Sunday, 15 September 2013

Cristiano Ronaldo extends Real Madrid contract

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has renewed his contract with the club, which had been due to expire in 2015, the Spanish giants confirmed on Sunday.

The Portuguese international will attend a ceremony at 1:45 pm (1145 GMT) with Real president Florentino Perez at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium to mark the renewal of his deal, the club said on its website.

The 28-year-old's record since joining Madrid from Manchester United for a then world record 94 million euros back in 2009 has been phenomenal with the Portuguese scoring 203 times in 203 appearances.

Real Madrid did not give details of the contract extention, but Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the deal will run until 2018 and make Ronaldo the best paid player in the world.

"The salary of the player will be close to 20 million euros, making him the best paid footballer in the world," it said.

Four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi was the previous highest paid player in Spain with a salary of 16 million euros a season.

The deal ends a series of drawn out negotiations that began back at the end of the 2011-12 season.

Speculation then mounted that the Portuguese would leave the Spanish capital after he said he was "sad" in September last year and was believed to be upset at the lack of support offered to him by the club in his quest to reclaim the Balon d'Or, which Messi has won for the past four years.

However, any chance that Ronaldo could make a sensational return to Manchester United or indeed to big-spending French duo Paris Saint-Germain or Monaco now seems a long shot with the player set to under contract until he is 33.

Despite the speculation, Perez was always confident that the player would renew his contract and end his career at Real.

"Ronaldo wants to retire at Real Madrid, and we want him to retire here, just like [Zinedine] Zidane and so many other great players did," Perez said in July when asked about the reports that Ronaldo was planning to leave the Spanish side.

Since then Perez has splashed over 90 million euros once more on Gareth Bale.

The Welshman's transfer from Tottenham was finally sealed at the start of September and he made his debut for the club alongside Ronaldo on Saturday, with both men scoring in the 2-2 draw at Villareal.

Bale is just the latest in a string of "galactico" signings, Real president Perez has made during two spells in charge of the club, in a drive to boost their commercial revenue and success on the pitch.

Auditors Deloitte's latest Money League report showed that Real had become the first football club to generate more than 500 million euros a year, whilst Forbes ranked them as the most valuable sports team in the world last month with an estimated value of $3.3 billion.

Barclays Premier League

Barclays Premier League point table

Childhood Pictures of Cricketers

Childhood Pictures of Cricketers

Zimbabwe & pakistan Sharing The test Trophy


Latest ICC Test Rankings

Latest ICC Test Rankings

Sir Alex At Old Trafford

Sir Alex At Old Trafford to watch Premier League match against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford in Manchester.

Czech Republic to a third Davis Cup final in five years

Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych led holders Czech Republic to a third Davis Cup final in five years after breezing past Argentina's Carlos Berlocq and Horacio Zeballos in Saturday's doubles.

Stepanek and Berdych won 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and three minutes to earn an unbeatable 3-0 lead after they had dominated Friday's singles.

The Czechs, who won the 2012 trophy by beating Spain 3-2 in Prague, will travel to either Canada or Serbia for the November 15-17 final.

"It's pure fantasy, the guys played at a hundred percent again," said team captain Jaroslav Navratil.

"They didn't give the Argentinians a chance, they wiped them out, and we're very happy we can fight for the lovely trophy again after a year," he added.

"We would like to keep the trophy because it's beautiful," said Stepanek.

The Czech duo on Saturday won the 13th of their 14 Davis Cup doubles rubbers together since teaming up in 2007, while Berlocq and Zeballos played their debut doubles match together in Prague.

Besides, Stepanek, the world number five in doubles rankings, got a boost from the US Open doubles title with Leander Paes a week ago.

Pushed on by an emotional crowd of more than 11,000 fans around the superfast hardcourt at Prague's O2 Arena, the Czechs benefited from good serving and Stepanek's dominance at the net.

All they needed was four breaks, one apiece in the first two sets and two in the third.

Berlocq was the first to lose his serve in game eight of the first set, handing the Czechs a 6-3 set win.

He failed again late in the second set which the Czechs won 6-4. Each of the Argentinians then lost their serve in the last set which the Czechs took 6-2.

"We played a great game. Everything was in the right place today, we didn't drop a serve," said Berdych.

"As long as you are able to make pressure on them, you make chances, and that's what we've done today," he added, calling the rubber "one of the very good matches together with Radek."

On Friday, Stepanek, the world number 61 in singles and Czech number two, saw off 30th-ranked Argentinian number-one player Juan Monaco 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-2 in the opening rubber.

Fifth-ranked Berdych then beat world number 93 Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Argentina were missing their top star Juan Martin Del Potro, who is taking a break from the competition this year, as well as an injured David Nalbandian.

The 2012 Davis Cup triumph was the first for the Czechs since Czechoslovakia, which split peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, won the trophy in 1980 with a team led by then 20-year-old Ivan Lendl.

Argentina, who have played three finals in the last seven years, are still seeking their first Davis Cup trophy.