Ramon Calderon was a guest on radio program "El Larguero'" in which he talked about many things including Schuster, Mijatovic and signings.

On Mijatovic and Schuster, he said:

"Mijatovic gave his press conference because we read articles that said Schuster was finished. Tha fans needed to know if that was true."

"I've never acted in a cowardly manner. People will be dismissed whenever they have to be dismissed, but that's not the case right now. The fans knew back when I became President that I would never interfere with the Sporting Director's decisions. Mijatovic is the one who would have to decide to dismiss someone, just like he did with Capello. I trust him. Naturally, the Board has to approve his decision."

"There's two things I must point out. The first is the relationship Schuster has with the press. I would prefer him to have a different image, but we can't change that because he was like that before joined Real Madrid. The second is that I just wished to learn about the team's situation. I had a meeting with some players and with the coach to find out what's happening."

I agree that Schuster should have a different attitude with the press. The way he answers questions and interact with journalists is purely unprofessional. He has never made good analysis or admitted any mistakes in his press conferences, he just says the same crap all the time - the crap that I say all the time too.

"The King's Cup elimination shouldn't have happened, but it is no reason for alarm. Chelsea recently conceded four goals against a Fourth Division team and no one's said anything about it. Chelsea and Villarreal fans would have liked their teams to win. Real Madrid hasn't won the King's Cup in 16 years, so I don't think this is a current problem; it has nothing to do with this team, with Schuster or with this Board."

Real Madrid are in a massive injury crisis at the moment. In addition to Arjen Robben who will be out for six weeks, Ramos, Pepe and De La Red, now Ruud Van Nistelrooy joins the sickbay and will be out of action indefinitely and may need an operation on his troubled right knee, sports daily AS reported this morning.

The club doctors carried out stringent tests on Van Nistelrooy's right knee, without yet deciding whether he will need a cartilage or ligament operation.

The Dutchman complained about pain in his knee after the Juventus match which Real lost 2-0.

I don't know what to say rather than being very concerned that Van Nistelrooy will need a long time to recover.

France Football has announced the 30 finalists for the World Player of the Year award which will be decided in December.

Five players from Real Madrid have been chosen. Those include: Casillas, Van Nistelrooy, Van Der Vaart, Pepe and Ramos.

It seems that Real Madrid is the only team with most finalists this year. This says something ;) -

Here is the full list:

Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Togo.
Sergio Agüero (Atletico Madrid), Argentine.
Andreï Archavine (Zénith Saint-Pétersbourg), Russie.
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Allemagne.
Karim...

It has been reported today that Ruud Van Nistelrooy didn't train due to a pain in his lower back. He was told to train in the gym with midfielders: Gago, Robben & Guti.

It isn't yet known whether he'll miss the derby or not, but to me, it doesn't seems that serious. However, we need to wait for the doctors' report to know the truth.

Meanwhile, both Guti and Robben are reportedly fit for the clash against Atletico Madrid. This is certainly a good thing as we need both to play. Gago will probably make it as well.

If Van Nistelrooy doesn't get recovered in...

I'm very happy that the Robinho saga has finally ended and I think it has ended happily with us offloading an unhappy lad for a lot of cash. And the club has now revealed that they will offer Sergio Ramos a life time contract just like the ones they offered to Casillas and captain Rau'l.

The new improved contract would keep the excellent right back until he becomes 32, pretty much when he will retire. He would earn 6m euros a year, a salary that Robinho wanted badly, but one that Calderon refused to give.

While I believe that Sergio deserves such a contract, I have my concerns too. Signing a player for such a long period of time is a "gamble". Will he continue playing as he is currently doing? Or will he still be faithful to the club? He...

The Dutch Football Association (KNVB) have stated that Ruud Van Nistelrooy has retired from international football thus not going to play with his national team again. Ruud has been considering this for awhile and it sees that he has finally made up his mind.

"After studying the schedule of Real Madrid and the Dutch team I realised ... playing for both teams would mean too tough a physical load for me and therefore I made this choice," the 32-year-old Van Nistelrooy was quoted as saying.

Personally, I think this is for the benfit of, first, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, and second, Real...