La Liga Review

Ronaldo aims for record after flying start at Real Madrid

By Thomas Rooney

When making the move from Manchester United to Real Madrid in the summer, Cristiano Ronaldo would have had ambitions to break scoring records for the Spanish club. However, even he wouldn’t have envisaged doing it during September of his first season.

Having scored in his first three league games for the club though, Ronaldo is aiming to become the first player in Madrid’s history to score in his first four Primera Division games.He will achieve the feat if he manages to find the back of the net against Villarreal tonight.

This follows a cracking start for the Portugal international in Real Madrid colours. He scored twice in Sunday’s win over Xerez and he also grabbed a goal in the victories against Deportivo La Coruna and
Espanyol.

There is certainly no issues over needing time to settle in since his big money move and it seems as though he has been playing in Spain all of his life. It is clear to see that he is enjoying his football at the moment as well and so he should be.

He is scoring regularly already and his team have recorded a 100% start to the season so far with three wins from three games.

Ronaldo isn’t the only major new signing to be making an impression on the Primera Division though. Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has already achieved the feat of scoring in his first four league games for the club to help Pep Guardiola’s men to four victories so far this season.

This means that not only is Real Madrid v Barcelona for the title likely to be extremely competitive this season, but the Ibarhimovic v Ronaldo odds for the leading goal scorer in the Primera Division is also hotting up after both players made an excellent start to life in Spain.

By Guest writer Thomas Rooney

Transfer deadline day may have come and gone, but Barcelona are confident of making one more signing in the not too distant future. This is because Carlos Puyol is set to extend his stay at the club by signing a new contract.Joan Laporta is convinced that the club captain will tie up an extension to his deal soon, a move that would see Puyol spend the rest of his football career at Barcelona.

When this does materialise, it will end the uncertainty about Puyol’s future. Some reports have suggested that he could be on the verge of leaving the club. However, speaking about the situation, Laporta said there have been several ‘meetings with the representatives of Puyol’ that should end
in an ‘agreement’ between all relevant parties.

There have certainly been some complications in these negotiations for whatever reason, but it seems as though everyone is happy for the player to stay where he is. Laporta confirmed that ‘the manager and the club want him here’.

So, all being well, this will be sorted in the next week or so. In the end, it could come down to what Puyol himself wants. He obviously cares a great deal for Barcelona – he made his first team debut in
1999 – but he understandably wants to deal to be perfect for him at this stage of his career.

Hopefully, the 31-year-old will agree to everything so he can concentrate on leading another successful La Liga campaign for Barcelona. Puyol is a legend to the club and nobody wants to see him leave.

In fact, it just wouldn’t seem quite right to see him in the shirt of another team. Puyol is meant to see out his career with Barcelona and this would be the case when / if he decides to commit his future by
signing on the dotted line.