So finally we've gotten this game out of the way. After Madrid's Burger King Boys (Getafe) knocked the wind off the sails of Barcelona, opening up a SIX (6!) point lead between us and them, the trolling from Cule trash talkers seems to have gone on overdrive (check out the last few posts at RMFB) – pushing the pre-clasico fever a couple of days too early.

Liverpool's director of football Damien Comolli has identified Valencia's in form striker Roberto Soldado as a target he feels will give his Anfield side a much needed injection of fire-power.
The 26 year old former Real Madrid man has got his career back on track in the last three years after stagnating at the Bernabeu and is now attracting the attention of many prospective suitors and is fighting his way back to the fringes of the Spanish national team set-up.

So it appears Halloween hasn't ended for Real Madrid who celebrated Cristiano's 100th goal last night with Raul Albiol aka "el Enmascarado : The Masked One" (say it in a deep voice, if you will please).

I don't get it. . Racing and Levante did it EXACTLY the same way. Wait for Madrid in your own half. Defend deep. Frustrate them. And with a bit of cleverness and luck, through a quick counter, or a set piece: you just might nick that goal that gives you a point – or 3. . Espanyol instead, chose to do it EXACTLY the same way as Ajax and Rayo.

During the summer transfer window Arsenal were linked with a move for Real Madrid defender Raul Albiol, but the player has now ruled himself out of a move away from the Bernabeu. Albiol had been earmarked for a move in January after being left on the sidelines at Real Madrid. Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Valencia [.

No, Real Madrid is NOT in Crisis. We are merely in a slump. 5 dropped points over 2 games against La Liga teams whose objective is to stave off relegation is proof of that. Maybe Jose Mourinho's sarcastic remarks prior to the Levante game about just wanting to stay up were taken seriously by the team: prompting them to play as if we were a team battling relegation.

Big spending Malaga are lining up a New Year swoop for Manchester City and Liverpool target Raul Albiol.
The Spain international, who joined Real Madrid for £13m from Valencia in 2009, has fallen out of favour at the Bernabeu and is yet to feature this season.
The 26-year-old is desperate to make Vicente Del Bosque's squad for next summer's European Championship finals in Poland and Ukraine and reports in Spain have revealed he is ready to leave the club in January to secure first-team football.

Malaga to battle Liverpool and Man City for Real Madrid outcast

Big spending La Liga side are keen to take Raul Albiol from the Bernabeu

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-09-19 11:33:57 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Second-half substitute Cesc Fabregas scored twice as reigning European and FIFA World Cup™ champions Spain fought back from a two-goal deficit to beat Chile 3-2 in an international friendly.

Vicente Del Bosque's side were punished for a slow start as Chile raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Mauricio Isla and Eduardo Vargas, but the introduction of Andres Iniesta at half-time reinvigorated the Spanish midfield.

Arsenal are on the verge of signing Brazil international Andre Santos from Fenerbahce, according to reports in the British and Turkish media.

With only two days of transfer business remaining, it is expected that the player will be unveiled immediately after completing a medical on Tuesday.

Arsenal are on the verge of signing Brazil international Andre Santos from Fenerbahce, according to reports in the British and Turkish media.

With only two days of transfer business remaining, it is expected that the player will be unveiled immediately after completing a medical on Tuesday.

The Insider: Joey Barton, Lassana Diarra, Raul Albiol, Erik Pieters

Simon Jones is Sportsmail's man on the inside of all the major transfer moves this summer. Don't miss your daily Insider instalment here for Thursday, August 25.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-08-25 14:37:34 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Eden's balls might prove a hazard to other clubs

Arsene Wenger is making his much awaited push for getting quality into the Emirates by offering £22m for highly rated holding midfielder Yann M'Vila. Rennes had rejected his initial bid of £15m.

Can't see how they can reject an offer that increases the initial amount by almost 50%.

Arsene Wenger has had a loan bid rejected for Real Madrid midfielder Kaka, claims the Mail. It reports theat AW tried to act quickly to appease fans in the wake of Samir Nasri's move to Manchester City, which followed Cesc Fabregas's switch to Barcelona.

But his bid for the Brazilian former World Player of the Year on a season-long loan was dismissed.

Nice knowing ya.

In about two years, Valencia CF sold David Silva, David Villa, Carlos Marchena, Raul Albiol and Juan Mata.
All great players. All World Champions with Spain.

Now they're gone, Our Beloved garnering about €115 million for the players.

Question is: Why didn't we do better with them?

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has called up Barcelona's Thiago Alcantara into his 22-man squad for next Wednesday's friendly against Italy in Bari. Thiago has been impressing fans on two continents with his play this summer and he has some Barcelona fans asking Cesc Who?

Thiago helped Spain's Under-21 team win the European championship last month, and has been eligible to play for Brazil, with his father Mazinho being a member of the 1994 World Cup winning team.

Image source: Alvaro Abeloa's Facebook page.

If we've learned anything from our years of covering 'ballers in pre-season training, is that they usually provide the randomly sexually suggestive activities for our viewing pleasure. While training in Los Angeles, the staff of Real Madrid have ever so nicely fulfilled one of our requests* to have the lads strip down and hosed off, cleverly disguising their rouse as water polo.

Real Madrid's roster for friendlies against the Los Angeles Galaxy on July 16 at the L.A. Coliseum, Chivas Guadalajara on July 20 at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium and the Philadelphia Union on July 23 at Lincoln Financial Field. Buy Real Madrid U.S. Tour Tickets

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas, Antonio Adan, Tomas Mejias, Jesus Fernandez Collado.

Real Madrid's roster for friendlies against the Los Angeles Galaxy on July 16 at the L.A. Coliseum, Chivas Guadalajara on July 20 at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium and the Philadelphia Union on July 23 at Lincoln Financial Field. Buy Real Madrid U.S. Tour Tickets

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas, Antonio Adan, Tomas Mejias, Jesus Fernandez Collado.

Real Madrid "re"-announced their World Football Challenge roster today, and it has some noticeable changes.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Xabi Alonso and Mesut Ozil, the headliners of the Madrid side, are all still set to play in Real's USA tour.

We're wishing these lovebirds all the best and hope pics of their honeymoon surface soon! Image Source: Marca.com.

Always ones who have tons of time and tasks on our hands, we're just now getting 'round to celebrating Raul Albiol's recent nuptials. Don't be shell-shocked; in order to live up to your expectations of us as loose but incredibly fun women, it would be bad form to promptly publish our posts.

When the Philadelphia Union agreed with Real Madrd for a friendly on July 23, the team promised its fans that they would see the stars of Madrid and not just back ups. After releasing the official Madrid roster, it's clear that the Union managed to keep that promise.

The Madrid World Football Challenge roster is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Spain), Antonio Adán (Spain)

Defenders: Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal), Pepe (Portugal), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Marcelo Viera (Brazil), Alvaro Arbeloa (Spain), Raul Albiol (Spain), Ezequiel Garay (Argentina), David Mateos (Spain)

Midfielders: Fernando Gago (Argentina), Kaká (Brazil), Lassana Diarra (France), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Sergio Canales (Spain), Pedro León (Spain), Mesut Özil (Germany), Sami Khedira (Germany), Hamit Altintop (Turkey), Nuri Şahin (Turkey), José Callejón (Spain), Roysten Drenthe (Netherlands)

Attackers: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Karim Benzema (France), Esteban Granero (Spain)

Manager Jose Mourinho will also be making the trip with Madrid.

Real Madrid is bringing the cavalry for its summer tour of the United States.

Madrid has chosen a first-choice squad for its three games in the World Football Challenge, which includes the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil, Kaka, Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas.

The biggest omissions are Argentines Angel di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain, who will be participating in Copa America.

*Galaxy defender A.J. DeLaGarza was re-signed to a new multi-year contract, the club announced today.

The versatile 24-year-old, who can play either full back or in central defense as he did in college at Maryland defender, is on track for a career high in starts and minutes in his third year with the club.

GK: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Jose Manuel Reina (Liverpool), Víctor Valdes (Barcelona). DEF: Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Andoni Iraola (Athletic Bilbao), Carlos Marchena (Villarreal), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) MID: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Santiago Cazorla (Villarreal), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Bruno Soriano (Villarreal), Borja Valero (Villarreal) FOR: Fernando Llorente, (Athletic Bilbao), Manu Del Moral (Sevilla), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla), Pedro Rodríguez (Barcelona), David Silva.

Spain plays the U.S. in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on June 4 and Venezuela in Puerto La Cruz three days later.
Roster:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Victor Valdes (Barcelona).

Defenders: Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Carlos Marchena (Villarreal), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Andoni Iraola (Athletic Bilbao).

The U.S. men's national team will be facing a very strong Spain side when the team's meet in a friendly at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro on June 4th.

Barcelona teammates Andres Iniesta, David Villa, Pedro, Sergio Busquets, Victor Valdes and Gerard Pique lead the group, with Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas and Chelsea striker Fernando Torres among the other selections.

Real Madrid has announced the third and final game of its U.S. tour this summer and it will take the Spanish giants to Philadelphia to play the Union July 23 at Lincoln Financial Field. Kickoff is set for 9pm.

"Lincoln Financial Field has once again attracted one of the world's greatest soccer clubs to Philadelphia," said Joe Banner, president of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Nowadays I am convinced that the most important man in any advanced team, is the coach. His role is far more important than any time in the past. Mourinho used Pepe as his weapon against Barcelona as a defending midfielder, and giving him all the freedom to practice his 'teasing' hobbies vs. Messi, Villa and Xavi.

Guardiola awkwardly watches Sergio Busquets and Mourinho
nuzzle noses in a memorable moment of the match
After my makeshift preview of El Clasico, things turned out exactly as I didn't think they would. While I was expecting an exciting battle between two sides wanting to crush each other, it turned out to be a fairly tiring affair to watch, especially the first half.

Guardiola awkwardly watches Sergio Busquets and Mourinho
nuzzle noses in a memorable moment of the match
After my makeshift preview of El Clasico, things turned out exactly as I didn't think they would. While I was expecting an exciting battle between two sides wanting to crush each other, it turned out to be a fairly tiring affair to watch, especially the first half.

Real Madrid vs Barcelona 16/4/11 Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid- Spanish La Liga Final score:- Real Madrid vs Barcelona 1-1 ( Cristiano Ronaldo penalty/ Lionel Messi penalty) A penalty each from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi sees 10 man Real Madrid draw 1-1 with defending champions Barcelona in La Liga on Saturday evening.

This is either a great goal line clearance by Raul Albiol yesterday or Sevilla getting cheated out of an equaliser.The debate rages on (while Blatter plays the fiddle)

By Chris Wright

In which Real Madrid defender Raul Albiol uses every fibre of his physical being to prevent Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano's goal-bound effort from trundling across the line...

What's 'by the skin of your teeth' in Spanish?

For the record, Madrid eventually ran out as 1-0 winners thanks to a nifty goal from Karim Benzema.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are on a collision course in the Copa del Rey as they both won the first leg of their semifinals tonight. Real Madrid beat holders Sevilla 1-0 while Barcelona rolled over Almeria 5-0.

The hero once for Madrid again was Karim Benzema, who answered his critics with a valuable away goal in the 17th minute.

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.

MADRID, Spain — Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 18th and 19th league goals of the season as Real Madrid started 2011 with a tense 3-2 win at derby rivals Getafe on Monday to close to within two points of champions Barcelona at the league summit. Portuguese star Ronaldo smashed home an 11th-minute penalty to open the [.

After a short winter-break La Liga action resumes this week with the possible return of one football's biggest starts.

Kaka has been out for five months since having surgery on his left knee but he has been practicing with his Real Madrid teammates and could make his return to Real in the Madrid derby Monday against Getafe, or perhaps in the King´s Cup on Thursday.