LATEST NEWS

ZIDANE WANTS TO KEEP RONALDO

Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane has stated his desire to see Cristiano Ronaldo remain at the Bernabeu.

"I am the coach and I want Cristiano," said Zidane. "They whistled me and everyone else. It is not questioning the player, it is a fan base that always wants more from their players and that is good for the players to improve and always do well."

CHELSEA IN FOR LUKAKU?

Chelsea are reportedly willing to bring Romelu Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge just two years after selling him to Everton.

According to the Daily Express, the Blues are prepared to bid £56m to land Lukaku despite interest from Manchester United.

Chelsea sold Lukaku to Everton for £28m in 2014 and since moving to Goodison Park the Belgium international has scored 43 goals.

BARCA TARGET MAHREZ

Barcelona are stepping up their interest in Leicester forward Riyad Mahrez, according to The Sun.

Luis Enrique is reportedly making the Algerian his number one transfer target this summer.

Mahrez scored his 15th Premier League goal of the season in Leicester’s 1-0 win at Watford on Saturday.

CITY EYE STONES AND LAPORTE

Manchester City want to sign Everton's John Stones and Athletic Bilbao's Aymeric Laporte for a combined fee of £80m when Pep Guardiola joins the club in the summer, reports The Sun.

It is claimed Guardiola wants to start his City rebuilding job from the back and has identified his first two targets in Stones and Laporte..

Manchester United the so called "RED DEVILS"

Manchester United Football Club is an English professional soccer club that plays in the Premier League, the highest tier of English association football. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to its current home, Old Trafford, in 1910. With a capacity of over 75,000, Old Trafford is the second-largest football stadium in the United Kingdom after Wembley Stadium, and the ninth-largest in Europe.

In 1968, under the management of Sir Matt Busby, Manchester United became the first English football club to win the European Cup. This success came ten years after the 1958 Munich air disaster, which claimed the lives of eight players. The club’s most successful period came under Sir Alex Ferguson, who led the team to 28 major honors between November 1986 and May 2013. Louis van Gaal was appointed the club’s new manager in May 2014 after Ferguson’s successor, David Moyes, was sacked after just 10 months in charge. Manchester United remain the most successful team in English domestic football, having won a total of 20 league titles, more than any other English club, as well as 11 FA Cups and 4 League Cups. 

Ryan Giggs, who briefly took over as United’s interim player-manager after the sacking of David Moyes, holds the all-time appearances record for the club. Giggs played a total of 963 matches between 1990 and 2014, almost 200 games more than the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, Sir Bobby Charlton. The club’s record signing is Angel Di Maria, who arrived from Real Madrid for just under 60 million pounds in August 2014. 

Manchester United is the second-richest football club in the world in 2014, with its total revenue for the season estimated at 738 million U.S. dollars. According to Forbes, it is also the fifth most valuable sports team brand worldwide as its brand value in 2014 stood at just under 400 million U.S. dollars. This brand value is derived from calculating the portion of team's enterprise value that is not attributable to the size of demographics of its market, or league-shared revenue. In comparison, Brand Finance, which defines a club’s brand as the trademark and associated intellectual property, estimated Manchester United’s brand value at 739 million U.S. dollars in 2014. After being floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1991, Manchester United was bought by Malcolm Glazer in May 2005, after which the company was taken private again. In August 2012, Manchester United made an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, although companies owned by the Glazer family maintain control of the majority of the shares. 

Manchester United remains one of the most widely supported football teams in the world and its recognition as a global brand has led to increasingly lucrative sponsorship deals. In 2014, the club’s total sponsorship revenue amounted to 135.8 million pounds, more than double the figure from 2012. This is, in part, thanks to a lucrative jersey sponsorship deal with Chevrolet which began in the 2014/15 season and will run through the end of the 2020/21 season. Annual fees from this agreement were 70 million U.S. dollars in the first season and will increase by an additional 2.1 percent each season thereafter. The club received a further 18.6 million U.S. dollars in pre-sponsorship support and exposure from 2012 to 2014, bringing the estimated total revenue from the shirt sponsorship agreement to almost 560 million U.S. dollars. In addition, it was announced that from the 2015/16 season, Adidas will take over from Nike as Manchester United’s shirt manufacturer as part of a world-record 10-year deal worth a minimum of 750 million pounds. 

REAL MADRID VS BARCELONA

La Liga's El Clasico is one of the most important and watched football matches in the world. Apart from the UEFA Champions League final and the World Cup final, it is the most televised football match. There are many curious facts which have gone unnoticed, so Soccerly is going to present some of the most curious and fun facts about this highly competitive duel: 

1) RIVALRY

With the first Clasico being held on May 13, 1902, both teams have met a total of 228 times --  Real Madrid has 90 wins in official matches (all competitions) to Barcelona's 87, and the two have drawn in 51 games.  The Catalonia side takes the lead when it comes to all-time meetings, however:  including friendly matches, Barcelona boasts 106 wins over Real Madrid's 94 in 258 games. 

In La Liga, there have been 168 meetings with 70 wins for Real Madrid, 66 for Barcelona, and 32 draws.

2) MESSI WINS THE GOALSCORING ROUND VS. CRISTIANO RONALDO 

If Messi scores on Saturday at the Santiago Bernabeu, he could break two outstanding records:

 1) La Liga's all-time goal scorer: At 27 years old, Messi is only one goal away from Telmo Zarra's 251 all-time goal record in La Liga. 

2) El Clasico record in La Liga: Messi can also become the all-time highest goal scorer in the Spanish league's Clasico rivalry. He is currently tied with Alfredo di Stefano at 14 goals and when it comes to matches against Real Madrid in all competitions, the Argentine is already the highest scoring player with 21 goals to his name over Di Stefano's 18. 

Ronaldo, on the other hand, has only scored five goals against Barcelona in league play. In all competitions, his tally reaches 13 total with five coming during Cup play and three in the Spanish Super Cup. He does hold the record for most consecutive games with goals scored, however -- his 6 match streak, which included 7 goals, was registered from the 2011-12 Spanish Cup to the 2012-13 La Liga season. 

3) THE DI STEFANO FACTOR

The oldest rivalry in football began to grow back in the 1950's  during  one of the most controversial moments of El Clasico's history. The rivalry reached its highest peak during that era with Alfredo di Stefano's transfer from  Millionarios to both Real Madrid and  Barcelona, which was all part of a misunderstanding  no thanks to the Colombian club where Di Stefano was playing at the time. 

It was an unprecedented move when Di Stefano  ended up signing for both clubs, but in the end, former Real Madrid president Santiago Bernabeu convinced him to choose his side over Barcelona. The rest is history. 

4) STREAKS & STATS

- Most appearances among active players: 40 - Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona).

- Longest undefeated run in La Liga's modern era: Barcelona with 7 matches (6 wins) from Dec 13 2008- Dec 10 2011.

- Biggest win in league play: Real Madrid 8-2 on Feb 3, 1935.

- Biggest recent win: Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid on Nov 29, 2010.

- La Liga scoring tally: Real Madrid with 274 goals to Barcelona's 265.

- Average goals scored in a league Clasico: 1.58

- Most common result for a league Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu: 2-1

Last 5 league results:

- March 23, 2014: Real Madrid 3-4 Barcelona

- October 26, 2013: Barcelona 2-1 Real Madrid

- March 02, 2013: Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona

- October 07, 2012: Barcelona 2-2 Real Madrid

- April 21, 2012: Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid

5) DOUBLE AGENTS

A total of 21 players have donned kits for both teams in El Clasico matches, including players like Samuel Eto'o, Michael Laudrup, Luis Enrique (Barcelona's current manager), Bernd Schuster, Ronaldo Luís Nazário (also known as Brazilian Ronaldo),  and most notoriously,  Luis Figo. 

6) LUIS FIGO AND THE HOG'S HEAD

Portuguese winger Luis Figo suffered a hideous incident after completing his transfer - another unprecedented event at the time -  from Barcelona to Real Madrid for a record 56 million Euro, which subsequently turned him into public enemy no. 1 in the streets of Barcelona; specially at the Camp Nou. In his first appearance for Real Madrid on rival grounds, the crowd jeered him and threw a hog's head on the pitch as they shouted "mercenary!"and other insults when he approached the stands. To this day, Figo is known as the most famous 'traitor' to Barcelona.

7) LAUDRUP'S LUCK 

Known as one of the most talented players to have disputed El Clasico for both sides, Michael Laudrup became the only player to have won the competition for both clubs with the same end result (5-0) for two consecutive years. The first victory came in 1993 for Barca before he matched the same feat against the Catalan club wearing Los Blancos' jersey in 1994. Laudrup played a vital role in both matches.  (HOW?) 

8) THE 'PASILLO'

Another interesting El Clasico tradition is the 'pasillo' or guard of honor, where fans of the opposite team applaud their rivals coming out of the tunnel if the title has already been decided. It's been seven years since the last pasillo -- during the 2007-2008 season,  Barcelona fans applauded Fabio Capello's Real Madrid as the players took the field in their eventual 4-1 victory over Barca. It's only happened three times in El Clasico history -  twice for Real Madrid and once for Barcelona.

9) NEYMAR VS. BALE: THE NEW RIVALRY

Apart from the high price Real Madrid and Barcelona payed for these two super stars, the performance of both has been outstanding since their arrival in Spain. Bale became instrumental his first year for Real Madrid's double-trophy-winning season by scoring goals in both Copa del Rey and Champions League finals. 

As for Neymar, the Brazilian forward didn't have the best season last year but he is having a fantastic start to this campiagn as the highest goal scoring player at Barcelona with nine La Liga goals, leading the competition with his team.  And with Bale not featuring in  Saturday's clash, it gives Neymar a chance to take the upper hand in this duel. 

10) POPULARITY

Only second to the Champions League final, last March's La Liga match at the Santiago Bernabeu attracted over 400 million viewers across the world. Barcelona took the victory in a seven-goal thriller which featured a Messi hat-trick.  

With much at stake for Messi to take his feats to the next level, Ronaldo's impressive league goal tally (15 in the first 8 games), and new blood (Luis Suarez, anyone?) that will test their skills on the sport's biggest stage,  this Saturday's Clasico has the potential to be one of the best in history.

Transfer Updates

• BARCA PLAN MESSI CONTRACT

Barcelona want to extend Lionel Messi’s contract until 2022 The Argentine is under contract until June 2018, but Barca want to ensure he finishes his career at the club and will offer him a deal that takes him up to age 35.

There’s another potential motive behind the date – the report claims Barca are planning to build a new Nou Camp stadium to be opened after the 2021/22 season.

Who better to lead out Barca in their new digs than Messi?

• Manchester United have renewed their interest in Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos

• REAL MADRID CLEAR-OUT

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane will have a major clear-out this summer with as many as 10 first-team players up for sale, according to reports in Spanish newspaper Sport.

Zidane wants to sign David de Gea, Eden Hazard, Paul Pogba and Robert Lewandowski before the start of next season, but will reportedly have to fund such extravagant spending with player sales.

Fringe players like Casemiro, Danilo and Jese could be in the firing line.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos have submitted transfer requests to leave Real Madrid.

• HAZARD KEEN FOR CHELSEA STAY

Eden Hazard insists he is determined to help Chelsea win trophies for the next three years amid reported interest from Real Madrid.

When asked about how he sees  his future at Stamford Bridge, he told Chelsea TV: “The future is always the same and that is to win trophies, next season, in two and three years.

"We have good players in the team and I hope we can win more trophies.

“I am always happy here. Even if I play badly, I’m happy. I know this is football but I try to keep a smile on my face every time.”