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January 7, 2013

Training: videos - 1 | 2 

Injury update: Marcelo returned to training in full with his teammates. He had spent the previous 3 months recovering from a broken bone in his foot.

Ballon d’Or - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 

• Casillas, Alonso, Marcelo, Ramos & Ronaldo were all named to FIFA/FIFPro’s World XI
• Galleries - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
• Videos -  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

January 8, 2013 

Training

• Videos - 1 | 2 | 3 
• Galleries - 1 |2 | 3

Alonso press conference: 1 | 2

• Videos - 1 | 2 | 3
• Galleries - 1 | 2 | 3

Call-Up list: (20 players)

• Keepers: Casillas, Adán, Jesús
• Defenders: Albiol, Arbeloa, Carvalho, Nacho, Ramos, Varane
• Midfielders: Alonso, Callejón, Di María, Essien, Kaká, Khedira, Modrić, Özil
• Forwards: Benzema, Higuaín, Ronaldo

Match preview

Team assembly 

Miscellaneous news

• Mesut Özil was named best Germany national team player by fans on the DFB website.
• The IFFHS awarded José Mourinho as World’s Best Club Coach of 2012.

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January 6, 2013 

Match summary | Stadium arrival | Galleries - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Post-La Real remarks:

Mourinho - [video]

• Adán’s sending off: ”I haven’t seen it again on the television but from my memory Varane left Adán in a complicated situation, he made a pass he didn’t have to make and Adán should have cleared the ball in the danger zone rather than try to build an attack. He lost the ball and it was a penalty. It should have been a penalty but I thought we had one or two players between Adán and the goal-line. We have been penalised a lot this season due to wrong or dubious decisions. I could be wrong, but I get the feeling that if it had been another team and in another stadium, it would have been a yellow card.”
• the crowd’s reaction to Adán: ”I told Adán before this game and before the game against Málaga that if he got booed, it was because of me and not him. The fans have no problem with Adán and neither do the press, they have a problem with my decision and he is suffering the consequences. This is a problem in Spain but it’s not a problem anywhere else. My personal belief is that there’s been a lack of respect shown towards Adán. He’s been at this club for 16 years and he grew up here, he is a boyhood Real Madrid fan, he is a homegrown player, and why shouldn’t he have the right to be happy? You [the journalists] have turned a problem with Mourinho into showing a lack of respect towards Adán.”
• Carvalho’s effort: ”He had a great game. I don’t like to single players out, everyone played well, but Carvalho played especially well. He’s in a strange situation this year. We’ve decided that this will be the last year in his contract, and we decided that Pepe and Ramos would be first choice, and then Albiol or Varane, but Carvalho’s experience helped us today.”

Gonzalo Higuaín - [video] ”I am happy because we won a tough match and because I am back playing. I’ve been waiting a long time and it been a lot of days of hard work, but I have come back in good shape and I felt good. I went on with one less player on the field and there was a higher demand on me.”

Antonio Adán - ”It was an unfortunate bit of play where the referee blew for a penalty and the sending-off seems unfair to me. These things happen and you have to accept it and push forward. This can happen, you can come away having played a perfect match and having made big saves or you can come away having been sent off. The important thing is what has led me to being in goal for Real Madrid has been my hard work.”

Ricardo Carvalho - ”We knew this match was important and that we could not draw and we went out to win. We started well, then things got tougher for us, but because we were together the match got easier. We could not give up, we had to come from behind and in the end we won.”

Yellow card alert: Cristiano Ronaldo will miss the match against Osasuna due to accumulation. Antonio Adán will also miss the next match because of a direct red card.

Miscellaneous news 

• Monday’s Ballon d’Or gala starts at 6:30 PM CET | 12:30 PM ET.
• 9 players are up for the FIFA/FIFPro World XI: Alonso, Benzema, Casillas, Marcelo, Modrić, Özil, Pepe, Ramos and Ronaldo. 
• José Mourinho was interviewed by The Sun and talked about pressure, Arsene Wenger, and the Premier League.
• Cristiano Ronaldo has reached 171 goals with Real Madrid, matching Butragueño. He can tie Pirri (172) in his next match.
• Since 09/10, Cristiano has scored his 11th goal from a direct kick. He leads La Liga in that regard and is 5 goals ahead of 2nd-place Beñat.
• Training resumes Monday at 11 AM CET | 5 AM ET. The next match is Wednesday against Celta de Vigo.

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Anonymous

hi do you know what time will be de ballon d'or tomorrow? (LA time)

It starts at 6:30 PM CET | 12:30 PM ET | 9:30 AM PT. The announcement will come about an hour and a half later.

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→ Arsène Wenger, on the Ballon d’Or

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The results will be streamed live on FIFA.com and YouTube on January 7th.

Coach of the Year: José Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Vicente del Bosque 

Player of the Year (Ballon d’Or): Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta

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→ Mesut Özil [x] (via concretar)

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raphael-varane:

The following 23 men (in alphabetical order) are in contention for the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2012:

• Sergio Agüero (Argentina), 
• Xabi Alonso (Spain),
• Mario Balotelli (Italy), 
• Karim Benzema (France), 
• Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), 
• Sergio Busquets (Spain), 
• Iker Casillas (Spain), 
• Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), 
• Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), 
• Radamel Falcao (Colombia), 
• Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden), 
• Andrés Iniesta (Spain), 
• Lionel Messi (Argentina), 
• Manuel Neuer (Germany), 
• Neymar (Brazil), 
• Mesut Özil (Germany), 
• Gerard Piqué (Spain), 
• Andrea Pirlo (Italy), 
• Sergio Ramos (Spain), 
• Wayne Rooney (England), 
• Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire), 
• Robin van Persie (Netherlands), 
• Xavi (Spain).

23 Candidate players for Balon d’Or:

1. 6 Real Madrid, 
2. 5 Barcelona, 
3. 3 Manchester City, 
4. 2 Juventus, 2 Manchester United, 
5. 1 for (PSG, Santos, B.Munich, Atletico Madrid, Shanghai Shenhua.

The following ten coaches (in alphabetical order, first nationality and then team) are in contention for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football 2012:

• Vicente del Bosque (Spain/Spain national team), 
• Roberto Di Matteo (Italy/Chelsea FC), 
• Alex Ferguson (Scotland/Manchester United FC), 
• Pep Guardiola (Spain/FC Barcelona former coach),  
• Jupp Heynckes (Germany/FC Bayern München), 
• Jürgen Klopp (Germany/Borussia Dortmund), 
• Joachim Löw (Germany/Germany national team), 
• Roberto Mancini (Italy/Manchester City FC), 
• José Mourinho (Portugal/Real Madrid CF), 
• Cesare Prandelli (Italy/Italy national team).

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FIFA 2011 Finalists

Ballon d’Or - Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Xavi 

Women’s World Player of the Year - Marta, Homare Sawa, Abby Wambach 

Men’s Football Coach of the Year - Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho 

Women’s Football Coach of the Year - Bruno Bini, Norio Sasaki, Pia Sundhage 

Puskás Award - Lionel Messi, Neymar, Wayne Rooney

• You can cast your vote through January 9.

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The three finalists from each of these categories will be announced live on FIFA:

• Ballon d’Or
• Women’s Player of the Year
• Coach of the Year (men’s / women’s) 
• Puskás Award (Goal of the Year)  You can vote for the Puskás award through today (no time given).

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→ Ballon d’Or Shortlist Review: Iker Casillas (via spiderogumi)

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Ballon d’Or:

1. Éric Abidal (France)
2. Xabi Alonso (Spain)
3. Dani Alves (Brazil)
4. Sergio Agüero (Argentina)
5. Karim Benzema (France)
6. Iker Casillas (Spain)
7. Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
8. Cesc Fàbregas (Spain)
9. Diego Forlán (Uruguay)
10. Andrés Iniesta (Spain)
11. Lionel Messi (Argentina)
12. Thomas Müller (Germany)
13. Nani (Portugal)
14. Neymar (Brazil)
15. Mesut Özil (Germany)
16. Gerard Piqué (Spain)
17. Wayne Rooney (England)
18. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
19. Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany)
20. Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands)
21. Luis Suárez (Uruguay)
22. Xavi (Spain)
23. David Villa (Spain)

Coach of the Year:

1. Vicente del Bosque (Spain/SNT)
2. Alex Ferguson (Scotland/Manchester United)
3. Rudi García (France/Lille)
4. Pep Guardiola (Spain/Barcelona)
5. Jürgen Klopp (Germany/Borussia Dortmund)
6. Joachim Löw (Germany/GNT)
7. José Mourinho (Portugal/Real Madrid)
8. Óscar Tabárez (Uruguay/UNT)
9. André Villas-Boas (Portugal/Porto)
10. Arséne Wenger (France/Arsenal)

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The list will be published tomorrow, but El Mundo Deportivo is reporting that all five players will be included. The three finalists will be named on December 5. 

The 10 nominees for Coach of the Year will also be publicized Tuesday morning. José Mourinho, last year’s recipient is again one of the nominees, along with Vicente del Bosque.

*The official list excluded Sami, but Karim was added in his place.

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Excuuuuuse me?

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Contrary to what AS previously reported, Sergio Ramos was not included on the list.

1. Xabi Alonso
2. Iker Casillas
3. Sami Khedira
4. Mesut Özil
5. Cristiano Ronaldo

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1. Sonia Bompastor (France)
2. Kerstin Garfrekes (Germany)
3. Marta (Brazil)
4. Aya Miyama (Japan)
5. Alex Morgan (USA)
6. Louisa Necib (France)
7. Homare Sawa (Japan)
8. Lotta Schelin (Sweden)
9. Hope Solo (USA)
10. Abby Wambach (USA)

The short lists for the men’s Ballon d’Or & Coach of the Year awards will be announced on November 1, 2011. The three nominees with the most votes for each category (women’s, men’s, women’s coach, men’s coach) will be announced on December 5, 2011.