Ronaldo is back!

Just a quick post about tonight's game as I didn't have a lot of time to produce a thoughtful preview.

Rumors floating around suggest that Raul will be starting tonight while Benzema will warm the bench. The French striker has started in the last 10 games against Tenerife, Marseille, Seville, Valladolid, Milan, Alcorcón, Getafe, Milan (in the San Siro), Atletico and Racing.

Just to do a simple comparison between Raul and Benzema (as I know a lot of the readers here have been debating on who is better), the captain has played 952 minutes and scored five goals while Karim has played 978 and only scored four goals. However, Raul scored once every 244 minutes, while Benzema scored once ever 190...

Real Madrid are having the best start they've had in the league in the last 18 years. Not only that -- statistically speaking, they are the best team in Spain in terms of defense, attack, holding possession, technique and effectiveness in front of goal.

While all of that is over-looked by the media and the majority of Real Madrid fans, Pellegrini continues to improve the team and provide good results. 

Last night's win over Santander at the Bernabeu was important not just because it pushed us to the first place on the league's table as Barca were held in a 1-1 draw against Bilbao, but the team also managed to fix some of the issues we have been talking about in recent weeks.

Pellegrini started with Casillas, Arbeloa, Pepe, Garay, Drenthe, Alonso, Granero, Kaka, Marcelo, Higuain...

Nothing but a win.

I usually don't like international breaks but this one has been thrilling! France Vs Ireland, Algeria Vs Egypt and Portugal's quest to qualify for the World Cup without Cristiano Ronaldo have been all thrilling, emotional and amazing. My team is Italy and they only played a few friendlies so my attention was instead on how our Madridistas were performing.

I'm not going to talk about these games, because La Liga is back but If you want my take on the France game, listen to what I had to say on this week's podcast which can be found below.

In this round of La Liga, Real Madrid take on Racing Santander at home and Barcelona face Atletico Bilbao at the San Mames. These are the last two games before EL Clasico so it would be interesting to see If both teams...

This is just in from Realmadrid's official website :

After being observed throughout the day by Real Madrid's Medical Services and Dr. Van Dijk, as well as undergoing a clinical examination that included x-rays, it was decided that Cristiano Ronaldo should continue his recovery protocol until the final pre-established date which is next Friday, at which point he can resume group training.

There has been some good news and a positive atmosphere in the past few days surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo's recovery and it seemed he was close to a full recovery and a come back as...

The image above is of a shirt that I'm going to keep until I die. When I was in Madrid, meeting with a Director at Real Madrid and doing a private tour of their offices, the club gave me the famous white shirt with my name and number "1" on it (which means I'm replacing Casillas soon, so we'll be losing the next 100 games!). It was a very nice gesture from the club and it gives you a sense that they respect and care about what I'm doing.

Anyway, there is no La Liga action this weekend as national teams clash in friendly as well as crucial matches. It is a fact that football clubs, especially those that have important players, don't like international games as they...

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Breaking news: Florentino Perez is going to sack Real Madrid's coach, Manuel Pellegrini, because newspapers Marca and AS told him so. They even told him when to do it; after EL Clasico against Barcelona.

Ridiculous!

I have a lot of respect for journalism and media (I'm a journalist myself), but what Marca and AS...

A frustrated Bernabeu

Out of Copa Del Rey, Real Madrid are. Alcorcón deservedly progressed to the next round, heck they even got a standing ovation from the fans in the Bernabeu. It must have been an amazing feeling for their players because half, if not all of them, went through Real Madrid's ranks or are Real Madrid fans themselves.

I was surprised to see Lass as a right-back but I understood that Pellegrini didn't want to risk with a defensively-weak Marcelo on the left and as a result played Arbeloa there (who is a better left-back than Marcelo even thought it is not his natural position).

Good call, but If Ramos was only excluded for a technical deciscion (I doubt it though) then It would be a horrible call.

Gago and Diarra in central midfield. Pathetic. You know...

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"We need to make Alcorcon feel like they are up against the entire Bernabeu"

That's it, that's what Pellegrini said. We need to make them overwhelmed right from the start. From the first whistle, just like we did against AC Milan and Atletico Madrid. No mercy, no second thoughts, and attack in its best form. To give you a visual idea of what I'm referring to, watch the video below; Real Madrid 4-0 Zaragazoa (you surely remember that game!)

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Atletico Madrid Vs Real Madrid - Matchday 10 - La Liga | 07/11/2009 - 22:00 CET | Vicente Calderon

The last time Real lost to Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon was back in 1999. Since then, we have won 29 times, drawn 20 and just lost 23. We have scored 112 goals and they scored 109. And you don't wanna bench Raul for this game, because he has always found the back of the net against the team where he started playing as a child.

However,...

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Casillas: Shhhh, we owned you, you bastards!

..... maybe because he stumbled across one of OleOle's ads in the stadium or he has heard of me. Either way, Pellegrini did everything I wanted him to do last night; he started with Benzema and Higuain, played Arbeloa as a left-back and most importantly, played his game. Read my preview and you'll see that...