Well, it’s official. Real Madrid will NOT be coming back to Salt Lake City as planned.

While it hasn’t been announced who will be the replacement for the International game date, RSL had some great teams come through Rice-Eccles Stadium in the form of Boca Juniors, Morelia, the Chinese National Team and Everton in 2007.

Sounds like the Euro - Dollar exchange rate didn’t help the situation at all, but GM Garth Lagerway has his ideas as to who he’d like to bring in.

image via Iran-Daily

Although they had plenty of chances to put the game out of reach, Valencia’s come from behind win against Real Madrid has knocked the Madrista’s down to only a 4 point lead in La Liga.

ps- Marchena got knocked the uck out!!!

While Iker Cassillas made his 300th La Liga appearance, it was Raul that stole the show during Real Madrid’s 2-1 win over Espanyol.  Stretching their lead to 8 points over Barcelona, Raul netted his 200th La Liga goal in the 74th minute after being pulled down in the box by Espanyol defender Daniel Jarque and stepping up to slot past keeper Carlos Kemeni.

Looks like that 10 grand he spent on a sleep decompression chamber was a pretty decent buy.

image via MasqueFootball

After playing in 229 La Liga matches for Real Madrid, Ivan Helguera felt his was unceremoniously cast aside with little respect and is now letting his feelings be known.  Having a go at Supremo Ramon Calderon on Sporting Director Pedrag Mijatovic was well worth it to the Valencia defender after Helguera was forced to train with the youth squad after having his #6 was given to the arriving Mohamadou Diarra.

He did return to the first 11 later in the year, starting 21 times before leaving for Valencia where he’s featured in every match since his arrival.   The 32 year old has seemed to have flourished under the loyalty showed to him at the Mestalla.

Image via ElPias

I can’t figure out why Robinho’s agent would go to the press with this story right now with everything seemingly going in the wrong direction for Real Madrid, but Wagner Ribiero has spoke publicly of Arsene Wenger’s attempt to lure Robinho to Arsenal last year when he was stuck on the woodshed under Fabio Capello.

In a interview with EFE Radio, Ribiero told of speaking with Pedrag Mijatovic (former Real great and current Sporting Director) about Wenger’s interest in the former Santos player and was told that without a shadow of a doubt, Robinho will be Madrid’s best player in the future and he won’t be going anywhere.

Decent vote of confidence.

In what may be a first, Real Madrid has issued a statement of public support for one of their coaches.  With the Spanish media circling like vultures after head coach Bernd Schuster called out, then walked out of a news conference last week, Real’s response to the speculation was quick and to the point.

Even El Jefe Ramon Calderon got in the mix, but not to the same degree as the press release.  You know this one’s gonna get REAL interesting with their La Liga lead quickly deteriorating, now only a 5 point lead over Barcelona and their exit at the hands of Roma in Champions League.

image via Google 

On loan Sampdoria striker Antonio Cassano was sent off this weekend against Torino and will most likely be facing a pretty long stretch on the sidelines. After apologizing only a week ago to Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon for his remarks about having sex before Real Madrid matches, Cassano (who’s contract is still owned by Real Madrid) took off his jersey and threw it at the referee.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’ll never wear a Real Madrid jersey again. Just a hunch.

UPDATE - Cassano received a 5 game suspension

Real Madrid has fined midfielder Mahamadou Diarra one month’s salary (300,000 Euro) for returning late from African Nations Cup duty with Mali.  Although they didn’t even make it out of the first round, Real Madrid formally sent a letter stating he would be fined and Diarra will have ten days to respond.

With the former Lyon player already making his intentions clear about leaving since Bernd Schuster has taken over and Gago, Guti and Sneijder preferred, it’s hard to imagine who could afford such a staggering price tag that will be placed, as Madrid paid 40 million Euro for the player in 2006.

image via BBC

Losing three games in a row and four out of the last five games is unacceptable for a team like Real Madrid. Sunday’s contest saw Arjen Robben score what looked to be a goal, only to have it disallowed while celebrating in the corner. Getafe took full advantage of the call, counterattacking 6 on 2 and finishing what would be the decider in a 1-0 contest that saw Madrid lose their first game at the Bernabeu since February 2007.

Barcelona’s 5-1 win over Levante at the Nou Camp put them now only two points behind Madrid in the La Liga title race with the advantage looking to sway towards the team in form.

His wife might have just left him because of a picture scandal that saw him kissing another man, but times are still good for Real Madrid’s Guti.  Just last week President Ramon Calderon signed both Raul and Iker Casillas to lifetime contracts with the club and today it was announced that Calderon offered the same deal to the talented left footer.  Must be nice!

image via TypicallySpanish