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The only goal of the game was scored by substitute Zlatan Ibrahimovic, thanks to a long range pass by Dani Alves. Madrid defenders Pepe and Albiol reacted just a second too late to stop the Catalan striker.

At some point, it was interesting to see that many local fans tried to bother Cristiano Ronaldo with laser pointers before a free kick.

Pellegrini’s team now fell to second place in the Spanish League, but it certainly is not a tragedy. Sevilla and Valencia are close behind but the race for the title is still open for any team.

Real Madrid recently joined the list of teams in the chase of the popular Cesc. What’s more, some Spanish newspaper suggest that Sandro Rosell, a former Nike executive, wants to use the recruitment of Fabregas to boost his chances to be elected president of Barcelona at the club’s next elections in 2010.

However, Fabregas is happy in London: “I’m comfortable at Arsenal. We have started strongly in the Premier League and Champions League. We will see how it goes and hopefully injuries will be kind to us.”

“I’m focused on the short term and don’t look beyond that. I am the captain of my team, which is a great responsibility to my club and now is not the time to think in something else” he said.

Will Madrid or Barcelona achieve their goal of making him change his mind?

“Today I only think about Fiorentina and I’m happy that the club consider me unsellable. If I listened to everything said about me then I would risk losing my mind.”

As we know, the south american defender struggled when he first joined the Viola from Catania, but proved to be a world class player this year. Now he is considered the best left-footed defender in the world.

Many newspapers in Spain have revealed the shopping list of Real Madrid for the next season, and Vargas is one of the most mentioned names.

Indeed, the former Manchester United player scored three before half-time and rounded off a superb display with a fourth near the end to take his total to eight goals from 10 Primera League encounters.

We must consider that this was his second hat-trick of the season, the other was against Levante in another four-one away victory in September.

“Yes, I have scored four once before, two years ago in the Champions League against Sparta Prague,” said van Nistelrooy.

“But I think that today was a unique day, because from four or five chances I scored four goals and that is really hard.

“All the opportunities came to me and I was able to take advantage. These things don’t happen often. It was incredible.”

The Brazilian star has denied reports he’s already agreed terms over a new deal at Real and admitted: “It is not that I feel mistreated. But I want to reach the numbers that I was offered by Fenerbahce and Chelsea.

“I think that I am young for football. I can play until I’m 40. I want to play for five years more. To speak with Pedja without knowing what it is happening is difficult. I can help Marcelo grow, but I want the club to listen to the things that are going through my mind.

“In fact, it is not money question, that would be crazy. The problem is where I want to play. I want to win two or three titles more with Real Madrid.”

“In these matches there are no favorites,” said Mijatovic. “I have played in derbies when the team which had the better sport situation ended up losing. It is a really special game and form doesn’t count for anything.

“In fact, our mental state, the desire and the good result in the Champions League are reason enough for us to say ‘we can beat them’.

“They surely are not as strong as the last two years. However, this is something normal. To maintain that rate for three or four years is impossible.

“In addition, they have won important titles and that always relaxes you just a little bit, even if the player says it doesn’t. I’m sure that we arrive at this derby with more advantages than they.

“We arrive with more hunger. The defeat last year hurt us a lot. I believe that right now we are in better form than them” he said.

“I can say that Beckham will leave us. We will not renew his contract,” the club’s sporting director and former Madrid striker Predrag Mijatovic was quoted as saying.

However, not all the information says the same thing about the British player. There are some version that still give a hope in the relationship between Becks and Madrid.

Indeed, Gaspar Rosety told a news agency: “Predrag Mijatovic has not spoken to Sky Italia and has made no such comments about Beckham’s contract.”

We must consider that Real Madrid have been offering the 31-year-old midfielder a two-year extension to his current deal, which ends in June, but said they wanted David Beckham to make a quick decision on his future so they can plan for next season.

It’s important to mention that Beckham has been free to talk to other clubs with teams in England, Italy and the United States interested in signing the English footballer.