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Valdano denies Mourinho rift Real Madrid general manager Jorge Valdano has dismissed claims of a rift between himself and manager Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese has come under pressure since his side dropped four points behind Barcelona in the Primera Division title race and there were reports he could be set to leave the Bernabeu. But Valdano claimed his comments had been misrepresented. He told Marca: "You have interpreted my words as a message to the coach and I have done very bad things when it has been something that was never my intention and never intended. "Mourinho has to drive us to achieve the greatest possible gains to be better than last year and hope to continue in this vein. "Do not look for anything unusual, we have the logical relationship between a CEO and the first team." Valdano revealed that any return to the club for Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy would be completed this week. He added: "We're on it. This week is going to be definitely one way or another." DISQUS...

Real seal Copa del Rey last four berth Real Madrid moved into the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey with a straightforward 1-0 second-leg win over city rivals Atletico. Leading 3-1 from the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, Jose Mourinho's side did enough to secure their progress to the last four on Thursday night. Cristiano Ronaldo's 23rd-minute strike put Los Blancos ahead on the night and 4-1 up on aggregate.

Mourinho staying at Real for now Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho has confirmed he will stay at the club until the end of the season at least. After that, however, remains a mystery, with Mourinho less forthcoming on his possible whereabouts. something which will no doubt continue to fuel reports of his return to the Premier League. Speaking after seeing his side progress into the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey at the expense of Atletico Madrid on Thursday, Mourinho told the club's official website: "The world is full of rumours, but they're not all true. "Regarding my future, we'll see what happens at the end of the season. Contracts aren't the most important thing in football. If all the parties are happy at the end of a campaign, they remain together. If they aren't, they don't." The "Special One" was addressing recent intense speculation linking him with a sensational move away from the club following a spat with Real general manager Jorge Valdano. On the eve of the Atletico game, Valdano moved to calm the situation by claiming that any comments he made were misrepresented and not directed at Mourinho. Referring to purely footballing matters, Mourinho had no complaints about his side's straightforward 1-0 second-leg win over Atletico in the Copa del Rey. Leading 3-1 from the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the all important away goal in the 23rd-minute to effectively kill off any hopes of a revival from their city rivals. "The team played a good game. We did what we had to do to reach the next round and we earned a good result that we can now add to our 3-1 victory in the first leg," Mourinho was quoted as saying. "The team played a tight game and every player helped out. We reached the next round without exherting oursleves too much. "I wanted to play differently tonight because we won the first leg 3-1. I knew we would go through if we kept a clean sheet. We decided the best option was to use Marcelo and Di Maria down the wings to give Cristiano more freedom. "It was a good decision because we won." Meanwhile, Real's pursuit of Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy will be decided this week, the club have confirmed.

Pipita’s back (in Madrid) January 20, 2011 tags: higuaín by unamadridista It looks like poor Pipita already had to report to Valdebebas, despite arriving in Madrid only earlier this morning. He sat down to chat with the team’s web site and TV channel, and this is what he had to say. On how he feels: I feel a complete relief in my head and in my body. I’m feeling more upbeat and feel that I can face anything now. I don’t know how much time I’ll need to return to playing, but I’m very happy and eager to start the recovery process. On the operation: the doctors had told me that I could leave the hospital on my own feet, and wanted to send me back to the hotel on the same day. But we decided to spend the night there as a precaution. On the day that I left the hospital, I started walking around Chicago and I could walk hours and hours because the happiness I had from things going well made me forget everything else. On the support from his teammates and fans: I get emotional when I think about my teammates wearing the t-shirt supporting me. I sent them all a message of thanks. I’ve received a lot of messages of support from the web site and from different social networks. It makes me proud not only as a player but also as a person. I have so much happiness that I’m sure that everything will turn out great. On being appreciated as a footballer and a person: no one remembers the titles you won when you retire from football, they remember if you were a good person and that’s the most important thing for me. Obviously, my job is to play football and win titles. But if you’re not a good person, you can’t enjoy that. And that’s something that I value a lot, something that my family and Real Madrid taught me. I was educated well and my family and friend have always helped me to see things realistically. On wanting to play: I can’t explain how much I want to play. If being on the bench is hard enough, imagine having to watch all the games from the stands for months. But, that’s what I have to do now and I have the mental strength to overcome these things. I hope to get the best out of this situation.

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