In the end of the year when all is summed up, Kaka will be the biggest loser. When we wrote that Real will realize the sad truth that ‘galacticos 2' will be even a bigger farce than the first version of Perez's team, many thought we were wrong.

As soon as Real came across few serious rivals, things fell into place as making the team by spending €100 million because of someone's ego is simply not how things are done.

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I realize that the last official football match to take place at Giants Stadium was almost two weeks ago between the Red Bulls and Toronto FC, but I still figured I'd throw my two cents in on what was once a football mecca in this country. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the Meadowlands is very mixed feelings.

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According to The Daily Mail, Roberto Mancini has opened the door on the possibility of succeeding the under-fire Rafael Benitez as Liverpool manager.
The in-demand Italian recently settled his £5.5 million-per-year contract with Serie A giants Inter Milan, having parted ways with the San Siro club in May 2008. Click to continue reading...

Manuel Pellegrini's coaching career at Real is in danger. The shocking defeat at the hands of lowly Alcorcon has sent shock waves through the echelons of the most decorated football club in the world.

Jorge Valdano and Florentino Perez have given the Chilean the Getafe match this weekend and the return match against Milan in the Champions League next week to prove himself.

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Royston Drenthe grabbed his chance in the Real Madrid - AC Milan CL game last week. Although the Galacticos lost the game, the young Dutchman impressed 30 minutes. Bert van Marwijk watched the game with one eye, using the other one to check out Bayern Munich vs Bordeaux. Did you look Click to continue reading...

Four losses, two wins, one draw. It was not a good week for Spanish clubs in European competition. Champions League title holders Barcelona, previously thought to be all but unbeatable, kicked things off with a dispiriting home loss to Rubin Kazan Tuesday. A day later, the Madrid clubs turned in a pair of stinkers; Real played poorly in losing to AC Milan at home and Atletico were trounced 4-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Click to continue reading...

The Beauty: What is it about WAGS (aka Wives And GirlfriendS of soccer stars) that captures the fancy of the public and the media. Is it their bountiful� beauty? Is it their fabulous� fame?

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Rewind back to 2003 and you'll see that Jonathan Woodgate had everything. From critical acclaim to a huge fan following, he had all the essentials required to go down in the Newcastle folklore as one of the very best defenders of all time. However, the only obstacle that could stop him injuries came into play very early into his career at St.

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The ‘spectacular sporting project' that Florentino Perez envisioned might just be starting to gel smoothly. The question however is if this new ‘galacticos' era will bring Madrid the titles they have very much craved for. There is no doubt that with players such as Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo Real is a formidable side although I still feel that their glory days are long gone.

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The Beauty: Arancha de Benito ("ADB") is surely one of the fairest Italian WAGs. I mean "fair" in all three ways it can be interpreted: (1) she's "fair" as in "pretty"; (2) she's "fair" as in "light-haired"; and (3) she's "fair" as in unbiased. How would I know she is "fair" in the equality arena?

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The Empire Strikes Back

It's that time again, Champs League footy, pass the Colmans. Let's not mince about, this is what we want, the planet's finest going toe to toe on the park and wallet to wallet in the boardroom. What can we expect this season? another Spanish mullering over our boys?

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Two weeks into this early season and the top dogs in Spain are looking the part. Barcelona has started their defence of their crown with two solid performances; a much brighter start than last year when they lost and tied their first two games. The Blaugrana's back line has impressed me and their mega-signing Dmytro Chigrynskiy has added some much needed stability in front of Victor Valdes.

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Although they beat Hungary, Portugal's current position outside the qualifying spots for the World Cup has Real Madrid president Florentino Perez breaking out in cold sweats and, if my imagine is accurate, wetting himself during important business meetings. From Tribal Football:

Sport says Real president Florentino Perez is banking on Ronaldo's appearance in South Africa to boost shirt sales and rake in the expected revenue that was to come from his arrival this season.

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The royal club from Madrid have probably regretted selling excellent Dutchman Arjen Robben. The new Bayern starter had a dream debut at Allianz Arena, where he got the chance in the second half against current champions Wolfsburg and made the best possible use of it.

„Flying Dutchman" inherited the jersey with number 10 on it from his compatriot and natural-born scorer, Roy Mackay.

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Real Madrid's Galacticos 2.0 kicked off the season with a nervy 3-2 win over Deportivo La Coruna. Madrid went ahead twice only to be pegged back both times by La Coruna, before midfield stalwart Lassana Diarra scored the winning goal.

Real Madrid 1-0 Deportivo La Coruna (Raul)

Real Madrid 1-1 Deportivo La Coruna (Riki)

Real Madrid 2-1 Deportivo La Coruna (Ronaldo)

Real Madrid 2-2 Deportivo La Coruna (Valeron)

Real Madrid 3-2 Deportivo La Coruna (Lassana Diarra)

More football goals and videos.

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Together for the moment

The much-anticipated return of La Liga began with a scintillating match between the new galácticos of Real Madrid and the pesky Deportivo La Coruña, who always gives Madrid a run for their money, literally.� Because of the continued suspension of Pepe and the tendinitis suffered by Sergio Ramos, the Real Madrid defense was not at full strength, and Ezequiel Garay and Álvaro Arbeloa started in their positions respectively.

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So after all the hoo-ha about Eduardo's stumble and fall, this weekend bought up a few more similar incidents (inevitably) that made me question the keeper's role in all this. I mean, although Eduardo clearly dived, he wouldn't have had the chance had Boruc stayed up on his feet, made himself [...] Click to continue reading...

I am utterly convinced that Yohann Gourcuff is the star of tomorrow and that Milan made a huge mistake by letting him go. Four goals and two assists in three games in Le Championnat for the French midfielder is already an impressive tally and there are no signs of him slowing down. Somewhat depending on his World Cup 2010 I wouldn't be surprised to see him wearing the colors of Chelsea or Man United next year.

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The Dutch double down. I think Robben's celebration is a pointed reminder of how Real treats its Dutch contingent and how unsettled is its future.

The arrival of Kaka, Ronaldo, and Benzema is Real's 2.0 version of the Galacticos necessary to wrest the Liga back from Barca and put Real back as favourites to win the CL but we can also argue that it is a calculated move to undo the club's Dutch policy that has cost them a not insubstantial amount of €120m over three years to ransack players from one country - Van Nistelrooy, Van Der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Huntelaar, and Drenthe for very little gain.

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A country whose folklore is so rich and replete with hobgoblins, pixies, gnomes, druids, and writers like Shakespeare, Arthur Conan Doyle, JRR Tolkien, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and now JP Rowling has not kept up with a commensurate streak of imagination when it comes to naming their clubs.

I mean how many clubs can be called United, City, County, and Athletic.

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If you think Real Madrid are dominating the shirt sales racket with their new roster of Galacticos, you are apparently wrong. According to Flamengo chief Ricardo Hinrichsen, his club have that title firmly in hand thanks to the ungodly rate their Adriano-approved garments are getting sucked out of their club shop.

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Watch Spurs v Liverpool live online or follow our live blog below.

Tottenham Hotspur v. Liverpool
Stadium: White Hart Lane, England
Competition: English Premier League
Date: 16 August 2009
Kickoff: 16:00 BST, 15:00 GMT, 11:00 EST

Liverpool will kick off their 2009-2010 EPL season against the same team that they ended the previous season with, Tottenham Hotspur.

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And so ends another year of Spain's La Liga.� It would be another fantastic year for arguably the best league in all of the world and it will surely be even more interesting next year when the galacticos look to take back what was theirs many times before.� With all the star players heading over to Spain it is hard to say which powerhouse team will take home the cup next season.

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Here's my final thought on the DC-Real Madrid match. Thank God it's over.
FedEx Field is an awful place. I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness for the Meadowlands where the future World Cup final where likely end up rather than here.
I think the main point to take away from the match is one for Real fans, which is that the most dangerous player for Real and the one who made the most difference was not one of the flashy, new galacticos, it was Robben, part of the often-maligned Dutch faction at the club. Click to continue reading...

D.C. United fought hard for just about 55 minutes before the inevitable talent of Real Madrid took over as the Black and Red fell 3-0 to the Galacticos before 72,368 fans at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland Click to continue reading...

After weeks of speculation, rumours and gossip Xabi Alonso finally completed his £30m move to Real Madrid to join the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Arbeloa and Albiol as part of Galacticos II. This post is not going to criticize Florentino Pérez and his spending for this author believes that Madrid can spend money on [. Click to continue reading...

After weeks of speculation, rumours and gossip Xabi Alonso finally completed his £30m move to Real Madrid to join the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Arbeloa and Albiol as part of Galacticos II. This post is not going to criticize Florentino Pérez and his spending for this author believes that Madrid can spend money on [. Click to continue reading...

To brand Friday night's friendly against Real Madrid as a negative would be an ignorant thing to do. To imagine that MLSE brought the Nu-Galacticos here to further the "beautiful game" in Toronto would be a far more ignorant line of thought. The fact that our local squad, comparable in stature with a second division European club, gets to test their skills against the reserves of one of the world's Top 5 clubs is great in theory. Click to continue reading...

To the fans' disappointment, Xabi Alonso is leaving Liverpool and joining Real Madrid. The latest galacticos is caught on video, doing a public Real medical procedure. The Spanish midfielder is Real Madrid's newest £30m acquisition. Florentino Pérez amazing spending spree continues.-around £220m spent to date. Click to continue reading...

Deal almost done!

When Alonso officially informed Liverpool last week that he wanted to move to the Bernabeu, the Reds were given encouragement by cashstrapped Roma to open talks with Aquilani.

Liverpool are ready to strike a compromise deal with Madrid at about £28m less than their initial £32m valuation, However, it is still £12m above what Liverpool were willing to accept from Juventus for Alonso a year ago.

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The Galacticos era has returned to Real Madrid. This time though, president Florentino Perez has signed players (let's face it, coach Manuel Pellegrini has little say in the transfers, although he wouldn't be complaining about the signings thus far!) with the long term in mind.

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The Fist Pump...a sign of things to come?

I should clarify, 3 Things to Look� � For-� From a� Madrid Perspective. This is a Spanish soccer website after all.

Although the preseason is young, several trends have emerged in Real Madrid's performences and it will be interesting to see if they continue when Real take on the Old Lady of Italian Football, Juventus(Kick-off: Friday, July 31 2009, 20:30 CET).

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Liverpool are working diligently for Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani, and they have taken swift action amid reports that Xabi Alonso has handed in a transfer request.
According to Il Messaggero, a Liverpool emissary arrived in the capital on Wednesday night in order to engage the Italian international. Click to continue reading...

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. They giveth and they taketh away. Then they try to taketh some more. Don't blame those poor old men in pinstripes though, they just can't help themselves. Give credit where credit is due, the money-hungry misers who feed our footy obsession, like Harry Rosen-clad crack dealers, are very good at what they do. Click to continue reading...

Legendary Real Madrid striker and thirty-two year old, Raul is our annual LLTO Best Player 32 & Over.� � And the crafty old vet proved� once again this season that� there still is some gas left in the tank with a impressive 18 goals this� season.� The total tied� his result from last season and the� squad's captain� has now surpassed 300 career goals� for Real Madrid.

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