Ciao amico e buona fortuna ;(

Let's first define the Perez-flu.

Perez-flu (or Perez-influenza) is a disease that only effects Real Madrid football club, its members, staff, players, and everything that has to do with it -- yes even the fans who live outside it. Its symptoms include irrational decisions such as selling Makelele, not signing Ronaldinho for his unattractive mug and sacking coaches every six months. Its effects include poor performances on the pitch, lack of spirit and discipline, internal conflicts, and trophyless coma that could continue for four or five years.

Yes, it is even worse than the swine-flu. 

Sadly though, Cannavaro is...

This question has been in my mind for a couple of days now. Everything in the press at the moment is around those two players and I am really annoyed because most of the reports are false. Both of our players have denied any rumors linking them with another club and both of them intend to stay.

Let's first talk about Cannavaro. He came in the 2006/07 season just straight after he won the World Cup with Italy. Capello brought him and I thought and still think it was a good decision. Not only has Cannavaro added experience, solidity and strength to our defense but also spirit. He possesses exceptional anticipation and technical skills. He is undeniably one of if not the greatest defender who has ever practiced professional...

Fabio Cannavaro has concerns about Gay Marriage ;)

I haven't posted in a couple of days mainly due to the fact that the press is still talking about how on earth we are going to register both of Lass and Klaas for the Champions League.

Latest news is that Real will take the issue to CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) and it goes like this:

We will first approach UEFA’s Commission of Control and if they throw out the case, we will then take it to the governing body’s Committee of Appeal. If that also fails, then we will take it to the CAS.

However, there is the time constraints and as we might not be able to meet the January 31 registration deadline if we go through all this stuff. Therefore, the UEFA would need until the 20th to make a decision before we approach the CAS.

In more interesting news, Fabio Cannavaro has criticized countries like Spain and Italy (although they don't allow LEGAL gay marriage) for their stance on the issue, ehm.. of Gay Marriage

"Spain is a great country, Zapatero has invested in the renovation of large cities, however, the gay marriage thing in this ..., uhm... maybe I'm more Italian?," said Cannavaro. 

Obviously, it isn't about being more Italian as many gay groups in Italy have expressed their disappointment with the Italian skipper:

"We feel bad that all these gay men have always admired the beauty of Neapolitan Cannavaro," said Aurelio Marcus, president of the main Italian gay association (Arcigay)."

There are rumors that suggest that Fabio Cannavaro, whose contract expires this season, could return to Seria A this January when the transfer window re-opens.

Logically, Napoli is the club he is linked to most of the time since it is where he started and Naples is his hometown. However, there are other clubs including AC Milan and Juventus who are also said to be interested in the Italian skipper which makes things very interesting.

If you know me, then you'd know I'm a huge fan of Cannavaro. With bias or without it, he is the best center-back I have ever seen in my short crazy life.

However, I admit his form might have dropped towards the end of last season and the beginning of this season, but he has always been essential for Madrid (and for Italy too -- which is known for having tons of talented defenders). His performance recently against Barcelona was superb and he proved that he is a strong WALL (The Wall of Berlin) as many Italian fans dub him.

He possesses superb tactical awareness, speed, anticipation skills, phenomenal leaping ability and ball handling skills, and he’s a natural leader.

UPDATE: Raulista, a reader of the blog, just let me know in the comments that Pepe is gonna be out for three weeks. Turns out to be true - official confirmation is here.

Alright, I'm sick - I have caught a cold and with what we are going through, life sucks for me. Certainly, the same goes for all Madridistas over there, but we should always stay calm and positive.

There was some good news yesterday as it was reported that Higuain, Cannavaro, Robben and Diarra had done some jogging and stuff and they all look to be fit to play against Sevilla. However, the bad news came today as doctors have revealed that Sneijder will be sidelined for approximately two weeks which means that he could make it before the Clasico:

"Wesley Sneijder abandoned Saturday's match agianst Getafe only 18 minutes after the ball was put into play. An MRI showed that the midfielder has a Grade I right femoral biceps injury, for which he is expected to miss approximately two weeks of playing time.", The club's official site revealed this morning

So it seems that whenever we recover a player another gets injured. I think if this continues to happen, we won't ever have a full squad this season.

The one we need most is certainly Robben to provide width and crosses from the two flanks. Real should already be looking for a replacement though, because we can't rely on him and Drenthe. If it was possible, I'd make a clone of Arjen, but yeah.

Gabriel Heinze has joined the sickbay which already hosts: Van Nistelrooy, Diarra, Higuain, De La Red, Cannavaro and Robben.

Gabriel got injured in the match against BATE Borisov and is set to be out for three weeks:

Medical examinations and a magnetic resonance have determined that Gabriel Heinze is injured with a hematoma on the deep fascia of his left leg, separating the triceps surae muscle from the flexor muscles. The player will miss approximately three weeks. The official site revealed on its pages

While this is another blow to the team, I think it will force Schuster to give more confidence and have more faith in players like Miguel Torres, Metzelder and Marcelo. Heinze has been under-performing recently and has made many costly mistakes, so I'd say his absence would not be REALLY noticed, on the contrary, our defense might improve with him out of the starting eleven

Diarra got injured while playing with his national team, Mali. Club doctors said he'd be sidelined for 48-72 hours:

An MRI on Monday revealed that Diarra is suffering from a parameniscal cyst formation and synovitis in his right knee, which is expected to keep the Mali international sidelined for 48-72 hours.

This means he is likely to miss the game against Atletico Madrid. However, Bernd Schuster will have both Gago and Guti ready & fit to play in midfield.

Diarra has been in impressive form this season. Even during the holy month of Ramadan he did an amazing job. He...

Real Madrid take on Numancia tomorrow night at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid.

Bernd Schuster has announced his squad list which didn't include Ramos nor Sneijder due to injuries, and it didn't also include Cannavaro and a number of bench warmers for obviously, technical decisions.

This is our second game in La Liga. We lost to Deportivo in the La liga opener, but this one is gonna be in our own stadium and in front of our fans so I expect that we will win, but what I know is, that it won't be easy although that team we are facing is not among Spain's biggest.

Numancia are a pretty small side. If you watched their first game against Barcelona (which Barcelona lost - and hey they drew Racing 1-1 today) you'd know that if those guys score a goal then you won't equalize because they would all defend and even call the manager to come...

Podolski is reportedly unhappy in Germany with Toni and Klose dominating Byren Munic's frontline and the club officials have told him to shut up and concentrate on football rather than whining. And with Schuster also whining in Madrid and insisting on bringing a striker in January although he has four, it seems that Ramon Calderon is VERY interested in the German international.

Personally, I like Podolski, I like how he plays and I like the fact he was born in Poland (because a girl in my class was born in Poland, her name is Sarah, and we are ...) but I'm not sure if he is the right player for us.

I...

Although Hamburg has officially refused Real Madrid's bid for Van Der Vaart, it has been confirmed to several Spanish newspapers that the Dutch man will soon join the team. A few days ago, Ramon Calderon, confirmed the news too and he said that Van Der Vaart would arrive for a fee in the region of €6 million.

One the other hand, the German club can do nothing about it as the Dutchman's contract expires next season and then he can go to any club, so it would be logical for them just to collect some cash now. Technically, Van Der Vaart is a good player, pretty much like Sneijder, as we saw him in the Euro,...