REAL MADRID ANNOUNCES KEYLOR NAVAS SIGNING

Spanish Football Club Real Madrid CF has officially announced via their Website that they have signed Costa Rica International & Levante goalkeeper Keylor Navas. Real Madrid pays Levante the 10M€ contract release clause & summons the player to Madrid to be officially presented to Spanish & World media on Tuesday. 

The signing was a fact for the last 3 weeks but Real Madrid has had to "solve" its own over-booking in the goal area with Iker Casillas & Diego Lopez. Real Madrid has finally decided to go with Iker Casillas & has pressured Diego Lopez to find a Club elsewhere to exercise his profession. Diego Lopez is currently fixing the details of his exit with the Club & it seems that AC Monaco could be his new destination.

Keylor Navas is expected to give heavy competition to Iker Casillas so that the latter can lift his lost form. Watching past matches from Iker Casillas & yesterdays poor performance in the Friendly against Manchester United, Iker Casillas will have to work hard to keep his place. Most local Football observers acknowledge that the forced exit of Diego Lopez follows political issues & not for Sporting reasons. 

Good luck to Keylor Navas with his new Sporting & Football adventure. 

Tweet

Share

REAL MADRID SIGNS KEYLOR NAVAS FROM LEVANTE

Mayor bombshell that has saturated the front pages of most Spanish Sports daily´s & media today. According to "Marca" REAL MADRID CF has paid the 10M€ contract release clause for 27 year old Costa Rica International & Levante goalkeeper KEYLOR NAVAS. Spanish newspaper "Abc.es" gives details like a 5 year contract with a 2,5M€ net salary/season. All the above has important ramifications for the Real Madrid Goalkeeping area as it will force either Iker Casillas or Diego Lopez to have to leave the Club. 

The Spanish Sports paper "Marca" bets that Diego Lopez will leave to either Italian Club Napoli or to Monaco. Both are very insistent with the possibility of signing Diego Lopez. However, things are not as clear as one would expect & this news piece opens up a variety of unexpected possibilities which still may surprise all of us. 

What seems clear is that Real Madrid wishes to avoid this new season the ongoing debate & continual controversy of Iker Casillas vs Diego Lopez that has split the Club fanbase & fuelled media the last 12 months. 

Earlier last month Spanish TV "Antenna 3" advanced that Real Madrid would sell both Iker Casillas & Diego Lopez, & substitute for Keylor Navas & RCD Espanyol goalie Kiko Casillas. The media source was criticised for announcing  an over exaggerated "prediction" that now seems to be at least a half truth. 

Other sources indicated that Iker Casillas is currently doubting whether to continue at Real Madrid for next season. His bad performance in the Champions League Final, World Cup & continuing criticism has made the apparent interest from Arsenal FC & Paris St Germain a possibility. His Club team-mate Diego Lopez has told his inner circle that he has no intention of leaving Real Madrid & feels better than last season to keep fighting for the Clubs Nº1 goalie position. 

All this leaves open the following upcoming scenarios:

• Although "Marca" gives the scoop of Real Madrid signing Keylor Navas, we need to wait for an official Club announcement,
• The arrival of Keylor Navas will cause either Diego Lopez or Iker Casillas to leave the Club,
• Most media sources speculate that Diego Lopez will leave for either Napoli or Monaco,
• Iker Casillas leaving instead has gained strength in the last days. Club candidates are Arsenal FC or Paris St Germain,
• The possibility of both Diego Lopez & Iker Casillas leaving is still a viable option,
• If both leave, the new look Real Madrid goalkeepers would be Keylor Navas & Kiko Casillas (from RCD Espanyol).

As you can read big news if it is confirmed that Real Madrid has signed Keylor Navas, & a big "revolution" with the Real Madrid goalkeeping positions.

Who will leave? Diego Lopez or Iker Casillas? Both? Stay tuned?

Tweet

Share

KEYLOR NAVAS - IVAN RAKITIC ON AT MADRID AGENDA FOR NEXT SEASON ?

Two players who are having outstanding seasons with their respective Clubs; goalkeeper Keylor Navas (Levante) & Ivan Rakitic (Sevilla FC) are said to be signing objectives of Spanish Football Club Atletico de Madrid for next season.

The first is Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas who Atletico de Madrid sees as the ideal replacement for Courtois if he was to return to Chelsea FC next season. The player has a stiff contract release clause of around 10M€ & Atletico are hoping that Levante will sit down & negotiate.

The second is Croatian international & Sevilla FC midfielder Ivan Rakitic. This option is even more difficult as Sevilla does not wish to let their current Captain go & there are English Premier League Clubs also interested. The player ends contract in 2015 & knows that Atletico de Madrid is very interest in his services for next season. Atletico would wish to negotiate with Sevilla but prefers to wait until the player himself takes the initiative & pronounces his desire to go to Madrid. 

Both cases are excellent signing prospects which would make any Football Club stronger, & more so the already powerful Atletico de Madrid team which looks to reinforce & consolidate its jump in quality & in European Football.

Stay tuned! 

Tweet

Share

EUROPA LEAGUE RESULT | RUBIN KAZAN 2 LEVANTE 0

Russian Club Rubin Kazan has knocked out another Spanish Football Club from the Europa League competition. After eliminating Atletico de Madrid, the Russians have defeated Levante 2 - 0 in extra-time to finish off the dream Euro run of the latter & they in turn get themselves into the quarter-finals.

The Spanish side missed the influential forward Martins who was recently sold to USA Club Seattle. Levante lacked the finishing off & efficiency as the match ended in a 0 - 0 draw & needed to go into extra-time.

Here the Russians were superior on their home turf & with climatic conditions that the Spaniards are not used to, which are no excuse. Rubin forward Rondon scored in the 99th min & later with a defensive mistake by Levante Dyadyun  scored the second for Kazan in the 112nd. Game over.

Levante however can be proud of their participation as they have gone further in Europa League than they would have expected at the start of the season. Congratulations to Levante. 

Tweet

Share

EUROPA LEAGUE RESULT | LEVANTE 0 RUBIN KAZAN 0

The last Spanish Football representative in the Europa League competition Levente hosted the team that knocked out Atletico de Madrid, Russian Club Rubin Kazan. The match ended in a 0 - 0 draw after an intense match that had its best & most emotional moments in the 2º half , especially the last 30 minutes.

Basically even for both teams when in the 52 nd min Kazan player Ansaldi received a red card ( 2 x yellow ). The surprise was that 2 minutes later Levante forward Michel got a direct red card for an awful foul. With each side with 10 men spaces appeared which allowed Levante to attack more. Surprisingly the Russians went back into their area & defended.

With Levante in charge & with all the initiative the goal chances arrived for Levante with a fiery Martins dangerous. However frustration came when the ball refused to go in for the Spanish team as they could not exploit their numerous good opportunities. The Russians towards the end decided to go for it & attempted for the away goal, which nearly came as forward Rondon hit the cross-bar & later the Russians hit the post. Both sides, with little left, accepted their fate tonight & played it out for the draw.

The tie is still wide open & any team could win.

Tweet

Share

EUROPA LEAGUE | ATLETICO ELIMINATED - LEVANTE CONTINUES

Europa League competition tonight with two Spanish Football Clubs in action, one was eliminated & the other went through onto the next round. Here is a brief summary with the final scores & goalscorers.

The reigning Europa League Champions Atletico de Madrid were eliminated by Ruben Kazan. The Spaniards won 0 - 1 but paid for their 1º leg game "sins" as they could not turn around the two away goals - advantage - scored by Kazan in Madrid. The final overall result was 2 - 1 on aggregate for the Russians.

Atletico was without Diego Costa & Arda Turan & the team suffered their absence. Needing two goals to force the extra-time At. Madrid poured on the initiative but failed to convert. Plenty of chances but ineffective when it came to scoring the needed goals.  The Russians always had the psychological & game advantage with their two goals in the bag & they worked on conserving it.

The Spanish team was rewarded late for their efforts when Falcao got a goal in the 84th min. This brought back hope & Atletico nearly pulled it off but Miranda was stopped in the last minute by the Kazan goalie.

Other news worth a mention is the red card to Kazan defender Navas in the 88th min.

Spanish Football Club Levante had a three goal advantage going into the 2º leg game against Olympiakos. The Spaniards put it all beyond doubt & out of any reach for the Greeks when MARTINS scored for Levante in the 9th min. From here onwards the visitors conserved their 4 goal aggregate advantage until the end.

Out of all the Spanish Football Teams that have participated in Europe in the last two weeks  ( Champions & Europa League ) Levante has the honour of being the only Spanish Club that has managed a victory. 

Final score, 0 - 1 to Levante ( 4-0 on aggregate)

Tweet

Share

EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW | SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAMS

EUROPA LEAGUE draw for the upcoming phase gave the following line-ups as shown on the below diagram courtesy of Spanish Sports daily "AS". Levante plays Olympiakos & Atletico de Madrid will meet Rubin Kazin. 

Tweet

Share

SPANISH CUP RESULTS | THURSDAY MATCHES

SPANISH CUP ( Kings Cup ) continued tonight with two games. Here are the final results & the goalscorers.

LEVANTE hosted REAL ZARAGOZA & both took it down to the last moment, until Zaragoza forward ARANDA scored a "pearler" that gave the winner in the added time. Obviously the locals were put shut while Zaragoza members went into ecstasy. Emotional, final result 0 - 1

LAS PALMAS & REAL BETIS played out a similar match to the above, with the exception that one of the teams had a margin to react. The final score was a 1 - 1 with RUBEN CASTRO scoring in the 66th min for Betis, & CHRISANTUS equalizing for Las Palmas in the 84th min.

Tweet

Share

EUROPA LEAGUE RESULTS | ATLETICO - BILBAO - LEVANTE

EUROPA LEAGUE Group matches tonight with three SPANISH FOOTBALL representatives. Here are the final results & all the goalscorers.

At Madrid

Current Europa League title holders ATLETICO DE MADRID travelled to Israel to play TEL AVIV & won comfortably 0 - 3. The Spanish team left Falcao at home & put on the field a B - side to give the other team members - those which play less - a run.

It was all Atletico during the match with goals from RODRIGUEZ in the 37th min, DIEGO COSTA in the 39th min & RAUL GARCIA in the 62nd min. The Spanish team could have scored more but missed chances - especially Adrian - & Costa had a goal disallowed.

Talking about Costa, excellent performance & is knocking on the door to convince Coach Simeone to be regular starter.

At Bilbao

ATLETIC CLUB BILBAO hosted HAPOEL KIRYAT for their Group I match. The final result was 1 - 1 with an exciting finish that could have given Bilbao the win.

The visitors started well, much better as Bilbao was still "finding themselves". Hapoel was rewarded with a goal in the 13th min via LENCSE. From here Bilbao began to find their place & groove & played better dominating the ball. They too were rewarded for their efforts in the 40th min when SUSAETA equalized on the 40th min.

Bilbao then went for the victory & created chances which they failed to convert. They even put on the questioned Fran Llorente to beef up the forward line & he too failed to convert his chances. In the end,  a sweet & sour experience & result for Bilbao.

Levante

LEVANTE hosted HELSINBORG & won 1 - 0 in a contested Group L match. Very even affair all night & the difference was that Levante took their chance & converted. The winner came in the 39th min when JUANFRAN scored.

Tweet

Share

SPANISH CUP 1º LEG QUARTER FINAL RESULT | VALENCIA CF 3 - LEVANTE 1

The last scheduled SPANISH CUP ( Copa del Rey ) 1º leg quarter-final match was played tonight in a regional derby between Liga Football Clubs VALENCIA CF - LEVANTE. An entertaining match which gave some great goals , plays & intensity that finished 4 - 1.

Valencia - Levante

Valencia started more plugged-in than the visitors with rapid counter-attacks that gave their fruit in the 24th min when JONAS culminated a good attack. The inertia was unstoppable for Valencia with SOLDADO scoring the second in the 31st min.

Roberto Soldado scores

Levante managed to halt the attacks & reacted with a surprise "missile" from KONE that was a true cracker in the 37th min. However, Valencia was on a roll & scored a third via PIATTI in the 45th min that injured in the process the Levante keeper when they clashed in a disputed ball.


The second half was "messy" with hard tactics employed by Levante to stop Valencia scoring more goals as the visitors knew that there was still a 2º leg match to play next week & on their home turf. This lead both sides to clash on the field where the "aggressiveness" outshone the earlier Football. Lets not forget that it was a local "derby" with passionate "rivalry" tensions high, apart from a semis birth.

The last 15 mins saw both teams with some good chances & good goalie saves, but Valencia scored a "diverted" fourth goal via TINO COSTA in the last minute after a deadly counter-attack. They basically have the q-final tie in the bag barring surprises next week.

Tweet

Share