Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey last night by beating Barcelona 1 – 0, courtesy of a Christiano Ronaldo extra-time header to hand Jose Mourinho his first silverware at Real.

The first 90 minutes at the Mestalla had ended goalless, with Madrid on top in the opening period and Barca better after the break.

But despite the Catalans’ superior possession in extra-time, Mourinho’s men looked dangerous on the break and after Ronaldo had angled a low shot just wide, the Portuguese beat Jose Manuel Pinto with a brilliant header following Angel di Maria’s pinpoint cross.

Pinto started in goal instead of Victor Valdes, as he had done all the way through the competition.

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Portugal striker Christiano Ronaldo has added his voice to a growing list of criticism against the African trumpet instrument, saying it’s hard to concentrate with blaring of the vuvuzelas in the stadium.

“It is difficult for anyone on the pitch to concentrate,” the Portugal star told a press conference.

“A lot of players don’t like them, but they are going to have to get used to them.”

The metre-long plastic vuvuzelas have been a hit with fans at the World Cup stadiums in South Africa, but the noise of thousands being blown at once resembles a high-volume swarm of buzzing bees.

“Teams have done nothing but criticise the vuvuzelas, but you have to respect them,” Real Madrid midfielder Ronaldo said.

“Hardly anyone likes them, but the people who do like them are those who like to blow the instruments and make a racket.”

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This weekend’s World Cup qualifying matches saw few of the the big name strikers of the World impress for their respective countries.

Fernando Torres, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo were all in action on Saturday, but none have come anywhere close to the 12 goals scored by Osea Vakatalesau of Fiji.

Vakatalesau has not even featured in a qualifying match since Fiji’s 2-0 win over Oceania section winners New Zealand in November 2008, but he is not the only confederation top scorer who won’t be appearing in South Africa next summer.

Thailand’s Sarayoot Chaikamdee and Uzbekistan’s Maksim Shatskikh were the deadliest marksmen in the Asian zone with eight goals apiece, but both countries failed to qualify.

Uzkebistan finished bottom of Group One behind Australia, Japan, Bahrain and Qatar in the final round of the Asian campaign, with former Dynamo Kiev player Shatskikh’s last involvement coming in the 4-0 win over Qatar back in March.

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Wayne Rooney scored to hand Manchester United a 1 – 0 English Premier League win over newcomers Birmingham, whilst Liverpool lost 2 – 1 againt Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

North-west rivals United and Liverpool slugged it out for the trophy last season but both looked below-par and pedestrian compared with Arsenal who thumped six goals past Everton on Saturday.

The champions at least hung on to claim all three points and with Chelsea also victorious Liverpool were the only one of the four title favourites who failed to win on the opening weekend.

United, minus Cristiano Ronaldo, needed the quick reactions of Rooney 12 minutes before halftime at Old Trafford to see off promoted Birmingham, the England striker stabbing in a rebound after his header hit the post.

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Real Madrid played against the Shamrock Rovers from Ireland in a club friendly on Monday night, but failed to impress despite winning 1 – 0.

The ’second Galacticos’ as the team is commonly referred to, began the match without a single Dutchman on the pitch. This adds to speculations on manager Pellegrini’s wish to sell most of the Dutch players.

Cristiano Ronaldo did form part of the starting line-up but failed to impress against the Irish.

The only goal was scored with just four minutes to go, and came from substitute forward Karim Benzema.

Real Madrid begin their 2009-10 La Liga campaign against Deportivo la Coruña on August 30.

Source: soccernews.com

Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini says the Portuegese star Christiano Ronaldo does not have star mentality.

“He’s as I expected him to be. He is the first to arrive at a training session, he has fully integrated into the squad, he doesn’t act as a star,” he said Sunday during his first post-training press conference as Real’s new coach.

“He is a very talented but normal player who is devoted to Real Madrid. His image is very different to how he is as a player.”

Real signed the player from Manchester United last month on a six-year deal worth around 94 million euros (131 million dollars) and he will reportedly be paid 13 million euros each season, making him the most expensive player in the world.

The 24-year-old was officially unveiled before some 75,000 ecstatic Real fans on July 6 at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

He had to be hurried away when spectators leapt over security barriers to try to get an autograpah.

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Cristiano Ronaldo was presented to a near-capacity crowd of 80,000 at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium after completing the formalities of his £80m world record move to Real Madrid.

An estimated 50,000-strong crowd – almost three times the anticipated number – turned up to watch the ceremony at the Bernabeu stadium as Kaka was unveiled as Madrid’s latest addition by club president Florentino Perez and honorary president Alfredo di Stefano.

Sources:     dailymail.co.uk       zimbio.com