March 27, 200817 yr Di Stefano: Raúl's Spanish Absence Good For MadridReal Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano believes that the club are benefiting from Raúl's continued omission from the Spanish national squad as the striker is in better shape to compete on a week-to-week basis in La Liga.Raúl is currently enjoying his best goal-scoring season since 2002/03 and Madrid's honorary president Di Stefano believes that this is because he has been able to concentrate his mind and body on playing solely for Los Blancos"With Raúl we should not complain about his omission, because if he is scoring goals for us, we will win the matches and that is what we want," he told a press conference earlier on Thursday.Di Stefano feels that with a rejuvenated Raúl on board, Madrid should be able to maintain their four point advantage over second placed Barcelona in order to take a second successive league title."It is all very close, and it is difficult in the Spanish league to make up an eight point deficit like we saw last year... Madrid maintains a four point lead and this is a good advantage at the moment," he affirmed."We lost two consecutive games, but if the players put up a good fight, we should be able to stay in first place."Possible ChallengersBarcelona and Villarreal are both still in with a chance of overtaking Madrid in the remaining games of the campaign and although Di Stefano had some kind words for the Yellow Submarine, he suggested that Madrid take more pride from beating city neighbours Atlético than they do in defeating Barça."[Villarreal] have good players and a great trainer. The president is a good friend of mind and a great person. First I wish for Real Madrid to win but I am also in support of Villarreal."Barcelona is and has been always a great club and is the great enemy for us to beat according to the press, although for us the duel is with Atlético Madrid because of the rivalry in the city," he concluded.
March 28, 200817 yr Raúl: We Have To Perform At HomeRaúl believes that crunch time is approaching for Real Madrid as the league championship is usually decided in the last nine or ten matches of the season.Los Merengues need to keep their nerve after losing at home to Valencia last weekend and the club captain stated that every game will now be like final.In their remaining nine matches, Madrid have five at home and those include the encounter with Sevilla this weekend and the visit of Barcelona next month."Each game is going to be like a final and we will need the fans completely behind us. We know that the five remaining home games will be crucial, starting on Sunday against Sevilla," Raúl said."We need to pick up all three points to put an end to this negative run of form. In the final ten games of the season is when titles are decided."Raúl is a veteran at Madrid, but he has never won back-to-back titles with the club and is keen to help the team achieve the feat for the first time since 1990."It would be great to win it as it would be the first time that the club has one it twice in succession during my time here," he continued."We are top and have a four-point advantage over second place because we have worked hard and played well to achieve that."Despite losing to a late goal against Valencia, Raúl has revealed that he was encouraged by some of the football that Madrid managed."The team played very well and were very good for long periods, but it was just a shame that we could not find a third goal to take the game," he continued.
March 29, 200817 yr Real Madrid vs. SevillaGoalkeepers: Casillas & Dudek.Defenders: Torres, Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Marcelo & Heinze.Midfielders: Diarra, Gago, Robinho, Robben, Guti, Baptista, Sneijder & Drenthe.Forwards: Higuain, Raul & Saviola.
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