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Real Madrid Resort Island

Florentino Perez has revealed that “Real Madrid Resort Island project has fallen through”. Los Blancos plans to build a one-billion-dollar resort in Ras al-Khaimah (United Arab Emirates) have been put on hold and might now move to Abu Dhabi.

The resort is a 50-hectare attraction, comprising a hotel, yacht club, amusement park, museum and a stadium. It was planned to be built on the artificial Marjan Island, in Ras al-Khaimah.

Michael Hernandez, the master developer of the resort, told Reuters that the project could be moved 105 kilometres south, to Abu Dhabi. He confirmed it has been “put on hold”.

Florentino later affirmed that the project “has fallen trough” in a mini-assembly with Real Madrid’s representative members. “We had an agreement with an emirate, but they wanted to finance it through some investors and it did not come through for them. Now its promoters want us to do it in Abu Dhabi,” Perez said.

Hernandez admitted that Louis-Armand de Rouge, chief executive of Real Madrid Resort Island, never bought the land upon which the resort was meant to be built.

Real Madrid Resort Island, a luxurious project

Florentino Perez and Zinedine Zidane had attended the project launch in March 2012. De Rouge revealed at that time that the resort would open in January 2015.

At the launch, de Rouge said “there are already heaps of people that want to buy most of it, including individuals, private institutions and some financial institutions”.

Abu Dhabi seems as the ideal location now, as it is establishing itself as a tourist destination. It hosts a Formula One Grand Prix since 2009 and already has a similar complex, Ferrari World.

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Real Madrid legend Ronaldo Nazario has given an interview to Spanish sports daily As in which he affirms that “firing Vicente del Bosque as manager was Florentino Perez’s mistake”.

“I don’t understand what happened at that moment. When we were celebrating La Liga’s title, he just fired him”, Ronaldo explains.

Ronaldo also spoke about the current situation of the Spanish league. “In my days, the level was higher. Now there is Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, they have no rival”, he said. “In 100 years, everybody will still remember this Barcelona; it’s historic”, he added.

As also reports in its front page that Florentino Perez has admitted Real Madrid could turn into a public limited sports company. Only four clubs in Spain remain as private clubs own by the fans: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna. “If Real turns into a private limited company, every associate would have a share”, Perez said.

Marca dedicates its front page to Isco, claiming that he is “the best number 10” of Real Madrid. “He’s statistics are better than those of Zidane, Sneijder, Kaka and Ozil”, the Madrid sports newspaper claims.

“The 21-year-old has taken the lead in the team, with an 83 per cent of passes completed and four goals in eight shots on target”, Marca reports.

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Paris Saint Germain are keeping a close eye on Real Madrid’s centre-half Casemiro, according to Spanish sports website Fichajes.net.

Laurent Blanc has been willing to sign a quality midfielder since he arrived to Paris, and he seems to have targeted the young Brazilian.

Casemiro had a brilliant performance in the pre-season, threatening to push Sami Khedira out of the starting eleven. However, he has always come in from the bench in the few official games he has played.

Since young Spaniard Asier Illarramendi has recovered from his injury and Xabi Alonso is close to making his return, Casemiro options to get minutes will be reduced.

Carlo Ancelotti sees Casemiro as a hot prospect for the future, but Laurent Blanc will reportedly try to seduce the Brazilian offering him an important role at PSG.

The French coach is impressed with the midfielder’s performances so far and would ask Paris Saint Germain’s directors to make a strong bid.

The 21-year-old signed for Los Blancos last January on loan from Sao Paulo. In the summer, Real secured his permanent moved for six million euros.

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Real Madrid winger Angel di Maria has insisted he will fight for his place in the side, despite the high profile arrivals of Isco and Gareth Bale at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The tricky Argentinean midfielder was preferred to Bale in the Champions League win over Galatasaray on Tuesday night. As the Welshman started on the bench, Madrid ran riot, eventually winning 6-1, with a hat trick by Cristiano Ronaldo, two goals from Karim Benzema and another Isco goal.

Speaking after the impressive victory, di Maria said he would not give up his place in the side easily. He was a regular started under previous boss Jose Mourinho and wants to ensure the same occurs under Carlo Ancelotti.

He stated: “I stayed here in Madrid because I want to keep winning. When the coach tells me to play I will, and I will sit on the bench if he wants that. But I want to earn the starting spot because up until now I was playing regularly.”

Di Maria moved to the Santiago Bernabeu in 2009 in a 35 million euro deal from Benfica. He has made 142 appearances for the club, and despite being linked with a move away from the Spanish capital, has a contract that runs until 2018.

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Real Madrid blog

Although many critics have arisen since Real Madrid sold Mesut Ozil to Arsenal on a 50-million-euros transfer, the truth is that the German international’s sale has been a very clever last minute move by Florentino Perez.

With Gareth Bale arriving at the end of the transfer market for a world-record fee, it was clear that there was not enough space in the starting line-up for all Madrid’s world-class players.

While Cristiano Ronaldo and Isco seem to be permanent fixtures in Carlo Ancelotti’s starting eleven, there was just one spot left in the second forward line behind Karim Benzema.

With the likes of Bale, Di Maria and even Jese Rodriguez on the books, that would mean that a player worth 50 million would have spent a lot of time on the bench.

For many the most logical decision was to sell Di Maria, but not for Carlo Ancelotti and Florentino Perez.

The Italian manager saw Ozil wasn’t giving 100%, while Di Maria showed great commitment and spirit of sacrifice at the start of the season. In fact, in La Liga’s game against Athletic Bilbao, the Argentinian started while the German didn’t play a single minute.

As Real Madrid’s assistant coach Zinedine Zidane put it: “Di Maria decided to fight, Ozil decided to leave”.

Ancelotti informed Perez about the situation and, when Arsenal’s offer arrived, the decision was pretty clear.

In his three years in Madrid, Ozil has shown that he is a magician with the ball, but his time at the club was blighted by irregular form. A more consistent Isco seems to have arrived to claim his spot.

As sad as Ozil’s goodbye might have been for many Real Madrid fans and even for his former team mates, have no doubts that it has been positive for the club, for the squad and for the good mood inside the changing room.

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Champions League trophy

Former Bayern Munich midfielder Stefan Effenberg has said Real Madrid are one of his picks to win this season’s Champions League, along with Manchester United and Barcelona.

The ex-Germany star believes his old team, now under the guidance of Pep Guardiola, won’t retain the trophy they won at the end of May, and he also said other German teams, such as last year’s finalists Borussia Dortmund will not reach the same dizzy heights as last season either.

Speaking to the Hamburger Morgenpost, the 45-year-old, who was part of the team that lost the dramatic final in 1999 to Manchester United, said: “I do not trust Bayern to defend their title this season, and don’t see Dortmund playing in the final either. The likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United are big threats who I think will get there instead.”

Effenburg also expressed his opinions on the transfer market and some of the big deals of the summer, including the 91 million euro deal that took Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur to Los Blancos. He stated it was impossible to justify spending such huge amounts, and that the fee only serves to increase the pressure on Bale.

“A transfer of €100m is crazy. I feel sorry for the boy because it is almost impossible to justify this money. Sometimes the fun is lost in football. With Ozil, I can see why Madrid went through with the move. The bottom line is that he is an outstanding footballer who will prevail in England,” he said.

 

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Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal is worth the same as Gareth Bale, club director Giuseppe Marotta has claimed.

The Chilean was linked with a move to the Santiago Bernabeu at one stage early in the summer, but Los Blancos splashed out a figure of around 100 million euros for Bale, the PFA Players Player of the Year after his outstanding season with Tottenham Hotspur last season.

Marotta told Mediaset that Vidal is just a good a Bale however, but that the Italian champions have no intention of selling one of their star players. He also confirmed that Real has made an offer for the player in the summer.

“If Bale is worth €100m, then the same goes for Vidal. Real Madrid expressed an interest this year, but selling him is out of the question so the interest ended there,” he stated.

Vidal has scored 25 goals in 82 games for the Old Lady since he moved to Turin from Bayer Leverkusen two years ago. The 26-year-old has also appeared 47 times for his country, including at the World Cup in South Africa, where Chile were knocked out at the last 16 stage by Brazil.

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Both Madrid sports dailies highlight today in their front pages the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo has overtaken Ferenc Puskas goals record with Real Madrid.

“Cristiano: better than Puskas”, titles As. “CR7 overtakes Puskas”, says Marca, adding that the Portuguese is already the third Real Madrid top scorer in European competitions.

“Canoncito Pum scored 205 goals in his first 204 appearances; Ronaldo has netted 206 in 204 games”, As points out together with a picture of Los Blancos legend from the Sixties.

Both Madrid newspapers also report the fact that Iker Casillas suffered a contusion after colliding with Sergio Ramos in the Champions League opener against Galatasaray.

“It’s only a contusion and he’ll be able to train next Monday”, claims As. “It was just scary”, titles Marca.

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Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has said Iker Casillas was unlucky to be injured on his return to the Los Blancos first team in the Champions League match against Galatasaray.

The Santiago Bernabeu side won 6-1, with Cristiano Ronaldo grabbing a hatrick, along with two goals for Karim Benzema and one for Isco. But the only negative on a hugely impressive evening for the team was the injury to Casillas.

The World Cup winner was replaced after just 15 minutes after an innocuous elbow from Ramos with Los Blancos under early pressure from the home side. Although he received treatment on the field, Casillas had to be replaced by Diego Lopez.

Fortunately, the rib injury is not serious and the 32-year-old shot stopper should be back in training in around four days.

Speaking after the win, Ramos said: “It was a collision in which he didn’t know if Drogba was behind him, we lacked a bit of communication and I jumped and unluckily collided with Iker. It is something that stopped him from carrying on by it doesn’t look like anything serious.

“Hopefully he will be back with us as soon as possible. If he did say something to me, I did not hear it. The Galatasaray fans should be congratulated for how they encouraged their team. It was very difficult to communicate with the rest of the team.”

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With Raphael Varane getting to the end of his injury recovery and Pepe far from his best state of shape, there is no doubt that the leader in Real Madrid’s defence is Sergio Ramos. However, that was not the case one year ago, as September 18th will mark the date when Jose Mourinho punished Ramos by banishing him to the bench despite his good performances.

At the time, Los Blancos were passing through a delicate moment, since they have only got one victory in the first four games of La Liga, suffering two losses and one draw.

The last defeat against Sevilla was very painful for Madrid players. Especially because of Mourinho’s words after the match, criticising his players harshly and even declaring that, if it was allowed, he would have made seven substitutions.

These words didn’t please Ramos, who didn’t hesitate in answering in a press conference that the players were not the only ones to blame for Real’s disappointing start. “I always say that we are all to blame, from the first one to the last one. When we win, we all win, and when we lose, it’s the same”, he declared.

Mourinho didn’t like Ramos’ frankness and he left the Andalucian on the bench in the following clash: Real Madrid’s debut in the Champions League against Manchester City at the Santiago Bernabeu. Los Blancos won 3-2 with a last minute goal. Ramos didn’t play a single minute.

In the next game, the Spanish international returned to the starting eleven, and he wouldn’t leave it for the rest of the season, despite that ‘punishment’ he received in Manchester City’s visit to Madrid.

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