Tacit

Real Madrid officially presented Lassana Diarra as their latest signing to the fans and the press on Monday lunchtime.  The 23-year-old French International is Real Madrid’s third incorporation of the winter transfer market, joining fellow new arrivals Jan-Klaas Huntelaar and Dani Parejo at the club.

    Diarra was signed from English Premier League club Portsmouth for a fee thought to be slightly over 20 million euros (1 euro = 1.39 U.S. dollars).

    His deal will keep him at the Spanish club until the end of the2012-13 season and Real Madrid hopes that he will provide cover for the duo of Ruben de la Red and Mahamadou Diarra, both of who will be out for the rest of the current campaign.

    ”It is impossible to refuse an offer from Real Madrid. This was my dream since I was a child and I now want to do my best on the pitch,” said Diarra in his first press conference as a new Madrid player.

    He also promised that he would give everything for the team as Real looks to pull back a 12-point deficit over Primera Liga leaders FC Barcelona.

    ”I’m here to give 100 percent. I want to fight for the crest of this team. I have a strong personality and I want to prove my worth before my new crowd.”

    ”I am a natural fighter. I’ve always proven to be. I am a defensive midfielder that specialises in recovering the ball, but I can also play as a right back,” he said.

The race for the Spanish Primera Liga title between Barcelona and Real Madrid is fiercer than ever following a dramatic match day on Sunday.

    Both sides meet next Saturday in Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and Juande Ramos’ men will be optimistic of moving within touching distance of the league leaders after a tense weekend in Spain.

    Sunday’s big game saw Real Madrid win 4-2 at Sevilla. Madrid coach Ramos was given a hostile welcome by the fans at his former club and Sevilla started very strongly.

    Renato opened the scoring and things were looking good for Sevilla until around the half hour mark, when they lost control of the game. Madrid levelled the scores on the stroke of halftime when Raul turned home a cross by Cristoph Metzelder.

    Two further goals from Raul in the second half looked to have sealed Real Madrid’s win, before Diego Capel scored to make it 2-3and give his side hope. However Marcelo sealed the win with a goallate into injury time.

    The result leaves Madrid just four points behind Barcelona.

    Atletico Madrid also had a good day with a 3-1 win against Sporting Gijon. Diego Forlan, Kun Aguero and Simao Sabrosa, who was later sent off, netted for the home side.

    Elsewhere Villarreal won 2-1 in Getafe to leave the home side in danger of relegation. Joseba Llorente and Joan Capdevila scored for Villarreal.

Real Madrid may have spent more money than any other side in the world this summer, but the Spanish giants disappointed their fans in the first pre-season friendly in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Sunday.

    Despite fielding big money signings Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, Real could only draw their opening game in the Peace Cup 1-1 against Saudi Arabian team Al-Ittihad.

    Al-Ittihad contained Real effectively in the opening period and played with confidence after the break, despite going a goal down.

    With Ronaldo and Benzema in the side, the Madrid fans had hopes of an easy win against a side that had lost its opening Peace Cup game 3-1 to Quito.

    However, they had to suffer in the first 45 minutes as Real struggled to get to grips with their rivals.

    With the Al-Ittihad players content to defender deep in their own half, Real Madrid had time to move the ball in midfield, but although the Spanish side dominated possession, they lacked spark and their attacking efforts were limited to a shot from Benzema into the side netting an a couple of long range efforts over the bar.

    It was not until the 25th minute that Madrid was able to mount a real threat, but Raul was unable to finish as the visiting keeper Zaid made a good reflex save.

    Ronaldo had a shot saved a minute before the break, but although the home side had controlled things, it was far from the easy triumph most of the 25,000 fans in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium had been expecting.