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Cristiano Ronaldo and Lieke Martens

realmadrid — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 21:48:00 +0000

• Real Madrid player wins men’s vote for fifth time after stellar year
• Holland international who starred at Euro 2017 takes women’s prize

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lieke Martens were named Fifa men’s and women’s player of the year respectively at the governing body’s annual ‘The Best’ football awards, which took place in London last night.

The Real Madrid forward retained the title he won in 2016 – again finishing ahead of Lionel Messi in a vote between national team players, coaches, media and fans – meaning that he has now been named Fifa’s top male footballer five times. He took 43.16% of the total vote, reflecting a year in which he won a Champions League and La Liga double with Real Madrid, continuing to put top-class opponents to the sword with astounding regularity. His two goals against Juventus in Cardiff helped Real achieve continental supremacy for the 12th time and he had already scored a hat-trick against Atlético Madrid in the semi-finals.

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Source: The Guardian – Real Madrid

Marcelino’s starvation treatment steering Valencia out of their lean years | Sid Lowe

realmadrid — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Valencia have changed everything from their players’ diets to the players themselves, and the revolution at the club has sent them second from top

Valencia’s players were hungry. It was two years since they’d had a decent run of results and it felt almost as long since they’d had a decent meal.

For the 13th time in five years they were under new management and this time things were actually going to change. Not just the coach but the culture, everything from the president to the players to what was put on their plate. If you are what you eat, it was time to eat something good. At Paterna, the club’s training ground, food was prepared for them, but not much of it and not exactly the tasty treats either, while detailed diets were sent home: rigid new regimes written out to be followed to the letter, families called upon to help impose them on famished footballers.

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Source: The Guardian – La Liga

Gerard Deulofeu fires his first Barcelona goal to spark win over Málaga

realmadrid — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 20:35:00 +0000

Barcelona maintained their four-point lead at the top of La Liga with a 2-0 win over the bottom club Málaga at the Camp Nou, where Gerard Deulofeu’s early goal should have been ruled out.

Second-placed Valencia had closed the gap by thumping Sevilla 4-0 at the Mestalla but Barça never looked likely to slip up in a game when Andrés Iniesta’s second-half strike extended Malaga’s winless run to nine matches.

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Source: The Guardian – La Liga

Tottenham still profiting from Pochettino’s input, on and off the pitch | David Hytner

realmadrid — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 16:08:00 +0000

Spurs manager ran through his options in the commendable draw at Real Madrid and the Argentinian is increasing his sphere of influence closet to home

It numbers among the many construction projects at Tottenham Hotspur but, perhaps, it is the one to have drifted under the radar. The London club have committed £30m to the building of a 45-bedroom player hotel on a site adjacent to their Enfield training ground and the rationale is illuminating.

Mauricio Pochettino and his staff are obsessed with marginal gains, with new angles and the creation of the optimum environment, and the private player accommodation lodge, as it is officially known, is another example of the growth that they are seeking.

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Source: The Guardian – Real Madrid

Pochettino ‘so proud’ after Tottenham draw with Real Madrid – video

realmadrid — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 08:56:00 +0000

Following his Tottenham side’s 1-1 draw away at champions Real Madrid, manager Mauricio Pochettino congratulated his team on the result, saying: ‘I’m so proud of the effort.’ Harry Kane, whose deflected effort provided the first goal, said that he thought the draw represented a good result for Spurs, while Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos assessed that a draw was probably a fair result

• Pochettino full of praise after Lloris saves Spurs at Real

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Source: The Guardian – Real Madrid

Mauricio Pochettino full of praise after Hugo Lloris saves Tottenham

realmadrid — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 22:28:00 +0000

• ‘Hugo was fantastic. He showed his real level,’ says manager
• Draw keeps Spurs level at top with Real Madrid in Group H

Mauricio Pochettino paid tribute to Hugo Lloris after the goalkeeper helped Tottenham Hotspur to a 1-1 Champions League draw at Real Madrid but the manager was more pleased that his team had held their own and showed they could compete at the highest level.

Tottenham led at the Bernabéu through a Raphaël Varane own goal before Cristiano Ronaldo equalised before half-time from the penalty spot. Lloris was busy and he made two outstanding saves to deny Karim Benzema and Ronaldo in the second half. Tottenham had chances of their own and Harry Kane could not find a way past Keylor Navas when he was one-on-one with him on 71 minutes.

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Source: The Guardian – Real Madrid

Tottenham’s Harry Kane relishes Real Madrid spotlight but key moment elusive | Sid Lowe

realmadrid — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 20:30:00 +0000

Spurs’ top scorer could not quite find the decisive finishing touch at the Bernabéu but still made an impact that demonstrates how far he has come

Harry the Strong” one front-page headline here had called him. “Kane is the danger,” another warned and Raphaël Varane knew. Moussa Sissoko’s cross from the right sought Kane, as he dashed in front of the French defender, looking for a flick. The ball evaded Kane but not Varane, chasing him across, and it deflected off the defender and beyond the goalkeeper. “The more I play, the more I get a sense of what defenders will do at certain times,” Kane had said, but he can’t have expected this. He would have expected to score from the second of the two big moments in which he played a central role. Everyone else expected it too, Keylor Navas apart.

“If you haven’t played at the Bernabéu, you haven’t been baptised,” Mauricio Pochettino had said. Now his side led. High in the north-eastern corner where four thousand Spurs fans gathered, and in a small pocket low in the west stand too, celebrations began. “He’s one of our own, he’s one of our own, Harry Kane, he’s one of our own,” those supporters had chanted. Inevitably, some of the focus in the buildup to this match was spent asking: how long for? And where would he go?

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Source: The Guardian – Real Madrid

Spurs’ Harry Kane rues missed chance after Cristiano Ronaldo earns Real draw

realmadrid — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 19:54:00 +0000

Harry Kane’s reaction said it all. It was a mixture of disbelief and deep regret. There were 71 minutes on the clock at this glittering venue and, suddenly, Tottenham’s main man was in. The pass from Fernando Llorente was made to measure and, when Kane shot, all eyes followed the ball to the bottom corner of the Real Madrid net.

It squirmed agonisingly wide, Keylor Navas having got his fingertips to it and everybody seemed to take a moment to let it all sink in. Kane, who had been the story before the match because of his form and Real’s interest in him, might have made the grandest of statements.

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Source: The Guardian – Real Madrid

Hugo Lloris seeks more success at Real Madrid as Tottenham test their mettle | David Hytner

realmadrid — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 20:30:00 +0000

The French goalkeeper tasted Champions League success against Real Madrid with Lyon in 2010 and wants ‘to show the face of Tottenham’ at the Bernabéu

For Hugo Lloris it is an occasion to savour and an opportunity to embrace. And, if he is perfectly honest, it is one that he did not see happening for him at Tottenham Hotspur. A Champions League glamour tie at Real Madrid? It seemed like a pipe dream.

So much so that Lloris, who joined Spurs from Lyon in 2012 in the hope of continuing his development in the Champions League, had started to consider his future. It was the final months of the 2014‑15 season – Mauricio Pochettino’s first in managerial charge – and the goalkeeper felt further away than ever from Europe’s elite competition.

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Source: The Guardian – Real Madrid

Harry Kane can be one-club man like Roma legend Totti, says Pochettino

realmadrid — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 18:26:00 +0000

• Spurs manager says Kane was very emotional watching Totti’s final game
• Pochettino discusses him own future before Real Madrid match

Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that Harry Kane was caught up in the emotion that surrounded Francesco Totti’s final game for Roma and the Tottenham Hotspur manager expressed hope that his striker could also prove to be a one-club man.

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Source: The Guardian – Real Madrid