Franz Beckenbauer, Bayern Munich's president, has admitted it would be hard to keep hold of some of his players if Real approached them. 

He said that If Real's interest in Franck Ribery is serious then it will be very difficult for him to force the French international, whose his contract expires in 2011, to stay especially if he himself wishes to leave.

"Ribery only has two years left in his contract and If we receiver a good offer from Real Madrid or Manchester United we would then be in a weak position to negotiate, especially if Ribery wants to leave. We may still insist on a contract extension but if the offer is good enough, you never know what can happen", said the German legend

Personally, I think Ribery is the kind of player we REALLY need at the moment especially after we sold Robinho to Man City. He has the pace, skills and mentality that a player needs to have in order to lead a team like Real Madrid.

His performances with Bayern Munich have been phenomenal and honestly I was surprised when I read Beckenbauer comments because I had thought it would impossible for us to negotiate with the German giants over Ribery. However, as it seems, Calderon only needs to fax them first, get a ticket to Germany and get a deal stuck.

With Ribery on the squad, we won't have to rely only on Robben all the time which is stressful for the Dutchman.

However, there hasn't been any clear interest from Real, but you never know, while everyone was talking about Crespo and Tevez, Real were talking with Huntelaar.

Marca, AS, El Mundo, Cadena SER and Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, have all confirmed that Real Madrid signed Ajax' striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar for an unknown fee.

The striker has been chased by many European clubs, however, it seems that he wanted to join his Dutch friends in Madrid.

Huntelaar's record is very impressive. He has scored 75 goals in 90 matches he played for his club and with his national team he scored 7 goals in just 11 matches.

Huntelaar will be able to play in the Champions League of course after he recovers from his injury from which he'll fully recover in January.

He'll certainly strengthen our attacking line. I have always thought that Villa would be better because he is more experienced, Spanish and stuff, but getting him is pretty difficult and I'm convinced that the club made a good signing because if you look at the strikers available in the market, you'd realize that it is rare that there is one capable of playing for Real Madrid.

UPDATE: Raulista, a reader of the blog, just let me know in the comments that Pepe is gonna be out for three weeks. Turns out to be true - official confirmation is here.

Alright, I'm sick - I have caught a cold and with what we are going through, life sucks for me. Certainly, the same goes for all Madridistas over there, but we should always stay calm and positive.

There was some good news yesterday as it was reported that Higuain, Cannavaro, Robben and Diarra had done some jogging and stuff and they all look to be fit to play against Sevilla. However, the bad news came today as doctors have revealed that Sneijder will be sidelined for approximately two weeks which means that he could make it before the Clasico:

"Wesley Sneijder abandoned Saturday's match agianst Getafe only 18 minutes after the ball was put into play. An MRI showed that the midfielder has a Grade I right femoral biceps injury, for which he is expected to miss approximately two weeks of playing time.", The club's official site revealed this morning

So it seems that whenever we recover a player another gets injured. I think if this continues to happen, we won't ever have a full squad this season.

The one we need most is certainly Robben to provide width and crosses from the two flanks. Real should already be looking for a replacement though, because we can't rely on him and Drenthe. If it was possible, I'd make a clone of Arjen, but yeah.

Three defending mistakes = three goals. An effective and great performance from Getafe, a crappy pathetic one from Real Madrid - this is what tonight was all about and yet Bernd Schuster will pretend nothing has happened when he gives his post-match comments.

Just two minutes after the kick-off, Juan Albin scored for Getafe as he headed a fantastic cross that neither Torres nor Ramos was able to block. I think both of them take responsibility on this one especially Ramos who played a crappy match tonight and could have been sent off on many occasions hadn't the referee been a little bit easy with him.

With Gago, Guti, Sneijder, and Drenthe in midfield, you'd hope that they could create chances and assist the strikers, but yet again they failed to do that. If there was someone who tried hard then it was Sneijder who unfortunately had to be replaced with VDV as he got injured. I hope it is not serious and that he'll be fit for our next match otherwise we are truely f#$$ked up.

Getafe vs Real Madrid - La Liga | 29/11/2008 - 20:00 CET | Alfonso Perez Stadium

Getafe FC are going through a bad spell having drew two and lost three of their last five matches against Huelva, Valencia, Osasuna, Sevilla and Barcelona, however, playing them in the Alfonso Perez stadium has always proved to be difficult not just for us but also for other teams.

Getafe are also based in Madrid and have recently been the home of a few of Real Madrid youth system products including Soldado, Granero and De La Red. Another fact is that Bernd Schuster had coached them before he became our coach.

So theoretically, you can say that we know them better than other teams do. It is just that Schuster probably knows them well more than any other coach to be more precise. However, having said that, they will still be dangerous and this match will be a very difficult one.

As for Real, we have seen a slight improvement in terms of performance and defending although we are still missing several key players due to injury.

Both of Arjen Robben and Fabio Cannavaro look to be fit for the match. However, Higuain, Diarra and De La Red are still doubtful and so they will be watching the game on their TVs, just like us.

Gabriel Heinze has joined the sickbay which already hosts: Van Nistelrooy, Diarra, Higuain, De La Red, Cannavaro and Robben.

Gabriel got injured in the match against BATE Borisov and is set to be out for three weeks:

Medical examinations and a magnetic resonance have determined that Gabriel Heinze is injured with a hematoma on the deep fascia of his left leg, separating the triceps surae muscle from the flexor muscles. The player will miss approximately three weeks. The official site revealed on its pages

While this is another blow to the team, I think it will force Schuster to give more confidence and have more faith in players like Miguel Torres, Metzelder and Marcelo. Heinze has been under-performing recently and has made many costly mistakes, so I'd say his absence would not be REALLY noticed, on the contrary, our defense might improve with him out of the starting eleven

With an improved performance from both the team and captain Rau'l, Real Madrid qualified for the next round of the Champions League as they beat BATE Borisov 1-0 thanks to a goal from the captain in the seventh minute.

Bernd Schuster started with Casillas in goal, Torres, Pepe, Ramos and Heinze in defense, Guti, Gago, Sneijder in midfield, while Drenthe, Rau'l and Saviola all started in attack.

The German used a 4-3-3 formation which I didn't like at all (Helmet_o9, one of my readers had a funny feeling before the match that Schuster would use that formation and it turned out to be true).

If I were the coach, I would play with only two strikers in attack unless I had Villa, Ruud and Ibrahimovic all on the same team. Additionally, playing with 4-3-3 requires a strong midfield with an exceptional defensive midfielder (wish we have but injured - Diarra) and a very talented attacking midfielder to feed the three strikers.

Anyway, it was good for the German that Sneijder was fit and able to start. He really played exceptionally well and was probably the man of the match after Rau'l. 

BATE Borisov VS Real Madrid | Champions League| 25/11/2008 - 20:45 CET |  Horodskiy Stadium

 

Yeah Bernd, Interaction and Communication is Vital

Sometimes I wonder if Real shouldn't be criticized for not performing well and winning when many key players are injured. I think that a big club like Real Madrid needs to have a full squad in which each player is capable of being a starter, a player you can count on and a player that ACTUALLY helps (unlike Heinze).

Looking at the names we have, you just can't believe that we lost to a second division team like Real Union or struggled against a small time like Huelva. It is sometimes very confusing. Is it the coach? The management or the players themselves.

Our bench is being warmed by Dudek, Salgado, Saviola, Metzelder, Van Der Vaart...etc players that other teams, even big teams desire to sign. Maybe the key is communication between the coach and the players. I bet that Schuster doesn't communicate with Saviola or even most of his starters.

Even during matches, he just warms the bench and keeps observing the match without any reactions. He would sometimes jump up with happiness when a player scores and saves his ass, other than that, he wouldn't stand up and instruct the players as most coaches who have commons sense do.

Anyway, this game is going to be a difficult one. Not because we are on the skids, but because Higuain, our top goal scorer is not going to play. He sprained his ankle against Huelva and therefore will be staying in Madrid. However, Wesley Sneijder will be able to play despite straining a triceps against Huelva as well (what a match!).

A Better Defense = Better Results

There was a rumor earlier this morning that suggested Ramon Calderon would give each player 120,000 euros if the team won all of the next five games. Many fans, including me, thought that was a bad sign and a desperate move from the club to motivate the players to perform better. They shouldn't be given any bonuses for winning games, because their job is to work hard and win games. However, I'm happy to tell you that the club has denied this rumor and nothing of the sort is going to happen.

Anyway, lets talk about tonight's game. We won 1-0 thanks to a fantastic goal from Wesley Sneijder. He had a very good game, I'd say he is the man of the match not just for scoring the goal but for the stuff he did on the pitch. His energy, spirit and effectiveness - pure class - he was great.

The defense was WAY much more BETTER than the one we had in the last few games. Schuster played Torres on the right, Pepe and Ramos in the center and Marcelo on the left. 

I really liked how both of Ramos and Pepe played tonight. Sergio is beginning to regain his form, he saved our ass a few times. As for Pepe, he was absolutely essential. Had Heinze played instead, God knows what would have happened.

Real Madrid Vs Recreativo Huelva - La Liga | 22/11/2008 - 20:00 CET | Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

So Pedja has decided to let Bernd Schuster give it another shot. Whether that was a wise or a bad decision, It doesn't matter, because Schuster will probably be staying to the end of the season. He needs to think objectively rather than subjectively. I think he needs to call Fabio Capello and ask him to give him a lesson or lets say two a week so he could improve his coaching skills.

I mean, Schuster needs to realize that we are in a difficult situation. I say difficult because we got kicked out from Copa Del Rey, humiliated twice by Juventus and slipped from the second to the fifth position on the table with five points behind leaders Barcelona.

I really do know that injuries have had an impact on all of these results, but c'mon, didn't Juventus beat us just with 12 first team players? The difference was the coach, theirs was smart and had common sense.

Anyway, we take on Recreativo Huelva tomorrow night at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. We have played them eight times and they have only beaten us once, two years ago, when they scored three goals and humiliated Capello and his team.

Lineup

Fabio Cannavaro has joined the sickbay as he abandoned today's training session with a strained abductor muscle. Our defense was weak with Cannavaro and now that he is injured, it is gonna be weaker. He will probably miss the Champions League match against BATE Borisov as well. Damn it!