Lopetegui responds to Messi’s comments about Ronaldo’s departure

Yesterday, Messi was interviewed and asked about his thoughts on Ronaldo’s departure and the status of Real Madrid, where he answered that the club is “less good” without him. Julen Lopetegui had his own response to Ronaldo’s departure in an interview with Onda Cero.

“I would not doubt the players of Real Madrid.”

“We have done okay but it is only the start and we have three weeks ahead with the Champions League.”

“We have achieved the aim of nine points and now we need to reflect. The players need to come back fit and we will see what happens.”

“Our target is everything this season. With the league you have to always be on form and it rewards consistency but we want to win everything.”

While he didn’t reference Messi directly, he is addressing the status of the club without Cristiano. He seems to believe that Real Madrid are more than capable of competing for the league and in the Champions League again, which is reasonable considering the talent still in the squad .

Obviously, Real are off to a great start by capturing all points available in their first three matches. They’ve looked pretty cohesive as a team, especially in regards to the attack.

We’ll have a better understanding of how the team looks when they play against some of the top 6 sides. We should even get a glimpse of it on the 19th when Real take on Roma.

Rumor of Marcelo swap for Juventus’ Alex Sandro surfaces

A new rumor from Tuttosport suggests Real Madrid are considering swapping Marcelo to Juventus for Alex Sandro in January. The report says that Marcelo’s relationship with Lopetegui is “deteriorating” and was unhappy with his decision to sub him off against Girona. And that he has even been sent to train with the squad’s reserves *gasp*.

It’s quite comical that the report is suggesting Marcelo is already fed up after being subbed off once. While I’m sure he’d love to play with Ronaldo again, I just don’t see Real making this swap deal at all, it makes no sense for the club. Sandro is good, but he’s not better than Marcelo.

This should probably be written off as a false rumor. While Tuttosport is a Turin-based newspaper, they just aren’t that reliable. Just because Ronaldo has left the club doesn’t mean everyone else wants to now too, as we saw in Modric’s case.

Another transfer rumor....I’m sorry but this one is fun

According to Don Balon......ok I should stop right there. No, but seriously, this report is linking Real Madrid with a €200 million move for......Antoine Griezmann. Ok, now that you’ve stopped laughing let’s continue.

This report suggests the club is interested in making a move for Griezmann after not getting Neymar this summer. Florentino Perez ‘reportedly’ has this move on his to-do list and will finally break the bank for a big star this season.

The fact that this is a Don Balon report is evidence enough that this is nonsense. Griezmann chose to stay at Atlético after it was all but confirmed he was leaving for Barcelona. I sincerely doubt he would want a move to another direct rival, one that is even in the same city, so soon after making his big decision.

Laugh this one off, Griezmann isn’t leaving and Real probably aren’t even interested in him anyways.