Real Madrid full back Marcelo has completed a decade at Real Madrid as he joined November 14, 2006 from Brazilian outfit Fluminese.

Los Blancos have definitely made a bargain considering they signed the player for €6 million. Predrag Mijatovic is credited with discovering the talented defender. Madrid president Ramon Calderon bought into the potential of the then young player and offered him a seven-year contract.

The then 19-year old Marcelo started slow when he arrived at the Santiago Bernebeu. He made his debut on January 7, 2007 and he played beside his idol Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos. He faced criticisms, as he was poor defensively, but his offensive prowess made up for him. After Carlos left that season, the hole that had to be filled were almost too large for the young player. Gabriel Heinze was a serious competition for the position. It was until the appointment of Manuel Pellegrini that that Marcelo began to steady progress. His brilliant showing ensured he remained through different managers at Madrid.

Marcelo enjoyed time under Mourinho despite injuries hampering him a bit. Under Carlo Ancelotti, Fabio Coentrao was his competition. He showed his superiority with a brilliant display when he came on for Coentrao in the 59th minute in the Champions final against Atletico. The decorated player has won two UEFA Champions League titles, two UEFA Super Cups, three La Liga titles, two Spanish Super Cups and a Club World Cup – for winners from each continent.

His consistency in performances earned him a permanent shirt in the Madrid set-up. Of non-Spanish players, he ranks the third in most games played for Real Madrid with his 372 caps. Carlos holds the record with 527 games while Di Stefano has 396 appearances before retiring. Whilst he might not be able to beat his idol’s record, he can become the second.

Euro 2016 champions, Portugal, are set to play their World Cup qualifying games without Real Madrid defender, Pepe

Portugal are poised to play Latvia on November 13 but would be without one of their best hands in defense. Monaco midfielder Joao Moutinho is also set to miss the World Cup qualifying match.

Portugal coach Fernando Santos recently confirmed the absence of the stars for the forthcoming game. He claimed that the available players would get the job done.

“I have absolute confidence in my players,” the Euro-winning manager said. He warned that they would face a tough opposition from Latvia: “Latvia are an experienced team who will give us problems and play from the back to catch us on the counter-attack.”

Portugal would have Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo available for the tie. The player picked up an injury in the final of the Euro ’16 game against France. He returned in the extra time to cheer his teammates to victory. He remained injured throughout the summer, but has since returned to regular action for Madrid. He is expected to fire Portugal to victory. There is also the option of Andre Silva who got an hat trick against Faro.

Renato Sanches – the best young player at the Euros – is expected to impress in the game as well. Portugal want a victory badly as they are second in their qualifying group. Switzerland are three points ahead as they thrashed the Euro champions in September.

Zenit St. Petersburg’s Luis Netois is expected to cover for Pepe. Pepe is suspended for two yellow cards in the group, and has picked up a thigh strain ahead of the match. Midfielder Adrien and former United forward Nani are expected to play as they have regained fitness since their return from injury.

Real Madrid’s problems at the back continue after defender Pepe has been ruled out for yet another game along with defensive midfielderCasemiro.

The club only recently added defender Marcelo to the list with the new hamstring injury. The player suffered this problem in the 1-1 draw against Villarreal a few days ago.Casemiro, just a few days ago, was diagnosed with a fractured fibula. The club are up against Las Palmas this weekend and centre back Pepe has also been ruled out of the game after failing to recover from an injury.

The Portuguese was unavailable for the Friday training session. These injuries bring a massive headache to manager Zinedine Zidane. The Frenchman was able to win the Champions League title in his first season at the club, but he has much bigger problems this time around. Failure to win yet the league title would be a massive issue considering that Barcelona have dominated the domestic titles over the last decade. As a result,Zidane has to win the league at all costs. At the start of the campaign, things have been looking extremely positive even with the draw against Villarreal.

Real Madrid are top of the table with only two dropped points so far. It is a considerable improvement over the reigning champions Barcelona, who have already suffered a defeat this season. “Following tests carried out today on Marcelo at the Sanitas La Moraleja University Hospital, he has been diagnosed with a grade 2 muscle strain in the soleus muscle of his right calf. His recovery will continue to be monitored. Pepe did some individual ball work away from the group, while Marcelo and Casemiro continued with their recovery processes,” said a statement on the Real Madrid official website. Defence is one of the areas where Madrid can improve this season.

Paris Saint-Germain striker Edison Cavani said that he is excited by the new challenge offered to him of playing in a more central role.

Indeed with the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Manchester United, Cavani has been promoted as the central striker for the French team and said that he is impatient to play in this position.

Edison Cavani has always said stated that he wants to play in a central role, but Laurent Blanc did not give him this chance. And when you know that Paris Saint-Germain had a striker like Zlatan Ibrahimovic it was easy to understand why Edison Cavani was pushed on the wings. But with the arrival of the new coach at Paris Saint-Germain, it is believed that the Uruguay international will be played in a more central role.

Edison Cavani said that it is a big honor to have been trusted in this position. He said that it was a big challenge for him, and he wants to ensure that he meet the expectations. He believes that he will be able to perform better in this position and said that he would be doing his best in order to score goals for Paris Saint-Germain. He believes that with the support of the coach as well as the fans he will be able to perform and score plenty of goals for the French side.

He said that he feels no pressure on him and that he only wants to do his best for the team. He stated that it is an honor for him to be playing for Paris Saint-Germain and that he wants to do everything he can in order to help the team win trophies. The objective of the team is to win the French league and also the Champions League.

With the finals on their heads Portugal needed all the key players to be present and ready to take on the challenge of playing the final game.

That is when Pepe showed his readiness and it came just in time for his country to face the Euro finals against France. The defender confirmed last week that he was fit for taking part in the finals on Sunday. There were talks about the temperament of the player, but he dismissed such rumors, stating that his track record should be sufficient to prove his abilities on the field.

The conduct of Pepe on the field has often been controversial and he told reporters that he was trying to better himself to become a better team member for his country’s team. The semi finals that were played on Wednesday against Wales were missed out by Pepe, the defender who is a native of Brazil. He was suffering from a thigh injury and he also trained away from his team on Friday. However, he confirmed that he would be part of the team that would be playing the finals.

He has contributed in a significant manner as a center in the defense of the country’s team. The first five games of the tournament saw him playing well and not showcase any volatile behavior that he had in previous games. There had been infamous incidents in 2009 when he was banned for 10 games for assaulting an opponent on the field. He defends his behavior by stating that he is demanding of himself and on the field, he wishes to give his team the very best. He has also won several accolades for his team and hence, his contributions should speak for themselves and what pushes him on to achieve more.

Pepe Reina’s father has stated that his son is currently a Napoli player and that he might not be going anywhere during the summer.

Indeed, there are persistent rumors that Pepe Reina might be returning to Liverpool or joining Barcelona in the summer.

With Jurgen Klopp determined to build a side that can challenge for silverware, it has become evident that he will need another goalkeeper in the team. This has given rise to rumors that Liverpool might be making a bid for a player that has played for them for eight years.

Recently, there has been news that Barcelona might also be after the Spanish keeper as they look to strengthen the team. Pepe Reina has gone through the famous Barcelona academy La Masia, and it will be a natural thing to come back to where he started his career.

However, Pepe Reina’s father has denied the rumors and said that no formal bid has been made yet. For him, Reina is a Napoli player and that he has a great respect for the Napoli fan. He said that at the moment there is no news about him returning to Liverpool and that he will be playing at Napoli next season.

He said that his son is in good shape physically and mentally and that he is determined to end his career with Napoli. At the moment there is no news of him going anywhere and that he will continue to do his best for the Italian club. Pepe Reina is currently on holidays with his family after a long season, and his father said that they just want to enjoy themselves at the moment.

Reina joined Napoli last season after leaving Bayern Munich. So far he has made 44 appearances for the club and will hope that there is much more to come.

It seems that Critiano Ronaldo is making a lot of headlines lately due to some of the impressive plays and the saves that he’s been making.

When it comes to some of the Real Madrid games we’ve seen as of lately, it’s really hard to imagine games without him. He’s made a lot of lifesaving plays and the most recent game was no different. He’s far too loosely used today and thought of by the management of Real Madrid. However, the fans and the team know better. The Real Madrid had a huge hole they dug for themselves if it wanted to progress in the Champions League. This is where Critiano Ronaldo came in.

In Germany, Real Madrid lost the very first leg of the race leaving them at 2 to 0. This means that the Real Madrid had to make sure that they secured a victory over Wolfsburg by at least three very distinct goals. This came at a game versus a challenging opponent at the Santiago Bernabeau stadium and Ronaldo made sure to score every single goal that the team needed.

The Real Madrid has their sets of flaws and that’s definitely one of them. They’re a very well rounded team but they seem to struggle on goal scoring without Ronaldo. They rely too heavily on individuals like Ronaldo on those important games, so what would they do if he wasn’t there or if he was bought out by another team?

So what exactly scored these goals? When it came to the last and final goal, it was a free kick. However, it wasn’t exactly one of Ronaldo’s trademarks when it comes to his individual talents. It was KeylorNavas that suggested that he kick it softly and actually surprise anyone because he’s known as putting some power into his kicks. This decision won them the game.

If you want to obtain goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, it’s going to come with a mighty high price tag.

“It’s a pity that we’re out of the FA Cup and the Champions League but I’m going to try to finish the season well and have a good European Championship with Belgium.Then we’ll start a new season with a new manager [at Chelsea] with the hope of doing a lot better than this year.”

While Antonio Conte is going to be taking over for the interim manager Guus Hiddink, the list of possible transfer targets has already been leaked and on that list is Thibaut Courtois. The Italian coach already confirmed this list and Courtois is someone he has a very strong interest in.

What does Thibaut have to say about all of this? The goalkeeper hasn’t made any confirmations or denials about the speculation but Courtois has made no guarantees about his future with Chelsea or the Real Madrid. There’s a very strong interest from Real Madrid and with the price tag rising steadily, there’s going to be interest from other teams as well if someone doesn’t snatch him up.

The shocking price tag (all in cash according to blogger Jenny Campbell) comes from Chelsea, which was placed intentionally so that Real Madrid doesn’t try to take him away from them. Both Courtois and David De Gea have both been speculation of being high targets for being transferred this summer. With an impressive display last season by the Chelsea goalkeeper, the long term goalkeeper Petr Cech was forced to transfer to Arsenal.

Courtois hasn’t had a perfect season though. He missed approximately three months of gameplay when he had to have surgery performed on his knee for injuries sustained in multiple games. It comes as a disappointment on a personal level to Courtois who wants to win a trophy every single season but for the first time in his career at the Stamford Bridge, he won’t receive one.

After having dropped points against Sevilla, Barcelona and more recently Villareal, Real Madrid has managed to bounce back by claiming an overwhelming 10-2 triumph over Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabeu on December 20 of 2015.

However, even with this overwhelming triumph, Real Madrid’s loss against Villareal is something that the Portuguese defender of Real Madrid, Pepe still hasn’t got over as the experienced defender simply can’t understand what happened in the pitch and why his team lost the game.

Real Madrid’s Pepe said: “I don’t know what happened in the first half. We were not plugged into the game. To win matches, you have to come out ready. We’ll continue to fight. The second half was different but we were not able to score. You have to give credit to Villarreal. We should have matched their intensity.”

That was the statement released by Pepe as he voiced his thoughts concerning Real Madrid’s loss against Villareal which was played earlier in December.

The Spanish League race is far from over and anything can happen in the remainder of the season but Real Madrid cant afford to drop any further points as this puts a huge wave of pressure on the Spanish club and even more pressure to Rafael Benitez who is already being rumored on being sacked if he is unable to turn things around.

Benitez received an immense sigh of relief after witnessing his team defeat Rayo Vallecano with the outstanding final scoreboard of 10-2 and they will need to continue performing at this high level in order for the rumors and the media to start giving him more room to breathe.

The players themselves are feeling the pressure that is being built around them and this has started a string of rumors in relation to some of the high-profile players being offloaded from the club including Pepe who is still being rumored on making a switch to Valencia which are interested in signing the Portuguese defender but this rumor seems incredibly difficult to believe, especially taking into consideration that Pepe recently signed a contract extension with Real Madrid which will be keeping in the club at least until 2017 and he is one of the main figures of the Spanish team who has voiced the passion that he has for the club on numerous occasions.