Real Madrid Zone: August 2010

August 29, 2010

Karim Benzema:"I will show who really I am"

Karim Benzema talked about his hopes and aspirations for the season in an interview with AS.

"I will soon get a chance to show who I really am. I know I'll get chances and I will make good use of them. Two of us strikers compete for a spot this year. We are both goal scorers. There is still a lot of competition on the team and I am anxious to face it." "Mourinho is behind me to correct all my mistakes. He forces you to concentrate 100%. He will tell me anything he thinks if I fail to play as intensely as he wants me to. I have to give my all in every game." "Florentino Perez is a great man. He is fantastic with me and my family. I owe him one. I want to prove everyone, and Florentino in particular, they haven't made a mistake with me. He says he has faith in me and I'm going to pay him back for his confidence on the pitch."

Jose Mourinho:"I will make Real Madrid the new Chelsea"

Jose Mourinho makes his competitive debut as Real Madrid coach today in Mallorca, promising to leave a Chelsea-style legacy.

The former Stamford Bridge manager said: 'I want to install a philosophy in Madrid that future coaches will only ever have to upgrade.

'I'm very proud to see Chelsea still winning. I like to leave my mark at the clubs where I work. Ancelotti has found everything in place - good working conditions, the right working mentality, a squad that is good for 10 years. He just needs to add a new player here and there and his own ideas.'

August 26, 2010

Iker Casillas warns his team mates

Iker Casillas has warned his Real Madrid team-mates to avoid the temptation of becoming fixated with Barcelona this season.

Real will begin their attempt to end Barca's recent dominance in La Liga with a trip to Real Mallorca on the opening weekend of the new campaign.

Jose Mourinho has arrived as coach and brought with him a host of new signings, but experienced campaigner Casillas has identified what he believes is an important psychological pitfall to avoid.

"This season we should not be obsessed with Barcelona," he explained.

"They are a great team with good players and they have been playing together for a long time but I would rather follow our dream.

"We are a young team and it is too early to be thinking of Barca."

August 25, 2010

Real Madrid 2 vs 0 Penarol (32nd Santiago Bernabeu Trophy ) Photos & Highlights Video

The Santiago Bernabeu Stadium was packed with fans anxious to see the 2010/11 Real Madrid in action against Uruguayan side Peñarol in the 32nd edition of the Santiago Bernabeu Trophy.

Xabi Alonso kicks hard to score

Gonzalo Higuain with a head shot

Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos

Mesut Özil at his first match

Mourinho looks really cool !!

Benzema and Angel Di Maria

Cristiano Ronaldo

Angel di Maria celebrates his goal

August 23, 2010

Best Jose Mourinho Quotes

FC Barcelona (assistant manager)

"Luis Fernández has made this shock [defeat of Barcelona] a war of dogs. I only talk about men, not of rude children." [first contact with the press, after Fernández made fun of Guardiola following his team defeating Barcelona]

FC Porto

"The only thing that I want to say is that we are the best ones and in normal conditions we are more than the best ones. In normal conditions we will be champions. In abnormal conditions we also will be champions."

Chelsea FC

"Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m European champion and I think I’m a special one."
"If I wanted to have an easy job I would have stayed at Porto. Beautiful blue chair, the UEFA Champions League trophy, God, and after God, me."
"For me, pressure is bird flu. I'm feeling a lot of pressure with the problem in Scotland. It's not fun and I'm more scared of it than football."
"I told Mr Ferguson that United didn't deserve to leave Stamford Bridge with nothing." [After beating them 1-0]
"If they made a film of my life, I think they should get George Clooney to play me. He's a fantastic actor and my wife thinks he would be ideal."
"I think he is one of these people who is a voyeur. He likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, have a big telescope to see what happens in other families. He speaks, speaks, speaks about Chelsea." [about Arsene Wenger]
"I would say if all the names you wrote in the last few days are correct we would have a 50-player squad and I hate to work with big squads."
"It will be the strongest Champions League ever. Every shark will be there."
"As we say in Portugal, they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal."
"It's like having a blanket that is too small for the bed. You pull the blanket up to keep your chest warm and your feet stick out. I cannot buy a bigger blanket because the supermarket is closed. But the blanket is made of cashmere!" [During a Chelsea injury crisis]."
"Young players are a little bit like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100% sure that the melon is good."
"The style of how we play is very important. But it is omelettes and eggs. No eggs - no omelettes! It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem."
"Sometimes you see beautiful people with no brains. Sometimes you have ugly people who are intelligent, like scientists. Our pitch is a bit like that. From the top it's a disgrace but the ball rolls at normal speed."
"Maybe the guy drank red wine or beer with breakfast instead of milk."[After a Sheffield United fan threw a bottle at Frank Lampard]
"A player from Man City showed half of his ass for two seconds and it was a big nightmare. But this is a real nightmare."[Comparing Petr Cech's nasty injury with Joey Barton's bottom-baring antics.]
"My wife is in Portugal with the dog. The dog is with my wife so the city of London is safe, the big threat is away."[After his Yorkshire Terrier had issues with customs.]
"A brilliant reaction. I hate it when players just walk off."[Following Arjen Robben's sharp exit down the tunnel after being substituted against Aston Villa.]
"As you know Gallas had an unbelievable holiday. I hope he enjoyed it very much in Guadeloupe, which I think is a fantastic place to be on holiday, so he wanted to stay there for a long time."[On William Gallas missing the first team's trip to the United States because he was on holiday.]
"Look at my haircut. I am ready for the war."
"I did it because I want to push my son to do the same. I also did it because I want to push the young players on my team to have a proper haircut, not the Rastafarian or the others they have."
"When I saw Rijkaard entering the referee's dressing room I couldn't believe it. When Drogba was sent off I didn't get surprised."
"During the afternoon it rained only in this stadium - our kitman saw it. There must be a micro-climate here. The pitch was like a swimming pool."

FC Internazionale Milano

"Zeru tituli"
"I studied Italian five hours a day for many months to ensure I could communicate with the players, media and fans. [Claudio] Ranieri had been in England for five years and still struggled to say ‘good morning’ and ‘good afternoon.'"
“As for Lo Monaco I do not know who he is. With the name Monaco I have heard of Bayern Monaco (Munich) and the Monaco GP, the Tibetan Monaco (Monk), and the Principality of Monaco. I have never heard of any others.” [after Catania president Pietro Lo Monaco claimed he wanted to 'smack [Mourinho] in the mouth' following Inter's November 2008 Serie A win in Sicily.]

Real Madrid CF

"I am Jose Mourinho and I don't change. I arrive with all my qualities and my defects."
"If I am hated at Barcelona, it is their problem but not mine. Fear is not a word in my football dictionary."
"I am prepared. The more pressure there is, the stronger I am. In Portugal, we say the bigger the ship, the stronger the storm. Fortunately for me, I have always been in big ships. FC Porto was a very big ship in Portugal, Chelsea was also a big ship in England and Inter was a great ship in Italy. Now I'm at Real Madrid, which is considered the biggest ship on the planet."

August 22, 2010

Hercules 1 - 3 Real Madrid (Photos & Highlights Video)

Real Madrid defeated Hercules 3-1 in Alicante, remaining undefeated in the preseason. Mesut Ozil made his debut with Real Madrid and Benzema netted two strikes. Di Maria also scored.

Ozil was very creative and came up with his team's most dangerous efforts. His complicity with Canales was perfect and he created the best chance Real Madrid had at the start of the match. The German controlled the ball, looked up and saw Di Maria running towards the goal. He served him the ball and the Argentine came close to scoring the opening strike, but the ball hit one of the posts (26’).
Marcelo and Di Maria connected three minutes later, passing the ball back and forth between them until the Brazilian's pass on the goal-line to Higuain was cleared by Rodriguez. Real Madrid looked dangerous, but Hercules hit them first following a fortunate effort in which Rodriguez failed to hit the ball following a cross, but it nevertheless ended in the back of Adan's net.

Mourinho made six changes to the lineup after half-time, bringing on Dudek, Carvalho, Benzema, Granero, Drenthe and Pedro Leon for Adan,Arbeloa, Higuain, Juanan, Marcelo and Canales, respectively. Tactics didn't change save for the use of Gago in the centre of defence.

The Madridistas continued to dominate the match. Benzema missed the target after receiving a beautiful cross from Granero. Five minutes later, the Frenchman scored his team's first goal from a volley thanks to a wonderful assist from Khedira.

Granero nearly netted a second strike when he was assisted by Van der Vaart with a heel pass, but Alba managed to clear the ball. Benzema then missed a shot from outside the box (74’). Third time lucky, as they say, and Di Maria eventually tallied a second for the Whites after receiving a long pass from Leon and dribbling past the goalkeeper (76’). Benzema's excellent performance was rewarded yet againt with another strike with ten minutes to go.

Pedro Leon was sent off on the 82-minute mark, but there was no time left for Hercules to capitalise on such an advantage and Real Madrid ended up winning the Ciudad de Alicante Trophy.

August 21, 2010

Mesut Ozil's first training (Photos)

Real Madrid's latest transfer Mesut Ozil trained with his new team mate for the first time.Real Madrid playeers gave him a warm welcome.Khedira who knows him from German national team gave him a hug.

Mourinho showed him close interest showed how he is important for the team.

August 20, 2010

Real Madrid lunch at Casa Juan

The entire Real Madrid squad and coaching staff met at restaurant Casa Juan
Real Madrid’s first football team met at Casa Juan for their first luncheon of the new season. The entire squad and coaching staff left Valdebebas after this morning’s training session. The first to arrive were Fernando Gago and Di Maria. Coach Jose Mourinho was the last person to enter the restaurant.

Team captains Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos came up with the idea of meeting up for lunch to begin the season with positive feelings. Casillas, the new signings and Jose Mourinho gave short speeches filled with affection for everyone present.

The first to leave the restaurant, around 16:00, was new signing Carvalho. The rest left a few minutes later, the last being defender Raul Albiol.