Real Madrid news: Lewandowski, Nacho, Lucas Vázquez, Capello...
Today's bitesize Real Madrid news features Lucas Vázquez's assist-giving heroics, a milestone for Nacho, snow in Barcelona, and more...
Lucas Vázquez: Real Madrid's assist-king
Lucas Vázquez chalked up his fifth assist this month when he set up Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid's third in Saturday's 4-0 win over Alavés. The in-form winger, who has also scored twice in a sterling February, has now laid on 10 goals in total this season, more than any other Real player. Indeed, the 26-year-old is responsible for 15% of the team's 68 assists in 2017/18 - not bad for someone who has had just 1,750 minutes of game time...
Nacho reaches 150 Real Madrid games
The weekend thumping of Alavés saw defender Nacho Fernández reach 150 appearances in all competitions for Real Madrid, and 100 in LaLiga for the club. After the victory at the Bernabéu, the youth product marked the milestone by posing alongside his family with a commemorative shirt:
Espanyol-Real Madrid: snow forecast in Barcelona
The Agencia Estatal de Meteorología, Spain's state weather service, says that Tuesday will bring snow in Barcelona, where Real Madrid take on Espanyol at 20:00 CET that evening. Don't expect the RCDE Stadium staff to be dusting off the orange balls just yet, though: only light snowfall is predicted, and at the time that the LaLiga week 26 clash kicks off, the chief areas at risk are elsewhere in Catalonia.
Lewandowski scotches yet more Real Madrid talk
Bayern Munich and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski, a man perennially linked with Real Madrid, has rubbished suggestions that his recent change of agent is to smooth the way for a summer move to the Bernabéu. "It has nothing to do with such speculation," he told Sky. "I haven't heard anything from Real Madrid."
On this day...
On 26 February 1997, Real Madrid boss Fabio Capello - who had only been appointed the previous summer - announced that he would be leaving at the end of the season. Real would go on to win the league championship that year but, having endured a rocky relationship with club president Lorenzo Sanz, Capello was off back to AC Milan come July. Exactly a decade later, he would enjoy another single-season, title-winning stint at the Bernabéu.