Category: News

_{Photo: REUTERS / Benoit Tessier}

Real Madrid’s striker Karim Benzema won the biggest individual award in football – the Ballon d’Or, which is awarded to the best football player in the world in the selection of the French magazine France Football.

The brilliant Frenchman led his team to the Champions League and La Liga titles, so he had no real competition this year. As the captain of Los Blancos, he scored 44 goals with 15 assists in 46 games in all competitions, and received the trophy from the hands of the legendary Zinedine Zidane.

“It’s a boy’s dream. I think all footballers have that in their head,” said Karim Benzema, who was joined on stage by his father and mother, and his son Ibrahim.

Unlike previous years, the prestigious trophy this time was awarded based on performance throughout the season, rather than a calendar year as was previously the case. The collective aspect and the trophies won were in the background, in favor of individual performances.

This time there was also a tighter number of voters who would still be made up of journalists, with one voter per nation, but the jury included only 100 men’s Ballon d’Or voters (compared to the previous 170), corresponding to the top 100 placed nations in the FiFA rankings and 50 for the Women’s Ballon d’Or in the same way.

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UEFA has decided to withdraw the sanction from the three teams that maintain the idea of the Superliga (Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus de Turin) since the deadline for submitting allegations ends this Tuesday and the European body will not make any movement.

UEFA remains firm in its approach to flatly oppose the creation of the Super League and leaves the door open to possible sanctions due to the possibility of future movements in relation to the launch of the project or other similar ones.

The disciplinary proceedings open to Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus have been terminated after the decision adopted by UEFA, but it does not mean that they will admit any competition that could go against their member associations. At present, the aforementioned processes were suspended. UEFA respects all decisions made by the courts, although it does not mean that there may be any possibility that the Superliga will go ahead, according to its criteria.

Judge Ruiz de Lara conveyed to UEFA last week that in five days all sanctioning proceedings against the aforementioned teams should be annulled and this will happen. Next Friday all the parties are summoned in court to present allegations to the case opened after the complaint presented by the 17th court of Madrid.

UEFA’s official statement is as follows: “Following the suspension of the proceedings against FC Barcelona, ??Juventus FC and Real Madrid CF, in the matter related to a potential violation of the UEFA legal framework in relation to the so-called ‘Super League’, the UEFA Appellate Body has declared the process null today, as if the process had never been opened.”

After a disasterous start in La Liga, the current title holders, Real Madrid, have found themselves up against a wall, struggling to win any matches in the domestic competition. Despite all that, Zinedine Zidane is still trying to keep everyone calm and convince them that this poor period is just a temporary phase. But, since it has lasted much longer than expected, many Real Madrid fans lost their patience and are already ranting for Zidane’s resignation, despite everything he achieved with this club in the past two years. Apart from them, Real Madrid’s president, Florentino Perez, also seems to be pretty sceptic about the French coach’s promises, since the Los Merengues have had a huge downfall and haven’t been able to come back up in form yet. This might have an effect on Real Madrid’s standing on bookies but surely you can look in this oddschecker at William Hill football to make sure you’ll have the right calculations on the upcoming matches.

All of this has triggered a lot of media to write about possible major changes in the Galacticos’ roster. The most imposing titles were the ones about the five times Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Real and going back to his former club, Manchester United. The 32-year-old Portuguese received the title for the best football player of 2017 recently, but hasn’t managed to live up to the expectations after getting the award, as he was as well pretty harshly criticized by the fans. This rumour has been swiftly shut down by Zinedine Zidane on today’s press conference:

“I’m not worried. I know you have to write about all kinds of stuff, but Cristiano only thinks about playing football, just like always. I can not imagine Real Madrid without Ronaldo.”

“This is his club and he should stay here. The club, the fans and everyone else loves him. I always say the same things about Ronaldo, but I just can’t imagine Real without him.”

Judging by the statistics, Real Madrid’s offense is in a catastrophic form, with not even a single player scoring over five goals in La Liga. It is widely known that Real Madrid have been keeping an eye on Inter Milan’s captain and superstar Mauro Icardi for a long time, considering him as a possible replacement for the French veteran Karim Benzema. According to some newest sources, Icardi is most definitely leaving the Italian side for Real this year, and it’s only uncertain will the move manifest this winter, or in the summer transfer window.

Apart from Mauro Icardi, there have been talks about some signings from the English Premier League as well. The ones that have been mentioned the most were Harry Kane, Eden Hazard and Raheem Sterling. Even it seems a bit crazy, most of these players could actually make a move to Real Madrid, since the Los Blancos sold many of their players and haven’t spent much money on buying superstars in a long time, at least for their standards.

Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez is willing to negotiate with Manchester United over a transfer for Gareth Bale if the Red Devils include David De Gea in any talks, claims Don Balon.

It has been reported that Bale’s position in the team is not assured under Zinedine Zidane, with Jose Mourinho allegedly waiting in the wings to come in with a £90 million offer for the Welshman.

Gareth Bale has told his Real Madrid teammate Luka Modri? that he wants to return to the Premier League with Manchester United.

Real Madrid have reached an agreement with Monaco regarding a €180 million deal for the teenage sensation Kylian Mbappe, reports Marca.

Once a record-breaking transfer is pushed through, the France international striker will sign a six-year contract with the reigning La Liga champions.