By Ollie Irish

It took ground staff at Real Madrid less than two days to returf the Bernabeu, after the old pitch was blighted by a fungus. Fast work chaps.

                          

By Ollie Irish

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All of Spain is wondering what’s up with Cristiano Ronaldo. C-Ron hasn’t scored for Real Madrid for almost two months, and seems detached from his team-mates and generally out of sorts. Missing Wayne Rooney already, Ron?

Sara Carbonero, the rather attractive girlfriend of Real captain Iker Casillas, and a well-regarded TV personality in Spain, claims Ronaldo is not depressed (there were rumours he’d been to see a therapist about his funk), but that it’s just the way he is. She said he’s “always been selfish and individualistic”. Which sounds about right.

Source: AS

                          

By Ollie Irish

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Real Madrid's Mesut Ozil

Photos: PA

A dominant win (62% possession, 15 shots on target – it should have been much more comfortable) for Jose Mourinho’s New All-Star Galacticos (© Pies) in the Special One’s first European game in charge at the Bernabeu. Martin Jol, the Ajax head coach, even reached for the ‘men against boys’ cliché after the match, to which Mourinho countered with: “It was boys against boys because we have a group of boys, leaving aside Ricardo Carvalho, Iker and Alonso.”

After a sluggish, cautious start in La Liga, which prompted some Madrid fans to jeer and whistle Mourinho (crazy but true), this result, against a proper European team (albeit one that’s seen better days), may well be the start of something beautiful between Jose and Los Merengues. Given Mourinho’s impeccable record in this competition, I wouldn’t bet against C-Ron, Ozil and co. making it to Wembley in May. Maybe against his old club Chelsea?

                          

By Christopher Mann

Zinedine Zidane in 2002: a vision in white

Real Madrid fans like nothing more than to indulge in the notion that their club, arguably the most glamorous sporting institution on the planet, has some sort of divine right to perpetual success. Outside of the Santiago Bernabeu’s imposing walls this unrepentant display of chutzpah is perceived as an insufferable arrogance upon which a good deal of scorn is poured.

However, in 2002 Los Blancos fleetingly transcended animosity and scepticism to convince the rest of the world, for a brief moment, of their claims to sporting beatification.

That year was the club’s centenary, an event which had been met with the great pomp and circumstance forever associated with the Spanish capital’s most famous institution. Florentino Perez, at that time basking in the high noon of his ostentatious galactico policy, had demanded significant success from manager Vicente Del Bosque – the pressure to perform more intense and uncompromising than ever before.

Despite an atmosphere of agonisingly imperial self-importance and the crushing weight of expectation, Del Bosque and his players delivered the ultimate triumph as Madrid overcame Bayer Leverkussen at Hampden Park to claim the club’s ninth European Cup – Zidane’s magnificent volley sealing a famous victory:

As well as being an iconic piece of footballing symmetry, the pinnacle of Madrid’s achievement was attained in a kit of astoundingly understated elegance. Traditionally all-white and devoid of sponsorship, Madrid’s kit that season had a celestial quality to it, a purity and clarity of vision that provided the perfect visual analogy for the team’s football.

Real Madrid’s defensive wall during the 2002 European Cup final at Hampden

Del Bosque’s side, filled with world-class talents such as Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Raul, played a brand of football that season which seared itself into the mind of all who witnessed it. They may have struggled for domestic consistency, but Madrid’s football in Europe had a wonderfully aesthetic quality, a near-regal grace that simply didn’t require a gaudy kit to draw attention to itself. This was a kit in refined symbiosis with its wearers.

Fernando Hierro’s Platoon moment in 2002

For it’s simple sophistication and effortless serenity, not to mention the captivating football that was played in it, Real Madrid’s centenary kit will always hold a special place in my affections.

Christopher is the editor of the triffic Equaliser blog. Follow him on Twitter

More fav kits:

My Favourite Kit: Arsenal, 2002-04

My Favourite Kit: Denmark 1986, Hummel

                          

By Ollie Irish

A selection of our favourite away kits in Europe for the 2010-11 season:

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St Pauli

What’s your favourite away kit this year?

More kits:

Top 10 European Home Kits For 2010-11

Top 10 Third Kits For 2010-11

Photo Gallery: All 20 Premier League Away Kits For 2010-11

Photo Gallery: All 20 Premier League Home Kits For 2010-11

                          

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C-RON’S supermodel beard girlfriend Irina Shayk (see above for details) must get very bored with him talking about his job, as she has zero interest in football.

In an interview for the latest issue of GQ – we say interview, but it’s more about the photos, of course – the Russian catwalk queen said: “I’m not a fan of soccer, for sure not!”

As she said it, she laughed derisively and tossed her head back so the whole world could see the glory of her perfect teeth, immaculate bone structure, and beautiful, feathered hair.

We are not worthy. Ronaldo, somehow, is.

                          

TOTTENHAM are rumoured to be plotting a move for yet another former Arsenal man (following the aquisition of Ol’ Billy Gallas last week) in the shape of Real Madrid’s third-or-possibly-fourth choice anchor man Lassana Diarra.

Madrid are keen to whittle down their squad in an attempt to accommodate new signings Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira and adhere to UEFA’s new 25-man squad guidelines with coach Jose Mourinho earmarking ‘Lass’ as one of the players he would be willing to jettison.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp first signed Diarra for £5.5 million from the Gunners whilst still in charge at Portsmouth back in 2008, and has never made a secret (which is totally out of character) of his admiration for the French international midfielder.

There’s no doubt that, on his day, Diarra is a very classy exponent of the holding arts, but do Tottenham really need to add yet another central midfielder to their ranks?

                          

MESUT Ozil in Madrid at the weekend, wearing a most excellent ‘Dallas’ T-shirt. We approve. It’s very difficult to dislike young Mesut, isn’t it.

Via Goaly Moly (which has more fine pics of Real’s players out on the town together)

                          

RAFAEL van der Vaart has dropped a blatant ‘rescue me from Real Madrid’s bench’ nudge-nudge-wink-wink to Manchester United.

Rafael van der Vaart’s WAG, Sylvie – easier on the eye than Rafael

With the signing of Mesut Ozil, it appears that VdV’s first-team chances at Real are slim to none. Hence the United hint:

“I could never play for another club in Spain and the truth is that if you are leaving Real Madrid, there is only one club you can join that is not a step down – and that’s Manchester United,” he is quoted as saying in the Express.

“They are a huge club and if the reported interest they have in me turns out to be true, then I would really have to sit down and listen.

“If Manchester United could offer me first-team football with the situation as it is at Madrid, it would be very hard to turn down. Alex Ferguson is a great coach and I would never think about joining a team where I didn’t believe I could win things, so all of a sudden that limits your choices.

“At Manchester United you know success is likely and that’s a big factor for me at this stage of my career.

“If [Real boss] Jose Mourinho makes it clear I won’t play much, I see my future in English football.”

Message received. But do United have the cash to fund a bid for VdV? We’ll see…

                          

JOSE Mourinho is quickly building his own team at Real Madrid. He gets the ownership thing: managers need to be fully accountable for their XIs; the good ones put their own unique stamp on a club, which usually involves getting rid of the previous gaffer’s players and systems, and installing new ones.

Mourinho has already signed Sergio Canales, Sami Khedira, Ricardo Carvalho, Pedro Leon, Angel Di Maria and Mesut Ozil. That’s more than half a team right there. But how many of that half-dozen will feature regularly in Real’s first team? Let’s see…

What does Mesut Ozil’s arrival mean for Kaka, who is currently injured?

The formation: As seen at Chelsea and Inter, Jose loves a bit of 4-3-3 and I expect he will dabble with it this season. The increasingly popular 4-2-3-1 is also an option, and one Mourinho may use in the Champions League, I read. Of course, both formations depend on the attacking players also doing a share of the defensive work – but then the Special One has never had a problem getting his players to do what he asks. Look into my eyes, not around the eyes.

Anyway, I’m going with 4-2-3-1:

The line-up:

Iker Casillas (c)

Sergio Ramos – Ricardo Carvalho – Pepe – Marcelo

Sami Khedira – Xabi Alonso

Cristiano Ronaldo – Mesut Ozil – Angel Di Maria

Gonzalo Higuain

Left-back is clearly a weak point, and you can see why Ashley Cole has been linked with Real. Otherwise it’s a VERY strong team, with oodles of pace, power and skill. At DM, Xabi will sit in the middle of the pitch, like a modern-day Jan Molby, and spray the ball around, while Khedira does the box-to-box thing he did so well for Germany in South Africa. The trident of Ronaldo-Ozil-Di Maria is scary. As the spearhead, I picked Higuain over Benzema, because the former is a better goal poacher – and this is a team that should create plenty of chances.

I’ve shown you mine, now you show me yours…