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MODRIC

REAL IN THIRD

Real Madrid has moved up to no. 3 in the La Liga points table with the help of a close victory over Levante UD in a La Liga match played at Estadio Cliudad de Valencia on Sunday. Real Madrid won the match by 2-1. This was the sixth victory for Jose Mourinho’s team in the last seven matches. In its first four matches in La Liga, the Real Madrid team looked out of touch, but, after that, Los Blancos have gathered speed and now, they are 5 points behind Atletico Madrid which is at the second position in the points table. Barcelona is at the top of the table with 31 points in 11 matches.

On the other hand, Levante UD has moved down to no. 6 in the points table after this defeat. Levante has 17 points in 11 matches. In Sunday’s match, Real Madrid was on attack right from the outset. Jose Mourinho’s team took the lead in the 21st minute of the match. Madrid got a free kick and Xabi Alonso was given the chance to take the free kick. Alonso played a well placed shot from the left and the ball went to Cristiano Ronaldo who controlled the ball and volleyed it past the Levante goalkeeper to give Madrid a lead of 1-0.

Levante managed to equalize the scores in the 62nd minute of the match. Angel was the one who scored the equalizer for Levante. Obafemi Martins assisted the goal and Angel blasted the ball into the left hand corner of the net.

But, Real Madrid got ahead again a few minutes before the end of the game with the goal of Morata. The Spaniard whipped in a fine stroke and the Levante goalkeeper had no chance to make a save. That proved to be the match winning goal for Real Madrid.

Real Madrid will play its next match against Athletic Bilbao on 17th of November at Santiago Bernabeu.

RAMOS BIGS UP MODRIC

The Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has said that he expects the latest signing of the club Luka Modric to be a huge success at the Santiago Bernabeu, according to the Tottenham news.

Real Madrid recently secure the signing of the Croatian midfielder for a fee thought to be the region of £ 30 million, which could rise to up to £ 35 million depending upon the success of the player at the club. The Spanish club have been chasing the 26-year-old for quite a while now and they finally managed to get their man on the final day of the transfer window.

The Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has seen enough of the player to be convinced that he is good enough to play for a club like Real Madrid. Also, he expects the Croatian midfielder to be one of the best players at the club after he has settled. Real Madrid have made a poor start to the new season and there have been questions about the commitment of various players. They have already let Barcelona build an eight point advantage at the top of the table. Even though there are still two El Clasico matches remaining, it is still appearing like a very large deficit.

“Luka deserves praise for the game he had. It’s hard to make such a good impression when you arrive at the last minute,” said the defender after the announcement of the signing of the player. Sergio Ramos has been one of the impressive players for Real Madrid over the last few seasons, but he has not had a good start to the new season. He is widely expected to be dropped for the next match by the manager José Mourinho, as he looks to bring back the hunger within the team. Luka Modric was initially linked with Chelsea last season.

Time running out for Modric move to Madrid

Real Madrid manager José Mourinho appears to be becoming ever more frustrated as Luka Modric’s protracted move to the Spanish champions continues to rumble on.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has slapped a £40 million price on the Croatian playmaker’s head, and is refusing to budge from this figure as negotiations continue.

A number of bids have reportedly been made, all of which fail to reach this valuation and have consequentially been firmly rejected.

Most recently a £38 million offer including £8 million in the form of add-ons to be paid over the duration of Modric’s stay has been turned down, as has a part exchange bid involving either experienced Portuguese defensive enforcer Ricardo Carvalho or promising Turkish midfielder Nuri Sahin, as the North London side hold out for £40 million up front.

Despite the wantaway midfielder having already agreed terms on a five year contract with Real and attempting to force through a move by refusing to turn up for his side’s preseason tour of America, it appears his chairman’s hard line approach could be testing Madrid’s patience with the transfer.

Indeed, Mourinho has reportedly begun looking at potential alternatives to Modric, with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez highlighting former player Wesley Sneijder as an alternative should a deal fail to materialise.

Sneijder left the Bernabeu for Inter Milan three years ago after enduring a mixed time at the club, but has since enjoyed a renaissance in Italy, and was widely reported to be a top priority target for Manchester United last summer.

Another possibility is 23 year old Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel, who currently plays in Portugal for Benfica and has a growing reputation as one of Europe’s brightest midfield talents.

Modric will be desperate for Madrid to up their bid to seal his dream move to the Spanish capital, but Levy’s stubbornness could result in the talented playmaker spending another year in London instead.

SPURS SET FOR MODRIC TALKS

It has emerged in recent weeks that Tottenham will be holding talks with the star midfielder Luka Modric in an attempt to persuade him to stay at the club. The 26-year-old has been linked with a move away from the club for quite a while now, but he has to the extreme step in his attempts to force a move to Real Madrid or PSG. Modric came extremely close to joining Chelsea in the last transfer window for around £ 40 million only for Tottenham to convince him that White Hart Lane was the destination to be. However, the failure to secure Champions League football for the second consecutive season has meant that Modric has grown impatient of life at Tottenham.

He was not part of the Spurs squad that travelled to the United States as part of the pre-season. This led to heavy criticism from the manager Andre Villas-Boas, who said that he is extremely disappointed with the attitude shown by Luka Modric. Even though the Croatian midfielder is the highest earner at the club due to his £ 80,000 per week contract, he is thought to be extremely interested by the opportunity to join Real Madrid where he could earn around £ 150,000 per week.

“I think Modric is wrong. This (refusal to fly) will go against him. He has worsened the situation with what he is doing and now the chairman is very angry,” said Andre Villas-Boas upon the arrival of the Tottenham squad in the United States for their pre-season. It is expected that even though Tottenham will not get the same £ 40 million offer for Modric, a £ 35 million offer would be enough to prize him away from White Hart Lane. PSG and Real Madrid are the clubs showing tremendous interest in signing the player.

MODRIC – ITALY GAME MATTERS

Croatia midfielder Luka Modric has said that the match against Italy will determine their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Euro 2012.

Luka Modric was one of the outstanding players for Croatia in their 3-1 win over Republic of Ireland in the opening group match. Due to the fact that Croatia are in the group containing Spain and Italy, they are not the favourites to qualify for the next round. Despite this, the win against the Republic of Ireland coupled with the draw for both Spain and Italy in their heavyweight encounter has meant that Croatia have been given a great opportunity to progress to the next round.

However, Luka Modric has revealed that the team is not looking beyond the next match against Italy. Croatia and the Italy football team will be taking on each other on Thursday knowing that have been for Croatia could put them on the brink of qualification. The final group game for Croatia is against current world champions Spain. Modric, who has been subject to transfer rumours from Manchester United and Barcelona, has said that he would like the team to perform in the same way against Italy as they did against the Republic of Ireland.

‘That’s an amazing game for us as well. I hope we can repeat this performance on Thursday evening and I hope we can win against Italy as well. It is going to be a different game, but we have to prepare well, bring this performance and play like we did last night. It has given us confidence because we won. That game didn’t bother us that much and we were only focused on our game and how to win. Now we have four days to think about Italy. I hope we prepare well, like we did for the Ireland football team,’ said Modric.