Stuttering Spanish champions Real Madrid returned to winning ways in La Liga but were well short of their scintillating best in a laboured 2-0 victory at lowly city rivals Rayo Vallecano on Monday.
A French court rejected Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema's request to stop a trial over his alleged attempt to blackmail fellow French soccer international Mathieu Valbuena using a sex video, a judicial source said on Friday. The affair involved phone-recorded sex footage that could prove embarrassing for Valbuena, according to sources close to the inquiry. Benzema's name came up during phone taps in relation to the inquiry opened last July, police sources say.
The win took second-placed Real to 62 points after 29 games, two behind champions Barca who beat Leganes 2-0 on Tuesday.
Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema was named French player of the year by France Football magazine on Tuesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo struck his 43rd league goal of the campaign to set Real Madrid on their way to a 3-0 home win over Sevilla on Sunday that put them within a whisker of a first La Liga title in four years.
Real Madrid warmed up for their crunch meeting against Barcelona by thrashing Sevilla 4-0 and coach Zinedine Zidane believes his team "can do great things" if they match the performance they produced against Unai Emery's side.
Real Madrid's talismanic forward Cristiano Ronaldo is set to face Manchester City in Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg after coming through training on Monday.
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has returned to training after recovering from a hamstring injury and could be fit to face Manchester City in the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday. Ronaldo has not featured since April 20, but could return for the second leg having missed last week's 0-0 draw at the Etihad Stadium. The 31-year-old Portuguese trained with his team mates during the first half of Sunday's session before working out on the pitch alone, Real said on their website. Striker Karim Benzema also continued his recovery from a hamstring injury and Alvaro Arbeloa - who has not played since early April - completed some running exercises.
Real Madrid's Karim Benzema rescued his side again by scoring two late goals to snatch a 2-1 win at home to Elche in La Liga on Saturday and revive his side's hopes of catching leaders Atletico Madrid.
Real Madrid star striker Cristiano Ronaldo will travel with the team for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final clash against Manchester City after recovering from a thigh injury.
Holders Real Madrid were helped into the King's Cup quarter-finals by a goalkeeping howler from Malaga's Willy Caballero on Tuesday which gifted them a 1-0 away win.
Holders Real Madrid scored three times in 10 minutes at the Bernabeu on Tuesday in a dramatic comeback to beat Malaga 3-2 in their King's Cup last 16 first leg.
Jose Mourinho attributed a large part of Barcelona's 3-1 'Clasico' victory at the Bernabeu on Saturday to luck and dismissed the idea that it would damage his side's morale in the La Liga title race.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane is under pressure to break up his misfiring attacking trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale when he takes the La Liga leaders to Alaves on Saturday.
France striker Karim Benzema has been ruled out of Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier at home to Albania and next Tuesday's game with Bosnia because of an abductor muscle problem and several other players are carrying injuries.
'Oh, I need competition. When someone says he's better than me, I want to transcend him. Ronaldo wants to be the best at everything, (France striker Kylian) Mbappe also wants to win everything.'
French police investigating a prostitution network questioned football stars Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema in custody on Tuesday about the alleged soliciting of sex with a minor, police said.
World champions France won the Nations League final with goals from Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe earning them a 2-1 win over Spain at the San Siro stadium on Sunday.
Karim Benzema cemented his return to form with his second hat-trick of the month and Cristiano Ronaldo also netted three goals as Real Madrid crushed lowly Levante 8-0 in their King's Cup last-16 first leg on Wednesday.
France striker Karim Benzema will be questioned as a witness by police investigating a prostitution network, a police source close to the case said on Wednesday.
Paris St Germain had a chance to extend their Ligue 1 lead to five points after RC Lens drew 1-1 at Troyes and Olympique de Marseille and Monaco shared the spoils on Saturday.
Angel di Maria's late intervention spared Real Madrid another inquest into the case of the misfiring forwards while Zlatan Ibrahimovic's sense of occasion salvaged a Champions League point for AC Milan.
Real Madrid clinched a record-extending 34th La Liga title with one game to spare by beating Villarreal 2-1 at home on Thursday thanks to two goals from their leading scorer Karim Benzema. Real have 86 points after 37 games, seven more than deposed champions Barcelona who were beaten 2-1 at home to Osasuna.
Real Madrid stayed hard on the heels of leaders Barcelona when in-form striker Karim Benzema scored to set them on their way to a 2-1 win at battling city rivals Atletico in La Liga on Saturday.
Images from the second leg of the Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
Chelsea and Real Madrid moved into the last eight of the Champions League with minimum of fuss on Wednesday. The former drew 0-0 at home with a battling FC Copenhagen to complete a 2-0 aggregate victory, while the Spanish giants ended a six-year Champions League jinx, crushing Olympique Lyon 3-0 to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2004.
Karim Benzema scored twice as Real Madrid survived without Cristiano Ronaldo to win 3-1 at Racing Santander and close the gap on La Liga leaders Barcelona to seven points on Sunday.
Cristiano Ronaldo broke his four-game scoring drought with a hat-trick as Real Madrid trounced lowly Malaga 7-0 in La Liga on Thursday to trim the gap with leaders Barcelona back to seven points.
Emmanuel Adebayor came off the bench to score on his home debut for Real Madrid and put the icing on a 3-0 aggregate win over holders Sevilla that set up a mouthwatering King's Cup final against Barcelona.
Real Madrid and Barcelona are heading for a King's Cup showdown after the great rivals won their semi-final first legs on Wednesday. Real won a controversial game 1-0 at holders Sevilla thanks to a goal from Karim Benzema while Lionel Messi struck twice as 2009 winners Barca thumped Almeria 5-0 at the Nou Camp.
Karim Benzema went some way to justifying the 35 million euros ($49 million) Real Madrid paid to sign him when his goal secured a scrappy 1-0 home win over Real Mallorca in La Liga on Sunday.
Real Madrid's miserable run of results continued on Saturday as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Levante, their third successive loss in all competitions which piles more pressure on coach Julen Lopetegui.
Real Madrid will use Karim Benzema as bait to get Wayne Rooney, as the Spanish club is preparing a 50 million pounds deal to bag the Manchester United striker.
Real Madrid need to sign two more players and off-load about 10 to round off their summer transfer dealings, club president Florentino Perez has said.
Franck Ribery wants to leave Bayern Munich and join Real Madrid, sports daily L'Equipe quoted the France midfielder as saying on Thursday.
France striker Karim Benzema is set to join Real Madrid from Olympique Lyon after the two clubs reached agreement, French radio RMC said on Wednesday. A few details, notably salary and the length of his contract, still needed to be settled, RMC said, quoting Benzema's agent.
Manchester City marched into the quarter-finals of the Champions League
Real Madrid moved to within a point of La Liga leaders Barcelona after Karim Benzema, Isco, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez and Cristiano Ronaldo all scored in a 5-1 thrashing at struggling Getafe on Saturday.
The teenage call girl, who was accused of sleeping with at least three French football stars including Franck Ribery, has broken her silence saying she 'loved them all'.
Olympique Lyon coach Claude Puel is under no illusions that his side face a monumental task to reclaim a Ligue 1 title they owned for seven successive seasons without their two most influential players.
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