Real Madrid leaving their team dinner | May 14, 2013
Real Madrid 6-2 Málaga - Goals | La Liga (Match Day 36)
- Albiol: 3’ (Modrić assist)
- Ronaldo: 26’ (Alonso assist)
- Özil: 33’ (Ronaldo assist)
- Benzema: 45+1’ (Ronaldo assist)
- Modrić: 63’ (Benzema assist)
- Di María: 90+1’ (Fabinho assist)
Real Madrid has become the 1st club to reach 1000 points at home in La Liga history.
Real Madrid 5-2 Málaga | Modrić 63’
- Every one of Luka Modrić’s goals for Real Madrid have come from outside the box (4).
Real Madrid 1-0 Málaga | Albiol 3’
- This marks Raúl Albiol’s 1st league goal and only 2nd ever with Real Madrid.
Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Real Madrid | Ronaldo 68’
- For the 3rd consecutive season, Ronaldo has scored at least 50 official goals in Spanish football (tied with Messi).
Training: videos - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
- Ricardo Carvalho and Álvaro Morata trained indoors.
Press conference: Mourinho | Varane (videos - 1 | 2)
Ronaldo bwin interview (videos - 1 | 2)
Khedira UEFA interview (videos - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4)
Match preview | Call-ups | Concentración (video)
Yellow card alert: Alonso and Ramos are both a card away from suspension.
Absences: Casillas (injury) | Albiol, Callejón, Carvalho (technical decision)
Training (2 ~ 4:10) | March 9, 2013
February 9, 2013 (Real Madrid 4-1 Sevilla)
Post-match remarks
- Karanka: “There was no better way to approach the match than how we started today and I am sure that this team will be winning matches until the end.” (video)
- Higuaín and Benzema playing together in the future - “It may be an option. Today they both played. Lots of people have asked for them both to play and frankly, they showed a good attitude. There is a lot of the league and the decisive phase of the Champions League to go and they will play an important role. The competition between them is good for everyone.”
- Marcelo not called up for “sporting reasons” - “He has been training for a long time but we could only pick 18 players and we believed that other players were better at the moment.”
- Ramos: “This win is just what the team needed, though Champions League matches are very different because all of the teams are first-class. Wednesday’s game against Manchester will be a tough one. Apart from the Granada match, we have had a pretty good run of form recently. We are feeling good.”
- Albiol: “[Ronaldo] is spoiling us, scoring so many goals and playing such great games. We expect him to do so every day. He netted three times against Seville and we hope he can do it again on Wednesday. The superb goal he scored is something only a player with his class can pull off.”
- Pepe: “We were much better, but I believe the most important thing is that the team are working every day to improve. We have risen to the challenge and put in the hard work. Now we just have to continue along the same lines. Against Seville, the manager preferred a bit more control of possession in midfield. I am very happy to be back, here at our home ground and in front of our fans. I have worked hard this week to return to the team as soon as possible.”
Yellow card alert: Luka Modrić, Álvaro Arbeloa (accumulation) and Gonzalo Higuaín (double yellow) will miss the Rayo match. Xabi Alonso is on his 4th.
Miscellaneous news
- Karim Benzema scored his 50th league goal with the club.
- Cristiano Ronaldo’s 182 goals moves him to the 6th highest scorer in club history, tying Gento. He is on pace to overtake Hugo Sánchez (208) before season’s end.
- Sergio Ramos spoke to The Observer about the UCL tie. He also gave his thoughts on Mourinho, Ronaldo and the widely reported locker room conflict.
- José Mourinho will be at Old Trafford today to see Manchester United take on Everton.
- if he’s happy despite not playing many minutes: Well, I mean obviously I had trouble with my injury, I was out for almost 6 weeks, at a time where there were other players injured too these past few weeks, especially in the position I play, so now I’m looking forward to making the most of the playing time I get this month, and that’s about it. I’m trying to help the team the best I can, to make myself available to the Míster, to improve, and to play as many games as possible from now until the end of the season, because we all want to play, and the more games I play, the better.”
- Kaká’s mood: “He’s no different from before. He’s always put a lot of effort in his training, ever since he came here, and he’s currently one of our teammates, one of our players. I don’t know what will happen in the next few weeks, whether he’ll leave or stay, it’s something both the club and he have to decide, but he’s currently on the team and we’re counting on him for the rest of the season. There’s nothing else I can say.”
- if the confrontation between Mourinho and Ronaldo will affect the team: “No, not at all. What happened is nothing out of the ordinary. A player or the coach can have a certain opinion after a match, and in this case they’re both winners, ambitious to the top, they demand the utmost from themselves, so they voiced their opinion, but it didn’t go further than that. This is not something that’s going to affect the team or their relationship. It happened in the locker room and it will stay there, and there’s no need to dwell on it, because we have a critical match to play tomorrow, we all want to win, the two of them in the first place, so there’s no reason to make a big deal out of it.”
- how the defense prepares when not knowing who will start as keeper: “It doesn’t. [laughing] The goalkeeper doesn’t know which defenders will play either. All of us should trust our teammate, whether it’s Iker or Adán, and know that we have a good goalkeeper behind us in any case. Period. He’s going to do his job and you have to do yours, so I don’t think it changes anything to know which goalkeeper is going to play.”
- videos - 1 | 2 | 3
- galleries - 1 | 2
Call-ups (19 players)
- Keepers: Casillas, Adán, Mejías
- Defenders: Albiol, Arbeloa, Carvalho, Coentrão, Nacho, Varane
- Midfielders: Alonso, Callejón, Di María, Essien, Khedira, Modrić, Özil
- Forwards: Benzema, Higuaín, Ronaldo
Match preview | Arrival to Valencia | Autograph session
Yellow card alert: Özil has 4; Kaká and Ramos are both suspended.
January 4, 2013
Álvaro Arbeloa press conference: videos - 1 | 2 | 3
if he’d be OK with losing the league but winning the Champions League - “For good or bad, fortunately it’s not possible to confirm that now. I’d confirm winning every match from now until the end of the season. Of course, at this point, winning the Champions can be much more possible than winning the league. But to win the Champions League you have to keep playing hard every week and give your best. We’re not a team that can go out during the week and take it easy and then be at our best when the Champions League comes around. 16 points are a lot but we have to keep facing every challenge we have in front of us by going out and giving our best.”
the possibility of Dani Carvajal’s return - “I think he is a great player and he’s showing there all the qualities he showed here. His progress is spectacular and hopefully someday he can return. Many of us youth players had to leave to be able to progress and return and it’s not a bad way to go. It’s great for him to be playing this year at the highest level. It would be a joy for all the Real Madrid fans if he came home.”
areas for improvement - “Well I think in a little bit of everything. We’ve been looking at statistics. We are the team with the most shots on goal and the team with the least shots received. These are details that show the team is not as bad as it looks. They are small things that are making us lose points. We have to improve in many areas and the most important thing is that the players play their individual best. As a team we are working on everything: the defense, the offense, tactical things. We are lucky to have a trainer that knows how to work in all these areas and we were lucky to have a week to work on these things and it’s positive and hopefully it will show in this weekend’s match.”
Xabi Alonso bwin interview: videos - 1 | 2
the keys to turning the league around - “We have to do things right, be a team and feel confident in spite of the poor results. We have to recover that confidence, that fluidity when we play, define well, score the most goals possible and recover those good feelings. Gradually create a solid base for the important games coming up in February and March.”
the significance of the Christmas break - “Christmas break came at a good time because we weren’t in a good place, but I hope that we’ve regained our strength, renewed our energy and now we want to start the year winning. Beginning with Sunday’s game and many more will come later, but we have to take it slowly.”
Injury update: Raúl Albiol finally returned to the training pitch in Friday’s session. He had been out for over a month because of a sprained ankle.
Miscellaneous news
- Iker Casillas was named world’s best goalkeeper by the IFFHS for the 5th consecutive year, 96 points ahead of Gigi Buffon. [video]
- Marca discusses the particulars of Gonzalo Higuaín’s current contract.
- Fábio Coentrão’s alleged fine for missing training is €30,000.
- On Monday Florentino Pérez will reportedly fly to Zurich to support the club’s nominees at the Ballon d’Or gala (Mourinho, Casillas, Ramos, Ronaldo and Alonso).
- Saturday’s training is scheduled for 11 AM CET | 5 AM ET.
- The 1st match of the year is at home against Real Sociedad this Sunday at 5 PM CET | 11 AM ET.
