Real Madrid News

The 37-year-old believes the Madrid boss has already made up his mind and is set to return to the country where he enjoyed success with Chelsea

Former Real Madrid defender Michel Salgado believes Jose Mourinho has already made a decision about his future and is on his way back to England.

The Portuguese coach stated earlier this week he will sit down with Madrid president Florentino Perez at the end of the 2012-13 campaign to discuss his future at the club, but Salgado has little doubt that Mourinho will soon return to the Premier League.

“It would be no surprise if he returns to the Premier League. I think he has made a decision and it will have nothing to do with whether he wins the Champions League this season or not,” Salgado was quoted as saying by Sport 360.

“I can see Mourinho returning to England because he loves England, he loves the atmosphere of English football, and the respect English football has for him.”

Mourinho previously worked in England at Chelsea from 2004 until 2007.

The 17-year-old has impressed for the club’s youth teams this season but feels he needs to add more goals to his game, citing the Portuguese star as an example to follow

Liverpool youngster Jordan Ibe says he has been watching videos of Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo in a bid to improve his goalscoring.

The 17-year-old winger moved to Anfield from Wycombe in December 2012 and has since gone on to earn his first senior call-up, making the bench for the club’s recent away trip to Southampton in March.

And, under the guidance of reserve team boss Alex Inglethorpe, the raw midfielder has confessed that he has been studying the Portuguese star’s natural game in an attempt to adjust his own accordingly in the hope of picking up a few new moves.

“Going forward, Alex Inglethorpe has helped me by showing me clips of Cristiano Ronaldo,” Ibe told the club’s official website.

“20 of Ronaldo’s goals last season were one-touch finishes at the back post. He’s been helping me to get within the frame of the goal and in the six-yard box.

“I haven’t scored a lot of goals this season, I have plenty of assists, but with what Alex is showing me I hope I can score a few more goals towards the end of the season.”

The former Blancos defender has stressed that the goalkeeper will have to work for his place if he is to return to the starting XI

Former Real Madrid star Roberto Carlos has urged Iker Casillas to fight for his place after losing his starting berth to Diego Lopez as he cannot expect Jose Mourinho to reinstate him right away.

The goalkeeper recently got the green light from the medical staff after a spell on the sidelines due to a hand injury but has had to settle for a spot on the bench so far due to the January signing’s fine form.

“Iker has always been a starter and I wasn’t expecting him to be injured. Neither was I expecting Diego Lopez to return to the club and perform so well,” Roberto Carlos told Marca.

“Mourinho is his own man, he has his own way of doing things and you have to respect that.

“Now Iker will have to fight for a spot because nowhere in his contract does it say that he will be in the starting XI for the next forty years.”

Casillas’ last match for Madrid was the 1-1 Copa del Rey draw against Valencia on January 23 when he fractured his hand.

Jose Mourinho’s men lost to Bayern Munich last year and went down to Borussia Dortmund in Group D but recent Clasico games show they no longer fear the Catalans

COMMENT
By Ben Hayward | Spanish Football Writer

Barcelona bravado was intact before kick-off on Wednesday. Confident of sweeping aside Paris Saint-Germain and cruising into the semi-finals of the Champions League, fans dared to look ahead to the last four and a possible Clasico clash. The message was clear: They wanted Real Madrid.

In the light of their stuttering show against PSG, however, when a limping Lionel Messi was required in the role of saviour despite being nowhere near full fitness and Barca advanced nervously on away goals, most Blaugrana aficionados appeared less convinced. Now, it seems, most want Dortmund in the last four.

Not so Madrid. Jose Mourinho’s men struggled against BVB in Group D as they lost 2-1 in Germany and only salvaged a draw at home to Jurgen Klopp’s side thanks to Mesut Ozil’s 89th-minute equaliser at the Santiago Bernabeu. Real’s ‘German curse’ continues after last season’s semi-final exit at the hands of Bayern Munich – plus a string of poor results against Bundesliga outfits in the past – and the Spanish capital club will not fancy a reunion with Jupp Heynckes’ talented team, either. No, Madrid want Barca.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CLASICO SEMI-FINALS
2001-02 2010-11	Barcelona 0-2 Real Madrid Real Madrid 1-1 Barcelona Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid

Mourinho loves to plan ahead and the Portuguese was frustrated that this season’s Champions League quarter-final draw did not include the possible semi-final match-ups, with those to be decided in Switzerland on Friday. “I like to know who I will be playing against [in the semi-finals],” he said prior to Madrid’s second leg at Galatasaray on Tuesday.

But, if it is Barcelona, he now knows exactly how to beat them. Having suffered humiliation with a 5-0 defeat in his first Clasico clash back in November 2010, Mourinho’s Madrid have now won their last two matches against the Catalunya club and knocked their eternal enemies out of the Copa del Rey over two legs in February.

Questioned after the hard-fought and much-suffered 3-2 defeat at Galatasaray, Mourinho claimed that he hoped to play against PSG: “I have friends in Paris, but not in Barcelona,” he said. He also admitted, however, that the Catalans would probably progress along with Bayern and Dortmund. And he was right.

Of the three, he will prefer Barca. There is a feeling at the Bernabeu that Tito Vilanova’s squad can be beaten more easily over two legs than in a winner-takes-all match. Mourinho is a master when it comes to planning 180-minute knock-out ties and knows his team can cause harm at Camp Nou after February’s 3-1 win in the Catalan capital.

That match has sewn the seeds of doubt at Camp Nou and Madrid’s win in the league Clasico at the Bernabeu in the following fixture now gives the capital club the upper hand psychologically in this brutal battle for the first time since pre-Pep Guardiola in 2008.

Dortmund’s 4-2-3-1 formation makes life very difficult for Madrid (who use the same system), while Bayern have the edge mentally over Real after last season’s semi-final success on penalties. However, the Blaugrana’s attacking style suits Mourinho’s men and, with the psychological shift of the last month or two, the Blancos will be hoping for a Clasico tie to come out of the draw on Friday in Nyon. Barcelona, after advancing in less-than-convincing fashion on Wednesday, will not.

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Two countries have two teams in the semi-finals of Europe’s elite tournament for the first time in history after Barcelona and Bayern Munich progressed on Wednesday

Germany and Spain dominate the latter stages of the Champions League this season, as two teams from two nations make up the semi-finals for the first time in the tournament’s history.

Barcelona and Bayern Munich progressed to the last four on Wednesday evening, joining Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid at the penultimate hurdle of Europe’s elite competition.

While this is the fourth consecutive year in which the Bundesliga and La Liga have provided one representative for the last four, never before have two countries provided all four semi-finalists in the same season; and it is also a first for two German teams to have reached the Champions League semi-final at the same time.

Barcelona progressed to a record sixth consecutive semi-final at the expense of Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, as a barely-fit Lionel Messi came off the bench to inspire his side to a 1-1 draw with Carlo Ancelotti’s men, seeing them progress on the away goals rule.

Bayern Munich’s passage to this stage was arguably the smoothest of all the final four, as their 2-0 win over Juventus in Turin secured a 4-0 triumph on aggregate to send them through to their third semi-final in four years in supreme style.

Real Madrid effectively secured their place in the first leg after a 3-0 triumph over Galatasaray in Spain, although their 3-2 defeat in Istanbul left many a madridista with frayed nerves on Tuesday evening, while Borussia Dortmund pulled off the most memorable comeback the tournament has seen in recent seasons with two injury-time goals securing a 3-2 victory over a spirited Malaga.

The draw for the last four takes place on Friday, and while each of the sides involved have enjoyed a bumpy road thus far, there are few who would deny them their current place at the summit of Europe’s elite.

  The four semi-finalists