TheDailySoccerNews.com

Jose Mourinho is facing failure for the first time in his managerial career after it emerged Real Madrid’s hierarchy are growing increasingly impatient with the endless swirl of controversy generated by the Portuguese and are prepared to end the Special One’s reign at the Bernabeu if his second season at the club does not bring tangible success.
The former Chelsea manager was once more at the centre of the storm on Wednesday night as his Real side lost the Spanish Super Cup to Barcelona, a result marred by a mass brawl on the Nou Camp pitch in which the Portuguese appeared to eye-gouge the European champions’ assistant manager Tito Vilanova. Mourinho then proceeded to label his conquerors “a small club” in a frenzied outburst after the game.

Such antics have long been associated with Mourinho in his spells at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan, but it is believed Real’s president Florentino Pérez is unimpressed by actions he perceives as damaging to the club’s reputation.

The notoriously implacable construction tycoon is likely to tolerate them only as long as Mourinho is successful, raising the possibility of the 48 year-old being sacked for the first time in his illustrious career should he fail to topple Pep Guardiola’s side either domestically or in Europe this season. (continue reading…)

Nine minutes were all Real Madrid needed on Wednesday night to take care of business and leave the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinal tie against Levante all but in the bag. Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo both notched hat-tricks as the Whites earned their 13th win in 13 attempts at the Santiago Bernabeu this season.

Real Madrid wanted to strike soon and Mourinho lined up the best eleven possible in order to do so. Five minutes in, Benzema managed to steal the ball heading into the final third of the pitch and after several step-overs to lose his markers the Frechman found the back of Munua’s net with  a powerful strike. With Levante still in a state of shock, Cristiano Ronaldo forced a turnover of his own, broke into the box and found Ozil, who put Real in control after several nice moves.

Down but not out, Levante went on the offensive only to see the strategy backfire. Cerra misfired on a clearance on 31’ and the ball landed perfectly in front of Benzema to fire home and put Real up 3-0. The visitors fell apart, and one minute before halftime, Benzema capitalized on another defender’s mistake, made his way into the box and found Cristiano wide open to push the ball into the net. (continue reading…)

Jose Mourinho refused to criticise Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos after the duo picked up controversial red cards in Real Madrid’s 4-0 demolition of Ajax in the Champions League.

Referee Craig Thomson sent both Ramos and Alonso off in the dying minutes - both for time wasting - meaning the players will miss the final group game but have their records wiped clean before the knockout stages.

But the ‘Special One’ has no regrets over the Spanish interntaionals shown their marching orders.

“I liked the cards that were shown. The last two were awarded because we wanted to save time,” the Portuguese tactician expressed to Marca post-match.

“The British referee showed [yellow cards] one here and one there. Now, we are top of our group, and have a match against Auxerre, and it does not faze me.”
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On the same site that Real Madrid lifted their seventh European Cup, the Whites clinched the top seed in Group G on Tuesday with an impressive 0-4 victory against Ajax. Benzema and Arbeloa scored the first two, while Cristiano Ronaldo rounded out the night with a brace for his 50th and 51st in 54 matches played for Real Madrid.

With Carvalho, Khedira and Higuain out due to injury and Pepe and Di Maria on the bench for the start, Real Madrid presented itself with several different faces in its starting eleven. Albiol and Arbeloa stepped in on defense, Lass and Pedro Leon took position in the midfield and Benzema got the nod in attack.  With everything on the line for Ajax, Martin Jol included three forwards in his lineup. The move back-fired as the Dutch lost the battle in the midfield, where Xabi Alonso, Lass and Pedro Leon quickly gained the upper hand.

Ozil, Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema had little trouble at the onset and with only 25 minutes off the clock Real Madrid had already accumulated six shots on goal and penalty that went unrewarded. It was of little consequence, however, and the Whites soon jumped into the lead. Xabi Alonso curled in a cross on 36’, Ozil back-healed a brilliant ball to Benzema, who fired into the left corner of Stekelenburg’s net. (continue reading…)

AC Milan

AC Milan have a rich history in this competition, but suffice to say this side is not one of their best that they have had. The team was allowed to age during their recent period of success and the lack of funds in Italy has made it harder to attract the best players and suitable replacements. Milan have a tough task ahead of them to get out of this tough group and sit on the same number of points as Ajax, both teams 5 adrift of Real. The Rossoneri beat Auxerre 2-0 here and then draw with Ajax 1-1 in Amsterdam before losing to Real 2-0 last time out.

They have kept tabs on the top sides in Serie A too as they look to get back to the top of a mountain they have not seen since the early part of this decade. Milan are 3rd in the table, 5 points behind Lazio and only 1 point back from local rivals Inter Milan. They have a 3-1-1 record at the San Siro where they have scored 10 goals and conceded 4. (continue reading…)

The winger struck twice in each half, with his fourth goal coming from a 55th-minute penalty, with Gonzalo Higuain and Mesut Ozil also netting.
Cristiano Ronaldo stole the show with a four-goal haul as Real Madrid walloped Racing Santander 6-1 at home to restore their one-point La Liga lead.

“I am really happy because I have never scored four goals,” said Ronaldo.

Earlier, a Lionel Messi brace helped Barcelona beat Real Zaragoza 2-0 as they temporarily assumed top spot.

Messi’s double, however, was eclipsed at the Bernabeu at the end of a week when Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney had been linked with a January transfer window reunion with Portuguese winger Ronaldo. (continue reading…)

Real Madrid  boss Jose Mourinho has revealed he would be interested in signing Wayne Rooney and partnering him with former Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo if the striker does leave Old Trafford.

The Portuguese tactician, speaking after Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over Milan in the Champions League, conceded that Rooney is likely to stay with the English giants.

But Mourinho was quick to remark that a host of top clubs would be interested in securing the English superstar should he be allowed to look for another club, which United boss Sir Alex Ferguson revealed is the striker’s wish in explosive revelations on Tuesday.

“My thoughts are he will stay,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.

“He probably wants to leave for some reasons, but I believe he belongs to Man Utd, he belongs to Man Utd fans, he belongs to Old Trafford. (continue reading…)

Gonzalo Higuain recognized the importance of scoring in a competition as significant as the Champions League following Real Madrid’s 2-0 victory against Ajax.

“I am very happy. We created a lot of scoring chances. It is important to score, and even more so in the Champions League. They gave us a lot of room to work with and they didn’t pressure, both of which benefited us.”

“Today we fulfilled the requirements of debuting. We won and and looked good doing it. We wanted to start off like this.”

“It isn’t normal to score only two goals when you have so many chances. We played a great game. Forwards like to score and it is what I work hard to do.”

“It is important to us that the crowd applauded. It means we’re on the right track.”

“Our only goal in Anoeta is to win.” (continue reading…)

Carvalho only recently signed for Real Madrid, but already feels part of the squad. He sat down with AS for an interview and seemed very confident and happy with coach Mourinho.

“I have known Jose Mourinho for many years now, which has become very helpful to me because I know the way he works perfectly well. He is the best coach in the world, a coach who knows exactly what has to be done. I feel very integrated at Real Madrid; the Club is exactly how I expected it to be.”

“We had many opportunities to score against Mallorca, but we didn’t. Our defence played with great confidence, but it was a shame we didn’t capitalise on any of our chances to score. That was the only thing we failed to do during the match. Normally, we would have scored one or two goals and we would have won the game. We played well in defence and in attack we had many opportunities to win. We are going to give our best performance to win against Osasuna on Saturday in order to earn our first victory in the season.” (continue reading…)