Ballon D’Or shortlist 30 nominees announced—”9” from Real Madrid included

The Ballon D’Or nominees were announced earlier on Monday, a good handful of Real Madrid players, both current and former, are included.

Among the shortlist nominees are: Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Thibaut Courtois, Cristiano Ronaldo, Isco, Marcelo, Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane.

The most likely winners affiliated with Real Madrid over the past season are clearly Modric and Ronaldo. Modric has won several men’s play of the year awards already and is one of the favorites for the Ballon D’Or this year. It’s likely going to come down between Ronaldo, Modric, and perhaps even Messi.

Toni Kroos tweets positive message about recent slump

Kroos has given his thoughts on Twitter about the recent form and performances of Real Madrid. He seems to be staying positive about the team and doesn’t seem to worried just yet.

Kroos brings up the past struggles of the club over the past few seasons since he’s joined. Going back as soon as last season around this time, the club was in a similar situation with poor performances and nagging long-term injuries.

The big difference, other than a brand new manager, is that Barcelona isn’t running away with the league at this point as they were last season. They’ve been unable to get needed wins in LaLiga as Real Madrid have recently.

If nothing else, at least Kroos is remaining optimistic about the team this season and isn’t ready to concede that the sky is falling, if any player would ever even admit that otherwise.

New report gives ‘insight’ about Zidane leaving Real Madrid

A new report from El Pais’ Diego Torres has claimed new reasons for Zidane leaving the club over the summer. The report says that Zidane had reportedly requested Florentino Perez sell Bale over the summer and use those funds towards a transfer of Eden Hazard.

It also reports that Perez’s mind was made up about not selling Bale after scoring his goal against Liverpool in the Champions League Final. Originally, he reportedly agreed to sell Bale and buy Neymar, though Zidane was hesitant about him.

It also claims that Perez didn’t care Ronaldo was departing for Juventus, as he believes Bale is the better player. He also reportedly wanted to convince Zidane to give Bale another chance, which upset Zidane for changing plans without consulting him beforehand. Zidane resigned shortly thereafter.

So addressing this report, I can’t say I believe it outright. I tend to not think Perez genuinely believes Bale is better than Ronaldo. Perhaps Zidane and Perez ended up having a falling out, but given Zidane was supposed to meet with Bale over the summer I doubt he truly felt blindsided by Perez wanting him to stay.

If there was a falling out, I don’t think we’ll every truly know the full story. So, I’m certain there will be plenty of speculation to fill that void of unknowingness.