all these coaches to let them know the news for the Champions League that is about to start. Besides, the managers can share information and learn about new tactics or training methods. The European organization is planning this meeting in the first international break of the season, just before the start of the Champions League.

Zinedine Zidane attended for the first time this meeting last year. He was a rookie then, but one year later, he’s the most successful coach in the forum, having won two Champions League in a row. The French manager always says that he has a lot to learn yet, so this Forum is the perfect situation to take advantage of the knowledge of great coaches like Mourinho or Benítez, both former Real Madrid managers.

Zizou can be calm and attend his meeting in the deadline day because Los Blancos won’t sign any player at the end of the summer transfer window. The squad is closed and no player will leave or arrive to Madrid in the last day of the market. In the meantime, Zidane can share and learn from his colleagues in this important meeting. Zidane shared a photo with Massimiliano Allegri -his rival in the Champions League final-, José Mourinho -they met in the European Supercup-, and Ernesto Valverde -he was beaten in the Spanish Supercup-.

By -
0
casemiro-bale-GI

Real Madrid couldn’t win against Valencia on Sunday and Los Blancos suffered when the rival took the ball. Actually, Marcelino’s team had several chances to win the game with some counter attacks but Simone Zaza wasn’t accurate. Zidane had several important players unavailable like Sergio Ramos, Varane or Cristiano Ronaldo. For this reason, Casemiro had to play as a full back, leaving his role as a stopper. Every time the Brazilian is not in the midfield, Real Madrid suffer.

Actually, when Casemiro is not in the midfield, Real Madrid are not able to win one every three games. For instance, last season, Casemiro missed 24 games and Real Madrid couldn’t win 8 of them. For instance, the Brazilian didn’t play against Legia in the Champions League (3-3), or against Las Palmas (3-3), Eibar (1-1), Villarreal (1-1) in La Liga. He also played as a full back in the Copa del Rey against Celta Vigo (2-2), when Los Blancos were knocked out of the competition.

Casemiro admitted that he only wants to play and he doesn’t care if it’s in the midfield or in the defence. However, when the former Porto footballer is not in the midfield, the team suffers. Modric, Kroos or Kovacic are his replacements, and they’re great players, but Casemiro has become a key player for Zinedine Zidane.

When the French manager took over Benítez’s job, his first idea was leaving Casemiro on the bench to form a very offensive line-up. He rectified soon enough, because Zidane realized the importance of this player. Besides, he has also been proved as a very important player in the rival box, scoring important goals in the Champions League, including a great goal in the final against Juventus.

Now Zidane has another option in the squad with Marcos Llorente. The youngster is a stopper, but the manager didn’t trust him to play against Valencia. Perhaps, in the future, Llorente could replace Casemiro with guarantees, so the team doesn’t suffer when the Brazilian player is missing.

By -
0

Everybody is talking about Marco Asensio, the new idol of Real Madrid fans, after his great start of the season. Not only this month, but his since arrival he’s showing his skills and making the difference. His team mates see him differently and Lucas Vázquez has admitted that he thinks Asensio is a star: “He’s amazing. He’s showing a very high level and he still has to grow a lot. I hope we can enjoy him a lot of time. He’s very humble and received everything naturally. He’s going to be a star and he’ll win a Golden Ball, although is soon to tell”.

Lucas Vázquez spoke in an interview with the Spanish radiostation Cadena Ser after joining the Spanish national team because Vitolo was injured. The player didn’t expect the call: “I was in Madrid city centre. I had plans, but I’ll miss the trip for good. In this last call the quality of the players is very high. There is still time to the World Cup and we have to fight until the end”.

Lucas Vázquez will see most of his team mates at Real Madrid in the Spanish national team, including Asensio: “It shows our good moment. We have to take advantage of it and continue with this ambition. The quality is key for us. The team benefits. There is a great exigence and this allow us to compete. Our secret is that all the squad is focused. The one who plays, does it well”.

The winger was asked about the whistles Gareth Bale heard in the last game at home: “If someday Santiago Bernabéu crowd whistle me, I run”, he joked. “I’d work to change those whistles. Bernabéu is very exigent, all great players have been booed there. I think Bale is not affected. He’s a great player, he’s over that. He’ll work and change it”.

Despite not enjoying many minutes with Los Blancos, Lucas doesn’t think about leaving the club: “I am where I like to be. The most important thing is being here. I don’t think about leaving. I want to be as good as possible when the coach needs me. There were some things during the summer but there wasn’t a moment to decide yes or no. Since the beginning I was focused on Real Madrid. If I had a doubt I’d speak with Ramos. I speak a lot with Sergio, both professionally and personally”.

Lucas also spoke about the departure of two important players like James Rodríguez and Álvaro Morata: “Last year the level of the squad was amazing. There were 22 international footballers. A very high level. People who were my competitors left, but Ceballos and other players arrived”.

Finally, he spoke about FC Barcelona, the great rival: “We don’t like to compare ourselves with Barcelona in past years. We feel we are good, with confidence. We control the game, we have the ball to create spaces and score goals. We can play having the ball or with the counter-attack. We hope this form continues”, Lucas Vázquez finished.

1...697071...733Page 70 of 733

www.gambleaware.co.uk or www.gamcare.org.uk
Please gamble responsibly