Real's Benzema likened to Brazilian great Ronaldo
Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has what it takes to become a new Ronaldo, the Spanish club's former Brazilian World Cup winner who is the 21-year-old's inspiration, Real's Brazilian left-back Marcelo said on Tuesday.
Real won their opening pre-season friendly 1-0 against Irish champions Shamrock Rovers on Monday thanks to a goal from Benzema, who joined Real from French side Lyon for 35 million euros (50 million dollars) earlier this month.
"That did not surprise me because Benzema is a great player. He is very young and we can't yet compare him to Ronaldo but he could become like him," said Marcelo in Maynooth near Dublin where Real will wrap up a pre-season training camp on Wednesday.
"He helps the team a great deal with his work and his magnificent passes," he added.
Spanish media said the 21-year-old stole the show from Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, who Real signed for a record fee of around 94 million euros last month, during the match against Shamrock Rovers.
Ronaldo was closely attended to and was taken off at half-time having failed to sparkle against some muscular defending.
When Benzema was officially unveiled as a Real player earlier this month, he said the Brazilian Ronaldo would be his inspiration as he looks to fire the goals to help the Spanish giants dethrone Barcelona in La Liga.
" Ronaldo is the greatest player in the world. He is my inspiration and every time I go on the pitch I will try to repeat what he did," he said.
The Brazilian left Real for AC Milan in January 2007. Ronaldo, who won two World Cups with Brazil and been named Fifa World Player of the Year three times, is now at Brazilian side Corinthians.

Goal.com 50: Gonzalo Higuain (19)
We’re heading into the business end of the countdown now, and at No. 19 of Goal.com’s search for the best players of 2008-09, we have Real Madrid’s overnight hero, Gonzalo Higuain…

Gonzalo Higuain has become the miracle man for the Men in White. Despite assuming the unglamorous supporting role in his first season and a half, he became an overnight sensation when his pivotal goals led Real Madrid to successive league titles in 2007 and 2008. He was the perfect super-sub, coming off the bench and like clockwork, jumping to his team’s rescue almost every single time.

But for the 2008-09 campaign, more was expected of ‘Pipita’, not because he hadn't done enough over the previous 18 months, but because it was now time for him to take a step up to the next level and become the side’s leading man. And he didn’t disappoint.

Right from the get go in the Spanish Supercopa against Valencia, Higuain repeated his trick of old, coming on as an 80th minute substitute in the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, and eight minutes later, he scored the crucial fourth goal for his side to seal a 4-2 win, having lost the first leg 3-2.

Even then, the Argentine was still not the regular first choice striker. But after scoring five further goals in the league and supplying two assists, the 21-year-old finally came of age on a madcap night in the Spanish capital in early November.

Entertaining Malaga at home, Gonzalo rattled in four goals as he single-handedly hauled Madrid out from the jaws of death when he orchestrated a biblical 4-3 comeback win after the Merengues had gone behind three times.

From then on, he became the darling of the Bernabeu, and aside from the occasional injury and rotation policy, he would go on to cement his status as an automatic starter. And just as he had done in the previous two years, the youngster continued to either score a number of extremely important and spectacular goals for Madrid, or provide the assists for his team-mates.

Incidentally, it was against Malaga in the reverse fixture in which he scored what he described as one of the best goals of his career. Winning the ball inside his own half, he steamed forward from the halfway line and breezed past three opponents before finishing past the goalkeeper with aplomb. It was a perfect demonstration of his pace, skill, ball control, strength, calmness and execution.

His improvement from season to season is astoundingly clear. In league outings alone, he amassed 19 games, two goals and three assists in his first half season, 25 games, eight goals and three assists in his follow-up campaign, and last term, an impressive 34 games, 22 goals and nine assists. That tally is made all the more remarkable considering the instability at the club on and off the pitch.

He ended the 2008-09 term by scoring six goals in the final seven La Liga outings, although Los Blancos were playing virtually without any motivation in the remaining few rounds after their title hopes came to an end.

Despite breaking the 20 goals in a season mark, the year was still a disappointment for ‘El Pipita’. His efforts this time around failed to guide the team to the league title, and he once again failed to score in the Champions League, taking his record now to 12 appearances and no goals.

While the rest of the world are continuously fixated by compatriots Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi, many forget that Higuain is still only 21-years-old and has an enormous amount of potential - he’s equally as dangerous, devastating and exciting to watch. But unlike the more illustrious duo, he is still waiting patiently for his first call-up to the Argentine national team.

Goal.com 50: Robinho (50)
Goal.com 50: Marco Motta (49)
Goal.com 50: Luis Fabiano (48)
Goal.com 50: Michel Bastos (47)
Goal.com 50: John Terry (46)
Goal.com 50: Mohamed Aboutrika (45)
Goal.com 50: Arjen Robben (44)
Goal.com 50: Mesut Oezil (43)
Goal.com 50: Patrice Evra (42)
Goal.com 50: Aly Cissokho (41)
Goal.com 50: Juan Sebastian Veron (40)
Goal.com 50: Landon Donovan (39)
Goal.com 50: Giuseppe Rossi (38)
Goal.com 50: Pepe Reina (37)
Goal.com 50: Pato (36)
Goal.com 50: Grafite (35)
Goal.com 50: Giorgio Chiellini (34)
Goal.com 50: Kaka (33)
Goal.com 50: Zvjezdan Misimovic (32)
Goal.com 50: Nicolas Anelka (31)
Goal.com 50: Edwin van der Sar (30)
Goal.com 50: Antonio Cassano (29)
Goal.com 50: Yoann Gourcuff (28)
Goal.com 50: Lassana Diarra (27)
Goal.com 50: Mauro Zarate (26)
Goal.com 50: Diego Milito (25)
Goal.com 50: Rio Ferdinand (24)
Goal.com 50: Felipe Melo (23)
Goal.com 50: Carles Puyol (22)
Goal.com 50: Diego (21)
Goal.com 50: Thierry Henry (20)
Goal.com 50: Gonzalo Higuain (19)
Goal.com 50: David Villa (18)

После девяти дней изнурительной работы, мадридский "Реал" попрощается с Ирландией и возвратится в Испанию.
Команда провела последнюю тренировку в Ирландии в 11:00 по среднеевропейскому времени, в 15:00 игроки покинут гостиницу, и отправятся в аэропорт. На полёт уйдёт один час, и как ожидается, команда прибудет в Мадрид в 19:30. Затем, игроки начнут подготовку к воскресному матчу "Кубка Мира" против клуба "Аль Иттихад".

Альваро Негредо не уверен в правильности перехода в чемпионат Англии.
Форвард скорее всего покинет команду, так как в мадридском "Реале" очень сложная борьба за место в основе.
После двух успешных сезонов в "Альмерии", "Мадрид" выкупил Альваро за 5 млн. евро. Изначально, руководство "сливочных" планировало включить Негредо в переход либо Давида Вильи из "Валенсии", либо Хаби Алонсо из "Ливерпуля". Однако, судя по всему, нападающий просто будет продан.
Не мало клубов английской Премьер-Лиги заинтересованы в услугах форварда. Так, руководство лондонского "Тоттенхэма" уже связывалось с агентом Альваро, Алехандро Камарой. Как сообщает AS, "шпоры" предлагают за Негредо 20 млн. евро.
Агент футболиста в интервью Daily Mirror заявил, что Негредо не хочет покидать испанский чемпионат. Альваро рассчитывает рассмотреть все поступившие по нему предложения, чтобы принять окончательное решение.
"У нас несколько предложении из Англии, но ни одно из них пока не принято. Мы рассмотрим все вариант, чтобы выбрать лучший для Альваро", - сказал Камара.
"Однако, в услугах моего клиента также заинтересованы клубы Примеры".
От себя добавлю, что испанскими клубами являются "Севилья" и "Валенсия".

Мадридский "Реал" потратил больше всех клубов Европы.
"Сливочные" потратили за лето больше всех: около 216.5 млн. евро. Данная сумма является 3/4 всей суммы, которую потратили клубы чемпионата Испании. В этом межсезонье клубы Примеры не слишком активны на трансферном рынке. Если не учитывать покупки "Реала", испанские клубы потратили всего 67 млн. евро. Более того, ни один клуб не осуществил трансфер в сумму более 10 млн. евро. Трансферное окно закроется 31-ого августа. В случае перехода Златана Ибрагимовича в "Барселону", Испании стала бы первой в Европе по затратам.