Real Madrid

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Real rain down on Barcelona

Real Madrid gained revenge for their humiliation 12 months ago when they beat bitter rivals Barcelona 2-0 in a match played in torrential rain.

All the talk in the Spanish capital since Barca won 3-0 in the Santiago Bernabeu last season has been of showing that Real are not now permanently inferior to the European champions and they proved their point.

"This is a total change of image. I spoke to the team for a long time after last week's defeat at Getafe," said Real coach Fabio Capello.

"We knew that we had to take this match seriously. We were playing the European champions not a third division side.

"The first 20 minutes we played very well, very dangerous, but they could have still come back and equalised. However, in the second half we were much better than them."

The 29-time Spanish champions opened up the Spanish title race with goals from club captain Raul Gonzalez and Ruud Van Nistelrooy and were by far the better side.

The loss means that Barcelona remain top with 16 points from seven games but only on goal difference from Valencia.

Real, who still have the best defensive record in La Liga, climbed up to fourth place with just two points covering the top five clubs in the first division.

"This game we concentrated hard. It's a long season ahead but to beat the Spanish champions and the European champions in this fashion will be a great boost to our confidence," said Real's Brazilian left back Roberto Carlos.

The hosts took only two minutes to open the scoring when captain Raul Gonzalez was left unmarked to head in front from the edge of the six yard box.

It was a relatively easy task for Raul to score after the hard work had been done by Sergio Ramos, whose swift sprint down the right wing caught Barcelona on the hop.

Raul almost had a second goal after 14 minutes when his left foot shot, after Robinho had danced past several Barca defenders, evaded goalkeeper Victor Valdes only to for the ball to crash against the crossbar.

Barcelona squandered a good chance to equalise after 25 minutes when Eidur Gudjohnsen had a clear shot on goal.

Wonderful work down the right wing by Lionel Messi set up the opportunity but the Icelandic striker could only sidefoot the ball wide of the target.

The Catalan club came back into the game in the final 10 minutes and had Real briefly rattled at the start of the second half.

However, a counter-attack from Robinho on 51 minutes found Van Nistlerooy free in the box and the Dutchman deftly put a left foot volley past Valdes.

Van Nistelrooy nearly got his second goal just a minute later when his chip hit the post.

Real continued to press and the unflagging Robinho, many pundit's nomination for the man of the match, had two more good efforts on goal.

Barcelona's best effort was a curling free kick by Ronaldinho three minutes from the end, which required a save at full stretch by Casillas, but the statistics told the story of Barcelona's demise.

Only two of their 11 shots were on target and clearly they are missing Samuel Eto'o, last season's top scorer in the Spanish first division, who will be out with an injury until the start of next year.

"I'm disappointed but not worried. They are three points closer now to Barcelona and psychologically that is important," said Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard.

"But from the first day I said that Real were going to be competitive. It's always possible to lose games like this because this is a league with many teams that are close together, like Valencia and Sevilla as well."

Former England captain David Beckham came off the bench eight minutes from the whistle for Real, replacing Jose Maria Gutierrez, but within three minutes had been booked for kicking the ball away.

Beckham was quoted in British newspapers on Sunday as saying that he was very frustrated with his role as bench-warmer at Real.

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[Dariush]

siamak bazi ro az nazdik didi?

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siamak bazi ro az nazdik didi?

Emsal nah moteasefaneh ! Paris boudam ! Next week miram bebinam bazi ro R Madrid - Steaua Bucarest !

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[abadani69]

Real Madrid may sell former England captain David Beckham in January's transfer window.

The 31-year-old midfielder has been unable to earn a starting job for the Galacticos under new coach Fabio Capello.

And with Beckham refusing to sign a new contract at the Bernabeu until he is guaranteed a starting spot, the Spanish giants may unload him in January rather than have him leave next summer without compensation.


Real Madrid bought Beckham, one of the most popular players in the world, from Manchester United in 2003 and signed him to a four-year, $41 million contract.

But it seems likely that Beckham has no future with the team under Capello. Beckham has started just four games under the new regime and played only 13 minutes in last Sunday's victory over Barcelona.

Beckham has previously stated he is not interested in a return to England, but Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder admits he would be at the front of a bevy of clubs who would welcome him with open arms.

"I think a lot of clubs in the Premiership would like to have David Beckham," Roeder said. "I think if he came back, bearing in mind he said he will never play in the Premiership again, any team lucky enough to secure his services - their supporters will enjoy watching him play."

Beckham has been strongly linked with a possible move to Major League Soccer. But a return to England's top tier would arguably give his chances of a return to the national team under coach Steve McClaren a shot in the arm.

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"At least no one was injured"

Rather than taking the final score into consideration, Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello believes the best aspect of Wednesday's match against Ecija was that no player was injured due to the terrible playing conditions at San Pablo Stadium.

How would you evaluate the match?
The pitch wasn't really a pitch, making it very hard to play football. That's why I think it's a fair result. We even had a few chances to put the game away towards the end.
You seem pretty upset about the poor state of the pitch.
The best part of the game was that no one was injured, but we do have a few niggled players. I'm mostly worried about Reyes, Cassano, and Beckham.

Do you think Madrid deserved more? They had the chance to score more goals, but bad aim and the goalkeeper played a large part.
We came out relaxed in the first half and they pressured us better.

[Ecija] were superior to Madrid in various phases of the game.
Yes they were, especially in the first half. Things were pretty level in the second half.



Although it was a King's Cup match and several youth teamers played, what did you get out of this draw?
The truth of the matter is that it's hard to reach any conclusions when the pitch is in such bad shape. The best is that there aren't any serious injuries that would hamper our good patch in the League and the Champions League.

Ronaldo was in the starting eleven for the first time since being operated on in Brazil. The last time he started was on 7 May against Real Sociedad. What do you think of his performance?
It was very complicated for him to play on such a muddy field. He couldn't exploit his explosive speed or his technique. That's basically what happened to all my players. We were at a disadvantage.

[Teri]

real madrid sucks!

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real madrid sucks!

But in your country,nobody knows what is football dude,isn't it ? hahahaha.. and i liked how Italy how won your country ! hahahaha

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