Ever since Manchester United won the champions League in Moscow, there has been crazy speculation as to whether or not Ronaldo wqould leave the Red Devils for Real Madrid. The spectacle surrounding this saga has picked up speed since Portugal was bounced from Euro 2008 with CRon saying he would like to head to Madrid, but that he doesn’t have any control over what Manchester United choose to do.

This whole Ronaldo situation seems like it could be one of those very important decisions that has some pretty big implications in the future of soccer at the highest levels. Not only would the reported €100m transfer fee change the game, but how clubs deal with players under contract, and how these players fuel the fire of when they want to be sold leaves FIFA with some big issues to address. I know there have been players that were heavily coveted by teams, and that these teams did what they could to unsettle the players and try to pry them away from their teams. But I think there is so much attention on the three parties involved, and there is so much money at stake, that the way in which this all is dealt with can have long lasting implications. My guess is it will probably get ugly before it gets resolved, and somebody is definitely going to walk away pissed and feeling like they got screwed. I guess the big question is who will emerge as the big winner in all of this?

TRIPLE UPDATE -  FIFA has officially confirmed that they will not punish Real Madrid over Manchester United’s complaint of “tapping up” Cristiano Ronaldo.

“From the documentation received, no breach of contract appears to have occurred yet,” FIFA said in a statement.

“Therefore, in accordance with the applicable practice, no kind of formal procedure has been opened by FIFA regarding this matter.”

DOUBLE UPDATE - Poor Cristiano..

Not only has he been photographed with Real Madrid Fitness Coach Walter Di Salvo in Rome, but it doesn’t look good for his current club Manchester United’s desire to have FIFA punish Real Madrid for unsettling the Portuguese winger.

With the announcement of Scolari going to Chelsea in the middle of the 2008 Euros, you’ve got to think there will be more news coming out of the Portugal camp as the tournament progresses.

UPDATE - Now it’s looking like Ramom Calderon will fight this charge to the death after insisting that Manchester United have no evidence that Real Madrid have acted inappropriately in their pursuit of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

Doesn’t it always seem like Madrid’s “unsettling” a player through their “admiration” of players?

It’s starting…. But it looks like Manchester United isn’t going to lose Cristiano Ronaldo without a fight.

Today United filed an official complaint with FIFA over Real Madrid’s public courting of the Portuguese winger, but kept it’s contents private.

You’ve got to think with Ronaldo’s refusal to publicly display his loyalty to Sir Alex and Man Utd that his intentions (don’t forget about Nereida Gallardo) are to become the latest Galactico.

My question is if Cristiano is allowed to make this move to Madrid, will he get his image rights in the deal? You know that Madrid will make their money back in jersey sales and marketing alone, but how much are they willing to drop up front?

If Ronaldo does declare his intentions to head to Spain, then you’d think that maybe it’d be worth the sale in terms of the amount of money you’d have coming in, but where do you spend it?

I’d go for Benzema, Ribery and Henry just to name a few.

Ronaldo and Portugal take on Czech Republic on Wednesday in their 2nd match of Group A.

UPDATE - Looks like a transfer to Real Madrid isn’t the only reason Cristiano wants to move to Spain.

SkySports is reporting that Cristiano Ronaldo has made the first and only acknowledgment of his desire to play for Real Madrid to Brazilian website Terra.

ESPN is reporting the same, pulling from Terra.

I’m very surprised that both are running with this article, only because these alleged comments didn’t come at an official press conference and Ronaldo has been very quiet around the press lately, refusing to do any media until after the 2008 Euros.

If this is true, then it will be extremely interesting to see how Sir Alex, David Gill and the Glazer family handle it.

image via Martin23

Predrag Mijatovic has not taken the role of Director of Sports lightly.  Quite the opposite.

The former Real Madrid hit man was the type of player that never back down to anyone.

After hooking up with Real President Ramon Calderon during his bid for the top spot, Calderon rewarded Pedja with the role he’s done so well with now.

Now Mijatovic has publicly opened up about where he feels the club is at, and where Barcelona isn’t.

What do you think?  Confidence or Cockiness?

Maybe both?

image via Cache

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