“Yes, Morata is a Real Madrid player”, he told reporters in MI following his team’s 3-2 win over Chelsea in the International Champions Cup at the weekend.
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The 19-year-old joins the Spanish side side off the back of a solid campaign with the Gunners U21s, in which he was named captain. “When we return to Madrid we’ll know more about it”, Zidane said at a news conference in New Jersey yesterday, on the eve of Real’s final United States pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich.
The first half of this match, Bayern played a style very reminiscent of Pep Ball, winning possession, dictating the tempo, and limiting Real’s counter attack capability.
Zidane’s rise to European-Cup winning coach has certainly been swift.
The Spain global enjoyed his two seasons as a first-team regular at Juventus, before Real activated a buy-back clause in his contract this summer. It is also notable that Madrid have won six and lost just two of their last nine encounters with Bayern and have won each of the clubs’ last three meetings on the spin.
Be that as it may, it seems Rodriguez will be staying at Real for at least one more season.
The 25-year-old Algeria worldwide, who signed from Ligue 2 side Le Havre in 2014, has become a hot property after scoring 17 league goals and winning the PFA Player of the Year during Leicester’s remarkable title-winning campaign. Now it’s my time and I thank him for what he taught me.
Once Zidane took over and made a decision to play with Casemiro (centre), Toni Kroos (left) and Luka Modric (right) through the midfield, Isco and James Rodriguez started most matches on the bench.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe, Kroos and Bale are still out so we can expect a team consisting of fringe players.
And this week Zidane gave the okay to sell Jese to Paris Saint-Germain for around £20million – clearing out another player that would battle Morata for gametime. Yet, since he’s returned to USA soil for the Champions Cup, he’s been incredible.
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Benzema, 28, missed out on Real Madrid’s Champions League final win against Atletico Madrid due to injury and was also left out of Didier Deschamps’ France squad at Euro 2016. Julian Green does not do any one thing masterfully well, but he is good enough in many areas, the most important being his work rate, to be a contributor.
