The bench is not a place where Lassana Diarra feels he should be and made his feelings known to the office members of Real Madrid by stating that he wants to the Bernabeu.

At just 25-years old, Diarra is definitely an impressive player but after the arrival of German midfielder, Sami Khedira, Jose Moruinho has not picked Diarra as one of the starting XI.

Not much to report the past couple of days. At least nothing really THAT interesting.

We're linked with Sergio Ramos because he and CRon apparently don't get along. There was obviously only going to be one winner from that battle. The real question is whether or not Madrid will let him go or tell the 2 players to suck it up and coexist.

MADRID, Spain — Cristiano Ronaldo scored a sensational hat-trick as Real Madrid twice came from behind to defeat Villarreal 4-2 on Sunday to maintain their perfect home record and close to within two points of leaders Barcelona. Portuguese star Ronaldo took his season's tally to 22 league goals with strikes in the eighth, 44th and [.

Liverpool is reportedly monitoring Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema.
According to 4-4-2, the Reds will make their move for the Frenchman if they fail to pull off a deal for Ajax captain Luis Suarez, whose protracted move to Merseyside continues to rumble on.
Benzema – who joined Real from Lyon for £30 million in 2009 – remains on the fringes at the Bernabeu and Liverpool are prepared to offer him a fresh start.

Real Madrid's signing of Emmanuel Adebayor has been as shocking as it is brilliant by Mourinho and co. at The Bernabeu. Since his arrival at the Spanish capital in the summer of 2010, the Portuguese tactician has gone about strengthening areas that needed development bringing in the likes of Angel Di Maria, Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil to name but three players that have arrived in the Spanish capital over the past six months.

Real Madrid's signing of Emmanuel Adebayor has been as shocking as it is brilliant by Mourinho and co. at The Bernabeu. Since his arrival at the Spanish capital in the summer of 2010, the Portuguese tactician has gone about strengthening areas that needed development bringing in the likes of Angel Di Maria, Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil to name but three players that have arrived in the Spanish capital over the past six months.

If I could read the minds of players, this could (or should) be some of their new year's resolutions:

Ando: I resolve to keep playing like a raging bull in the middle of the field and stay after practice to work on my shooting and finishing in the box.

Berba: I resolve to stay positive even when if I get dropped to the bench after scoring a million goals in one game.

BARCELONA, Spain Pedro Rodriquez scored twice as Barcelona made heavy weather of beating promoted Levante 2-1 to move five points clear at the top of La Liga on Sunday. The champions, with 46 points from 17 matches, pulled away from second-placed Real Madrid which visits local rivals Getafe on Monday.

We were all glad to see Kak back in action yesterday and it seems that he had been expecting his return to the Bernabeu sooner rather than later. Excited to get back on the field, he shared this picture on New Years Eve, showing his love for Jesus on one cleat and his son, Luca, [...]

A much better showing than the previous 2 outings, but nowhere near the dominating performance that we expect from our our boys especially at home.

Some impressions:

1. Nani adds such a cutting edge to our attack. He also brings an arrogance onto the field that may border on petulance at times, but gives us more confidence going forward.

It looks like Royston Drenthe is growing tired of being in Hercules as the Dutchman refused to train with the Alicante's for eight days. Although reports stated that the problem was because of the amount of money he was receiving, Drenthe is claiming it's the ‘Lack of confidence' that's causing him to not participate in training.

On Sunday, Real Madrid hosted Villarreal in an entertaining, goal filled match that saw Real Madrid come from behind to beat Villarreal 4-2. The hero for Real Madrid was Cristiano Ronaldo who's hat-trick propelled Real Madrid to victory; however, Ronaldo's third goal was not without controversy:
With Ronaldo's third goal, the scoreline was 3-2 in favor of Real Madrid, but Villarreal, who had led twice during the match, showed no signs of giving up and was clearly capable of getting an equalizer at the Bernabeu.

EUPHORIA: Kaka's goal, Real's 4th, giving us a 2-goal cushion - meant that all hope was lost for the sunken Yellow Submarine and that the 3 points were all ours..
Real Madrid 4 – Villarreal 2. What a match! There are very few matches that get people to talk up the possibility of having an attractive and utterly competitive game and actually live up to it: Last Night's encounter was one of those few times.

Cristiano Ronaldo appreciates all the new things that he has learned from Jose Mourinho and has labeled him the best coach in the world in a recent interview. Enjoying a great season with Los Blanco's, Ronaldo is loving life at the Bernabeu as he stated that he learns something new every day from the ‘Special 1'.

Real Madrid came behind before cruising to a 3-1 win over Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarter final on Thursday. Diego Forlan opened the scoring after only seven minutes at the Bernabeu, but Sergio Ramos had Real back on level terms just seven minutes later.

Cristiano Ronaldo notched up his 30th goal in all competitions this season on the hour mark, when he found himself on the end of a dangerous cross from Mesut Oezil to score from close range.

Many reports are starting to emerge that Real Madrid is looking into bringing Ruud Van Nistelrooy back to the Bernabeu on a loan but are hitting speed bumps along the way.

Prior to Jorge Valdano stating that the club will begin their search for a new striker, Valdano was quoted to be interested in bringing the Dutchman back to Madrid.

I'm guessing Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira's addition to Madrid were successful as the ‘Special 1' looks into bringing another German player into the club.

Bayern Munich striker, Miroslav Klose, is the player that Madrid are reported to be chasing as Klose's agent, Alexander Schuett, was quoted saying the following to Bild,

"There have been some enquiries from Spain.

MADRID, Spain Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho would welcome the return of reported transfer target Ruud van Nistelrooy to the Bernabeu. The Spanish giants have been linked with a host of forwards following general director Jorge Valdano's confirmation this week that Madrid are looking to bring in a striker to replace the injured Gonzalo [.

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez has given coach Jose Mourinho two options to solve teams striker problem. Either bring back Ruud van Nistelrooy to the Bernabeu or start to play youngster Alvaro Morata more.

According to Tomas Roncero of AS:

"The problem is that the boss has caused a problem when one does not exist.

By Chris Wright

After Argentine forward Gonzalo Higuain was ruled out for four months with a particularly nasty sounding back injury ('herniated spine' anyone?) last week, Real have grown increasingly eager/desperate to recruit some short-term cover, with loan moves for Man City wastrel Emmanuel Adebayor, Miroslav Klose and a return to the Bernabeu for equine goal-machine Ruud Van Nistelrooy all mooted to be on the cards.

By Chris Wright

According to the Daily Mirror's 'see what sticks' football section, coach Jose Mourinho is fully ‘prepared to quit' Real Madrid at the end of the season, after reaching the end of his luxuriantly-groomed tether with the club's sporting director Jorge Valdano –who has yet again failed to impress our Portuguese protagonist, this time with his feeble efforts to sign a replacement for Real's recently waylaid striker, Gonzalo Higuain.

As far as the Spanish sporting press goes, a good rule of thumb to abide by is that, if the twin Catalan-based newspapers Sport and El Mundo Deportivo aren't running with another 'Barcelona make us giggle like schoolgirls' cover story, then there must be a potentially devastating ruction to try and undermine over at Real Madrid.

MADRID, Spain — Champions Barcelona went seven points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the Spanish first division on Saturday as goals from Pedro Rodriguez, Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta sealed a 3-0 home win over Racing Santander. Barcelona had lost 3-1 to Real Betis in their midweek Kings Cup match although [.

MADRID, Spain — Misfit striker Karim Benzema reminded Jose Mourinho of his talents on Sunday, scoring the 60th-minute goal in Real Madrid's 1-0 win over Real Mallorca which cut Barcelona's lead back to four points. Mourinho said Benzema, a 35-million euro signing from Lyon, needed to step up his game and the 23-year-old responded as [.

Apologies for being a bit M.I.A over the last week. Here's a scarily efficient round-up of the events we may have missed:
Steven Pienaar
Say what you like about whether we need him or not - he cost £3 million, for goodness sake. We could sign him twice and it'd still be a good deal.

It was just a matter of time. Mourinho was unhappy at Real Madrid, and the Portuguese had been whining consistently for a center-forward after Gonzalo Higuain's back injury. Emmanuel Adebayor didn't fit into Roberto Mancini's plans at Manchester City, especially considering that Manchester City went out and bought Edin Dzeko in this mid-season transfer window.

It was just a matter of time. Mourinho was unhappy at Real Madrid, and the Portuguese had been whining consistently for a center-forward after Gonzalo Higuain's back injury. Emmanuel Adebayor didn't fit into Roberto Mancini's plans at Manchester City, especially considering that Manchester City went out and bought Edin Dzeko in this mid-season transfer window.

By Chris Wright

Just before close of play last night, Manchester City confirmed via their official club site that Emmanuel Adebayor will become the latest of their £multi-million signings to be crammed through the sky-blue meat grinder at Eastlands after announcing that the Togolese target man is now on the brink of securing a loan move to striker-strapped Real Madrid.

By Chris Wright

Just before close of play last night, Manchester City confirmed via their official club site that Emmanuel Adebayor will become the latest of their £multi-million signings to be crammed through the sky-blue meat grinder at Eastlands after announcing that the Togolese target man is now on the brink of securing a loan move to striker-strapped Real Madrid.

BARCELONA, Spain — Karim Benzema led Real Madrid to a 1-0 win at Sevilla before Barcelona rolled over Almeria 5-0 in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday. Benzema, the much-questioned France striker, answered his critics with a valuable away goal in the 17th minute of the first-leg match at Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.

Mourinho was finally granted his wish after several debates within the Real Madrid organization, but did "The Special One" receive the player he really desired; a striker who's barely played and scored goals this season? Prior to this agreement, the likes of Van Nistelrooy, Tevez and Llorente were linked with a January transfer to the Bernabeu.