Strange that halfway through the season, when teams are about to enter into the business end of proceedings, that Real Madrid should make a mid-week jaunt to Albania for a friendly against Gramozi Ersekë: a type of marketing exercise usually reserved for pre-season. Rumour has it that the president of their Albanian rivals, Rezart Taci, paid Real Madrid €2.5 million to play the Taci Oil Cup, a figure that Real pay out to Cristiano in wages every four months. As it was Real Madrid won through 1-2, and flew away from Tirana injury-free.But it was certainly a huge risk to play Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo, both of whom have only recently returned from long injury lay-offs, on a pitch that had ligament damage written all over it. It also remains to be seen what will be the mental and physical cost of a trip to the other end of Europe, but what can be said is that given that they've already been knocked out of the cup, there was no reason not to earn a tidy sum of euros, whilst spreading the Real Madrid love to pastures new and giving a run out to players who have hardly featured in recent weeks; namely Raul, Guti, Dudek, Metzelder and Granero.
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The main bonus Manuel Pelligrini will take away from Albania was the return to goalscoring form of Kaká and Benzema, although the Frenchman also showed that his confidence still hasn't fully recovered since his move from Lyon. Unfortunately for the Albanians, whilst beforehand they wanted to show the world that one of Europes poorest countries could play host to one of the worlds greatest teams, all people are talking about after is the 90 minute blackout which plunged the stadium in darkness. No shame in that, given their financial situation severely limiting the facilities available, and Gramozi certainly did the country proud with a determined display that almost yielded a creditable draw.
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Back home in Madrid, the end is nigh for Ruud Van Nistlerooys stay in the spanish capital, with the dutch hitman on the verge of a move either back to the Premiership or to the Bundesliga, with Tottenham, Stoke and Hamburg all interested. Fernando Gago has also agreed a loan move to Boca Juniors which will see the midfielder move back home to Argentina until at least the end of this seaon.