Real Madrid: 2011-07-03

Cristiano Ronaldo is the World's top goal scorer in 2010-11, for IFFHS

Cristiano Ronaldo was ranked in the 1st place as the World's top goalscorer in the 2010-2011 season, according to the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics). CR7scored a total of 40 goals in the Spanish League, beating Messi, who finished 2nd, with31 goals.

Check the full table rankings from IFFHS

Cristiano Ronaldo finished the 2010/2011 season with 40 goals in La Liga, which allowed him to end in the top of the World's goalscorers table, recently published by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). These rankings only take into account goals that were scored in the domestic leagues and that's why there were a total of 13 goals deducted to Cristiano Ronaldo total goal tally in 2010-11, since CR7 scored 53(54) goals in all competitions.

Despite the controversy about Cristiano Ronaldo having scored 40 or 41 goals in the Spanish League (because of an earlier goal scored this season against Real Sociedad being awarded to Pepe and not Ronaldo), competition was left behind by miles. The second place was awarded to Lionel Messi, from Barcelona, who scored 31 goals (9 goals behind Cristiano Ronaldo). In the third place we can find Mario Gomez from Bayern Munich with 28 goals (12 goals behind).

Another interesting and relevant stat that you may check on the IFFHS rankings table link we provide on the top, regards the Most Efective Top Division Goal Scorer in 2010-11. Once again, Cristiano Ronaldo beats everyone with an incredible stat of 32 games played and 40 goals scored (1.250 ratio), leaving Messi behind in 3rd place, with 31 games and 31 goals (1.000 ratio). Now the question remains, is there anyone who believes that CR7 can still improve these record breaking stats? What can we expect from Ronaldo in the 2011-2012 season? We'll have to wait a few more weeks, since Real Madrid pre-season will start next Monday (11th of July) and Ronaldo will start by focusing on working in the physic side. In the meanwhile, you can check out some great moments from last season:

ore weeks, since Real Madrid pre-season will start next Monday (11th of July) andRonaldo will start by focusing on working in the physic side. In the meanwhile, you can check out some great moments from last season:

The flamboyant president has downplayed rumours linking the playmaker with Napoli and has made it clear that the Spanish and English giants lead the chase

The flamboyant president has downplayed rumours linking the playmaker with Napoli and has made it clear that the Spanish and English giants lead the chase.

Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini has denied that Napoli are ready to open talks over the transfer of Javier Pastore, and added that Real Madrid and Chelsea continue to lead the way in the race to sign the playmaker.

On Thursday, Il Corriere dello Sport published quotes from Zamparini, stating that Napoli have showed an interest in holding talks to sign the Argentine international, but the supremo has stated that those comments were made weeks ago, and the situation has changed.

"At the moment it looks as if Pastore will move abroad. Real Madrid and Chelsea lead the race for his services. There is not much news as the same clubs still want him," Zamparini was quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Napoli have not made a fresh approach for him. Those quotes are outdated. They're from a meeting several weeks ago. [Napoli president Aurelio] De Laurentiis sat next to me and asked whether we could talk about Pastore. I said 'no' and haven't heard from him since."

The 22-year-old has been linked with clubs such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Malaga, Napoli, AC Milan, Roma and Juventus. He has a contract until the summer of 2015 in Sicily and Zamparini has reportedly set a €50 million asking price for his star player.

Pastore is currently active at the Copa America with Argentina, who have collected only two points from their opening two games and need a victory against Costa Rica to progress to the knockout round.
Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini has denied that Napoli are ready to open talks over the transfer of Javier Pastore, and added that Real Madrid and Chelsea continue to lead the way in the race to sign the playmaker.

On Thursday, Il Corriere dello Sport published quotes from Zamparini, stating that Napoli have showed an interest in holding talks to sign the Argentine international, but the supremo has stated that those comments were made weeks ago, and the situation has changed.

"At the moment it looks as if Pastore will move abroad. Real Madrid and Chelsea lead the race for his services. There is not much news as the same clubs still want him," Zamparini was quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Napoli have not made a fresh approach for him. Those quotes are outdated. They're from a meeting several weeks ago. [Napoli president Aurelio] De Laurentiis sat next to me and asked whether we could talk about Pastore. I said 'no' and haven't heard from him since."

The 22-year-old has been linked with clubs such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Malaga, Napoli, AC Milan, Roma and Juventus. He has a contract until the summer of 2015 in Sicily and Zamparini has reportedly set a €50 million asking price for his star player.

Pastore is currently active at the Copa America with Argentina, who have collected only two points from their opening two games and need a victory against Costa Rica to progress to the knockout round.

EXCLUSIVE:
Real Madrid have offered Gonzalo Higuain or Karim Benzema to Manchester City as part of a stunning €56 million swoop for Carlos Tevez.

MORE...

The Spanish giants have opened tentative discussions with City over a possible swap deal, which includes €28m cash and one of the two big-name strikers moving to Eastlands.

Madrid manager Jose Mourinho is a big admirer of Tevez and wants to reunite the Argentine with his former Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.

Real Madrid news understands that sealing a deal for Tevez, who released a statement earlier this week to announce he wants to leave City this summer, is a bigger priority for Mourinho than signing Atletico Madrid’s Sergio Aguero, a transfer which is complicated by the rivalry between the two capital city clubs.

The Portuguese is not completely convinced by Benzema despite his 26-goal haul last season and is also concerned about the injury record of Higuain, who scored 13 goals in 25 games but missed four months of the campaign with a back injury.

The Bernabeu outfit value both players around the €28m mark but City manager Roberto Mancini will have the final say on whether he believes they will fit into his squad.

City are adamant that they value Tevez at €56m and will not allow him to leave for a reduced sum. The Premier League club are believed to have paid more than €45m to sign the 27-year-old from his third-party owners Media Sports Investment in 2009.

The talks between Real and City are at an early stage and will also have a significant bearing on the futures of Aguero and Emmanuel Adebayor, who is wanted by Mourinho but will be independent of a transfer involving Tevez.

City have already opened negotiations with Atletico about signing Aguero, who has a €45m release clause in his contract.

The Premier League club have no plans to pair up Aguero and Tevez and view the 23-year-old as a natural replacement for his international colleague rather than a potential strike partner.

After it emerged that Juventus had offered Atletico €36.5m for Diego Maradona’s son-in-law, the Spanish club claimed City had already bid €41.5m.

With January signing Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli already at Eastlands, it remains to be seen whether Mancini will regard either Benzema or Higuain as the player he needs to reinforce his squad.

However, City are keen to offload Adebayor, Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa-Cruz as they attempt to free up space in their squad and reduce their wage bill in order to meet the new financial fair play requirements.

It is understood that the Manchester club will not name any of their trio in their 25-man Premier League squad.

City are believed to have told Madrid that if they pull out of the race for Aguero that Adebayor will be offered to the Spaniards at a ‘discount’ rate, of between €6-8m.

The former Togo international has indicated that he is willing to take a pay cut to force through a transfer to the Bernabeu. The former Arsenal man is believed to earn around €190,000-a-week at Eastlands.

Lassana Diarra, a 26-year old Frenchman who has spent time with some three of the biggest clubs in the world in the last five years, could be on his out of another one after this latest development at the Bernabeu, actually, away from the Bernabeu.

According to a report from the Washington Post, via Goal.com, Diarra was left out of the trip to the USA:
Real coach Jose Mourinho has named a 25-man group for the tour, which kicks off the club's preparations for the upcoming season and Diarra's initial exclusion could signal the end of his time at the Bernabeu.

Diarra is a solid player that wants to remain with the club, but like a lot of other positions on the field for Real Madrid, there is legitimate competition in the midfield and Diarra may be the odd man out.

The recent signing of Turkish midfielder, Nuri Sahin, makes Diarra expendable and it looks like he could be heading for yet another big club.

Manchester United and Chelsea, the top two clubs in England, have been searching for a midfielder throughout much of the summer and Juventus in Italy as well.

Luka Modric and Wesley Sneijder, two of the top midfielders in the world, are wanted by all of these clubs but right now it looks like they will actually be staying put.

United needs to replace Paul Scholes, Chelsea may need a replacement for Michael Essien and Juventus is looking to fight its way back up the Serie A table.

Diarra could fit in all scenarios if he is truly forced away from the Bernabeu. Jose Mourinho, according tot he report, also left behind Royston Drenthe and Pedro Leon.

Los Blancos begin a pre-season training tour in the United States on Monday when they land in Los Angeles, California.

Real Madrid have agreed a €45million fee with Santos for the signing of Neymar, according to the player's agent Wagner Ribeiro.

The 19-year-old has became one of the hottest property in world football after his impressive displays for Santos and Brazil over the last 12 months.

Among the clubs in pursuit over his signature are the likes of Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester City.

But the Los Blancos have emerged as the favourites to land the teenage sensation over the past few days and Ribeiro can now confirm that the Spanish giants have been given the green light to discuss personal terms with the striker.

"The economical part has been settled between Real Madrid and Santos. The [Santos] president himself has already told them to talk to the player, to learn if he wants to go or not," Ribeiro is quoted by Lancenet as saying.

"Real have already talked to me and made an offer. It only depends on Neymar. Santos will get the €45 million and the player will leave because the release clause has been met."

Neymar has played over 60 games for Santos, scoring 27 goals, and recently led the Brazilian club to their third Copa Libertadores title.

Brazilian starlet Neymar has declared that he would love to join Real Madrid from Santos in January.

The 19-year-old has emerged as one of the most exciting young talents in world football and is not surprisingly being coveted by some of Europe's top clubs.

Chelsea and Manchester United have been linked with Neymar but it is Spanish duo Barcelona and Real Madrid who are believed to be leading the chase.

Neymar has previously stressed that he is happy to remain at Santos for another season, but his agent has now revealed that it is the youngster's dream to join Real.

According to his representative, Wagner Ribeiro, Neymar is also keen to play for Santos at the Club World Cup in December.

Ribeiro admits it could then be the perfect time to head to the Santiago Bernabeu after the turn of the year.

"The preference of the child (Neymar) at the moment is Real Madrid," said Ribeiro, who added that the player 'always said that they were the club of his dreams'.

"We're not talking about the economic side, for that matter there is no problem.

"We have to do the best for the boy, so you can make two dreams: the first being a world champion with Santos and make history, and the second dream is go to Real Madrid."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is planning a big money move for Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema.

According to reports in the Daily Mail, the Gunners are planning to launch a £27million bid for the Frenchman.

The Arsenal manager is aware that with the impending departures of captain Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, the Emirates faithful will have to be appeased, and plans to bring in Benzema.

The North London side also plan to try to make one last bid to keep Nasri with a £100,000-a-week contract.

In addition, Arsenal are expected to announce the £10.7m signing of Lille striker Gervinho on Friday, after the 24-year-old passed a medical on Wednesday.

Zinedine Zidane has revealed he is to work more closely with Jose Mourinho after agreeing to become Real Madrid's new sporting director.

Former Madrid star Zidane has been working at the club as a special adviser to president Florentino Perez but the ex-France midfielder is now set for a more hands-on role.

He is set to take up the post next week and he is looking forward to the challenge.

"I will be director of football for the first team," Zidane told reporters in Spain.

"Mourinho influenced this decision, but also Florentino. We will see (what tasks I am assigned), but I will (be occupying the new role) from Monday until the end of the season."

Interesting

Zidane helped Madrid sign French defender Raphael Varane from Lens last month and he believes the teenager is an outstanding prospect.

"He has a tremendous future, and it's a good thing to arrive at Real Madrid so young. Varane liked the coach, so that is why he is here," added Zidane.

Another to come in could be Brazil forward Neymar and Zidane claims the player reminds him of Robinho, who also played for Santos before ending up at the Santiago Bernabeu.

"He is similar to Robinho, but he scores more goals. Neymar is a player who could be interesting for Real Madrid," said Zidane.

"It's normal that everyone wants Neymar, but we have to see what the club decides. We have to take things step by step."

Real Madrid skipper Iker Casillas has laughed off reports he is set to lose the captaincy next season.

Reports from Spain indicated that Madrid manager Jose Mourinho is considering stripping him of the armband with Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso touted as favourites to land the role.

It claimed that Mourinho wanted to appoint an outfield player as captain to facilitate better communication with referees next season.

However, Casillas insists no such idea has been mooted.

"There is no question," he was quoted in AS.com as saying.

"[All this has come out] because of a lack of news in recent days. I just take this with humour and move on."

Casillas captained Spain to FIFA World Cup glory in South Africa last year.