Review:

Last night I had to visit someone and therefore I missed the match. From the reports and your comments, it seems that the defense sucked badly. I expected that with the absence of Pepe and Cannavaro.

I also heard that Robinho was crap. Not good for him, but If he was pretending to be crap to move to Chelsea, then he must be a jackass.

Anyway, I apologize for not providing more in-depth analysis, but boys, you all kick ass so please provide them in the comment section and I will include them here in the post.

Julio Baptista has seeminly arrived in Rome. My uncle works in the airport and he told me that he saw some buzz today but not sure if that was really Baptista, but, it is official: Real Madrid has officially stated on their website that Julio Baptista is an AS Roma player.

The transfer fee is unknown, but reports say 12m euros. However, as far as his salary goes, it is said that it will remain the same and thats why this deal has taken sometime.

This is the best news I've heard so far: Real Madrid Tell Robinho To Fuck Off! Awesome! Yeah, they are not going to let him go easily. Actually, Calderon held talks with Robinho and his agent and made clear to them that there is no way that he leaves. Done.

However, Chelsea officials are still hoping to snatch the kid. Wagner Ribeiro, Robbie's agent has said this to the Daily Star:

 "I will try and do everything possible to get this resolved,"

Real Madrid has finished their pre-season with a 1-1 draw last night in Germany against tough side, Frankfurt.

Bernd Schuster started with Casillas in goal, Ramos (Salgado, min.65), Heinze (Metzelder, min.45), Pepe (Javi García, min.79) and Torres in defense, Diarra (De la Red, min.45), Guti (Baptista, min.45), Van der Vaart (Higuaín, min.65) and Robben in midfield, while Raúl (Saviola, min.65), Van Nistelrooy (Robinho, min.45) started up front.

As with all friendlies, the game started with the two teams trying to understand each other. Real had two problems last night: defense and attack. Well, at least to some point.

Eintracht Frankfurt - Real Madrid

12/08/2008 - 20:30

Commerzbank-Arena

Marca says that Real Madrid are going to improve Robinho's contract following the latest bid from Chelsea. The Paper says that Schuster still has faith in the Brazilian international and has asked Real to keep hang of him.

Calderon is reportedly offering 3.5/4m euros while Chelsea are offering 6m euros per year. Robinho currently earns 2.1m per year which is a relatively low salary considering how talented he is. He is really among the lowest paid players at the Bernabeu.

Personally, I think that Robinho deserves 5m euros. He is reportedly asking for that too, but it looks like that Calderon is not interested in paying more than 4m euros. Hopefully, he will throw more bucks and make all parties happy.

Morning everyone,

After two days off at the beach in sunny Rome, here I am back in businuss. I thought that I missed a lot, but clearly, there hasn't been that much.

Robinho's situation looks to be quite at the moment with Real refusing to negotiate with Chelsea. Ramon Calderon has stated during an interview with BBC that Robinho is definitely going nowhere. He said that Bernd Schuster insists that the Brazilian international is an integral part of his squad and there isn't any replacments for him and there won't be as such a player is very difficult to replace.

Personally, I have always critisized Real Madrid for their treatment of Robinho. I myself have felt many times that he was undervalued, but you can't say for sure what has been going on between himself and the club unless you are there.

Letting this lad go will be Calderon's stupidest decision ever!

Morning gang,

I have got some not that good news. Well, as we have heard many times, Chelsea are interested in Robinho. The English club has made their interest public and stated on their official website that they have officially contacted Real Madrid over our wonderkid, Robinho.

Further to media reports (they are talking about me here), Chelsea Football Club can confirm we have made an offer to Real Madrid today (Thursday, August 7) for the transfer of Robinho.

This morning, news from the Spanish media reported that Ronaldo has indeed pledged his future to Manchester United. This ends the saga that was started since the start of the transfer window between the Whites and the childish Ronaldo. 

In an interview with Publico, the Portuguese star takes blame for everything and take responsibility for the damages done to the relationship between Real Madrid and Manchester United. He stated that at some stage he really wanted to join Real Madrid and knew they made a large bid for him but due to his team's unwillingness to sell him it was not possible. Ronaldo also said that he will honor the shirt he currently wears thus denying that he will be forced to play and will prove his worth all over again.

UPDATE: Van Der Vaart has finally put pen on paper and signed a five-year contract with Real Madrid.

Rafael van de Vaart was accompanied by his wife and two-year old son Damián, who received a Real Madrid shirt ftrom Ramón Calderón. Also present were his parents and maternal grandparents, native residents of Chiclana, Cadiz in Southern Spain.

Van Der Vaart and his family arrive in Madrid

Morning Madridistas,

Yesterday was a busy day, huh? Lots of news, good and bad, but today is a bit calmer. 

Our new boy has arrived. He will be officially presented as a Real Madrid player today at 13:00 CET in the Presidential Balcony of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

I have been covering his signing process for weeks, and I'm happy to finally see him here. He actually got on time, we need him so much right now as Sneijder will be out of service for three months.

Welcome aboard, Rafeal.