Real Madrid News

The Liverpool striker has once again commented on his future in the media, and says he is “disturbed” by the Anfield outfit’s absence from the Champions League

Liverpool forward Luis Suarez has once again heaped praise on Real Madrid as speculation continues to surround his future on Merseyside.

The Uruguay international, currently in Brazil for the Confederations Cup, had previously claimed he would relish the chance to play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo for los Blancos.

And now the 26-year-old has begun discussing the qualities he feels he could offer Madrid, saying he would give his all for the Santiago Bernabeu outfit.

“I will give my soul every time I step on the pitch,” Suarez revealed when asked by El Pais what he would bring to a team like Madrid.

“I have done this with Uruguay, Ajax and Liverpool. I do not hold anything when I finish a game.”

Suarez also reiterated his belief that joining Madrid would be the pinnacle of any player’s career, and admits he is disappointed that Liverpool will not be playing in Europe next season.

“A player always aspires to be at the top of their profession and Madrid is at the top for any football player,” he continued. “But, do you know what it is like to play for Liverpool?”

“It disturbs me that Liverpool are not in the Champions League every season.

“I’ve suffered at Liverpool, but when I think of what it represents to play for this club, and the love my daughter has – she sings the hymn – the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I play at Anfield.”

La Roja’s coach has acknowledged he faces a tough decision to pick between three top glovemen

Vicente del Bosque has revealed he remains undecided over which of his goalkeepers will make the starting XI for Spain’s opening Confederations Cup clash with Uruguay on Sunday.

Iker Casillas would normally be one of the first names on la Roja’s team sheet and indeed started in the friendlies against the Republic of Ireland and Haiti.

But after losing his place in the Real Madrid side to Diego Lopez, Victor Valdes and Pepe Reina could get the nod ahead of the 32-year-old.

“On Sunday we will know what the lineup is,” the 62-year-old Spaniard was quoted by Marca.

“Roughly I have decided but the three goalkeepers are excellent, which they have shown at their clubs. Casillas has had a break but I do not think there would be any harm in playing him from tomorrow. We will seek the best solution.

“I understand Casillas because he is a guy with a lot of responsibility. It has not been easy for him.”

Spain will hope to surpass their 2011 Confederations Cup efforts, after suffering a semi-final exit at the hands of the United States two years ago.

And ahead of the fixture, Del Bosque was keen to stress the quality of their Group B opponents, who qualified for the tournament as a result of their 2011 Copa America triumph.

“We are not thinking of the semi-finals or final,” the former Real Madrid boss declared.

“We’re thinking of Uruguay, which is a very difficult game. They play good football and always want the ball. They also have a great coach [Oscar Tabarez], a gentleman.

“Uruguay also have 90% of their players playing abroad. This mixture of styles is ideal.”

The Blaugrana defender has admitted the harmony in the Roja dressing room was disrupted during a sequence of heated derby clashes between Spain’s two biggest clubs

Gerard Pique has slammed the damage Jose Mourinho inflicted on the Spain dressing room as a result of the fierce nature of Clasico encounters during his time in charge of Real Madrid.

The Portuguese coach left Blancos after a controversy-ridden final year in charge and has in recent weeks been roundly criticised by Barcelona personnel for the venomous atmosphere he created in La Liga.

And speaking to Marca ahead of Spain’s first Confederations Cup clash with Uruguay, Pique confessed that rivalry almost destroyed la Roja, with the Portuguese guilty of gouging then Blaugrana assistant Tito Vilanova’s eye during one ugly incident.

“I trusted in the maturity of all of the players,” the 26-year-old defender responded when asked if he feared tension in the Mourinho era might completely undermine the national team.

“But things got to the point where they crossed the line, and that made for a tense atmosphere. That’s where everyone’s maturity came in to play in order to say, ‘That’s enough.’ It wasn’t Mourinho who did it. It was some of the players who  realised that it was getting out of hand.”

Barcelona claimed the Liga crown in Mourinho’s first season in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu and handed out a 5-0 beating to los Blancos at Camp Nou that same term and Pique feels the Catalans’ dominance played a part in the ill-feeling between the sides.

“It got to the point where I think we were quite superior to Real Madrid and we were winning lots of trophies,” the former Manchester United centre-half said.

“He tried to take the game off the field of play and I think he acted like that because he felt inferior to Barcelona, but at the end of the day the pitch is where things happen. Everything else just creates a bad vibe and generates things which aren’t good for the national team or for this sport.”

The Real Madrid and Spain skipper may have put his club woes behind him following the departure of the Portuguese coach, but he now has to win his international place back as well

COMMENT
By Ben Hayward | Spanish Football Writer

The nightmare is over. Iker Casillas was benched by Jose Mourinho in December of last year, then suffered injury upon his return and never played another minute under the Portuguese coach at Real Madrid last season.

And although the Spain skipper seems set to return to his place between the sticks for his club in 2013-14, he now faces a fight to hold onto his starting spot with la Roja.

Casillas made his international comeback against Haiti in a friendly in Miami a week ago and then replaced Victor Valdes against Ireland in New York, making two superb saves in his second-half showing.

That will have been pleasing for coach Vicente del Bosque, yet it appears not to have been enough to earn the skipper the nod as Spain start their Confederations Cup campaign against Uruguay on Sunday.

CASILLAS’ CHAOS – A TIMELINE
DROPPED BY MOURINHO
DEC 22nd	The Real Madrid captain is left on the bench for the league game against Malaga as Adan starts
BACK ON AFTER ADAN’S RED CARD
JAN 6th	Casillas comes on against Real Sociedad after Adan is sent off for bringing down Carlos Vela
SUFFERS HAND FRACTURE
JAN 23rd	Sidelined with a bad injury after taking a kick to the hand from Alvaro Arbeloa at Valencia
MADRID SIGN DIEGO LOPEZ
JAN 25th	With Casillas sidelined, Mourinho brings in Diego Lopez from Sevilla on a long-term deal
MADE TO WAIT BY MOURINHO
MAR 29th	Iker is ready to return, but his coach claims he is “not match fit” and he sits out once more
BBACK ON THE BENCH
APR 6th	Back in the Madrid squad but does not feature again in the first team for the rest of the season
BMOURINHO: “I PREFER DIEGO LOPEZ”
MAY 7th	The Madrid coach once said Iker was the world’s best but now claims he likes Diego Lopez better
BLEFT OUT FOR MOU’S LAST GAME
JUN 1st	The Portuguese leaves the goalkeeper out of the squad for the game against Osasuna
BMAKES SPAIN RETURN
JUN 8th	Starts in 2-1 win over Haiti and makes two good saves after coming on against Ireland three days later
BSET TO START ON BENCH
JUN 16th	The Spain skipper looks likely to start on the bench as la Roja kick off at the Confederations Cup

Casillas, curiously, has never faced Uruguay. He missed the 2-0 friendly win in 2005 through injury as Pepe Reina played and also sat out the 3-1 success in February, just two weeks after his hand fracture against Valencia which saw him sidelined until late March. On the second occasion, Valdes filled in – and that looks set to be the case again on Sunday.

The word from within the Spain camp is that the Catalan will start la Roja‘s first Confederations Cup game, having been teamed on the same side as the first-choice back line in training and also been chosen to speak at one of the pre-match press conferences on Friday.

Del Bosque, who always looks to be fair with his team selections, remains grateful to Valdes for his heroics as Spain beat France in Paris back in March in the teams’ crucial World Cup qualifier and looks set to reward the Barcelona shot-stopper with a starting spot on Sunday.

“I will do what I am asked and Del Bosque will decide,” Valdes said on Friday. And of Casillas, the Catalan added: “He is doing well, the same as always; he is on top form and raring to go. He is very motivated, on and off the pitch. It’s important we have healthy competition – it helps the team.”

Del Bosque, meanwhile, has remained diplomatic. “We have three magnificent goalkeepers and whichever one I choose, it won’t be a mistake,” the coach claimed on Friday. And he was positive about his captain’s form, despite the Madrid man’s inactivity over the last few months. “From the first day, we have not seen much effect from Casillas’ break from action,” he explained.

In the long term, Iker looks likely to regain his place for country as well as club (he is almost certain to be restored to the starting line-up under Carlo Ancelotti at Madrid next season), yet for the moment he will have to fight for his place in the national team, something he has seldom had to do in the past.

With three group games plus a probable semi-final and possibly a final to come later on in Brazil, however, there is still time for Casillas in the Confederations Cup as Del Bosque considers sharing the minutes between all three goalkeepers.

In fact, the World Cup-winning coach is thought to be contemplating a different shot-stopper for all three group games before deciding on a definite starter for the latter stages of the competition.

For Casillas (as well as the rest of his team-mates), it is a trophy he has yet to win and as Spain seek to claim the Confederations Cup for the first time, the captain is arguably also playing for his future in the national side.

So he may not start on Sunday, but he will not want to be on the sidelines in a year’s time as Spain return to Brazil to defend the World Cup they claimed in South Africa in 2010.

Starting for Madrid in 2013-14 will help him in that respect, but after all the problems he has endured at the Santiago Bernabeu recently, Casillas can no longer consider himself an automatic choice for club nor country – something which was considered as gospel in the past.

Now, with Diego Lopez (who was excellent for Madrid in the second half of the season and has rejected a move to Monaco in order to compete with Casillas next term) and Valdes for Spain, Iker faces a fight for both berths.

So while he may be widely considered the best keeper in the world, Iker now has to prove himself all over again or face being on the bench for the team he has captained to two European Championship crowns and a World Cup win in a record 145 appearances.

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The Portuguese is confident his now former team-mate will remain at the Santiago Bernabeu, while revealing his disappointment at how his time at the club came to an end

Monaco’s latest recruit Ricardo Carvalho is confident Cristiano Ronaldo will stay at Real Madrid and sign a new contract.

The defender joined the free-spending Ligue 1 new-boys at the end of May on the back of three years at the Santiago Bernabeu.

And though his time at the club didn’t end on a positive note, with the club dethroned as Liga champions by Barcelona and suffering Copa del Rey final defeat to Atletico Madrid, the Portuguese is confident Madrid will soon be boosted by Cristiano Ronaldo signing a new deal at the club.

He told Marca: “The president is doing everything he can for Cristiano to sign a new contract and he’ll stay.”

Los Blancos were dogged by publicised spats, notably between coach Jose Mourinho and key players like Iker Casillas and Pepe, for much of last season.

And the veteran stopper believes the underlying disagreements that marred their campaign could have been managed better.

“We felt that we didn’t end the season well. When we should have been stronger, we weren’t,” the 35-year-old added.

“I don’t know whether or not Pepe feels he made a mistake [publicly criticising Mourinho], or whether he is sorry, but it’s something that could have been avoided by talking face-to-face.

“If you aren’t winning, you have to stick together, be even stronger. But this year, as a dressing room, we should have been more united during the tough times.”

Despite the debacle, Carvalho still looks back on his two-year spell in the capital with pleasure, claiming he had achieved a lifelong ambition by playing for the club.

“I was very happy at Real. It was something I’d always wanted and I fulfilled a dream,” he continued. “These past two years with my injuries, I was sad at not being able to play. I was always fit at Chelsea.

“I was on cloud nine during my first season at Real Madrid. That year gave me everything. It might have been the best time of my career.

“Before joining Chelsea, [president] Florentino [Perez] spoke with Pinto da Costa [Porto chairman] and [Luis] Figo called me. I was eager to sign, but the offer was low back then.