Real Madrid 3 - 1 Sporting Gijon Highlights Video 20 March

Valdano: "We are proud to have Ronaldo"

Jorge Valdano fielded questions from the press on Tuesday shortly after the club signed a collaboration agreement between the Real Madrid Foundation and Grupo Santander that will assist Project Haiti.

"We are very happy with Cristiano Ronaldo and we respect his personality. He has always had a winning attitude and he always helps build the show. Everyone is free to opine, and we are free to feel proud to have him playing for us."

"We respect every club we play against and are grateful for the hospitality we receive wherever we go. We do not want to create tension between anyone. We discuss events that took place during matches once they have concluded, but we try to turn the page as quickly as possible as long as there is no extremely serious matter to attend to."

"We are putting too much blame on the referees and they usually do a good job, generally speaking. Officiating a Real Madrid match is not an easy task because there is a lot of pressure and there are many plays that are hard to see. We have the advantage of watching the game on television as well, which lets us see that something that originally looked like nothing is actually more serious than originally believed."

Real Madrid 4 -1 Valladolid Match Video Highlights

Higuain:"Barcelona are the best" !!!!!!!!!!!

Gonzalo Higuain may be on a collision course with team-mates after declaring that rivals Barcelona are the best side in the world.

With Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso and Karim Benzema to name a few in Madrid's ranks, the Argentine still believes the Catalan outfit are out in front.

He has also heaped praise on countryman Lionel Messi, suggesting he is the world's best talent.

He said: "People like who they like, but for me Messi is the best in the world. He has won the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player awards and at the moment is the world's best.

"Although Madrid are the best team in history, currently Barcelona is the best team in the world. It is hard for me to say that."

Meanwhile, Real midfielder Lassana Diarra is not sure if Barcelona have any problems despite their slight dip in form.

The Catalan giants fell to a first defeat of the season at Atletico Madrid recently and looked shaky in Tuesday's 1-1 Champions League last 16 draw at Stuttgart.

With Manuel Pellegrini's Real facing Tenerife on Saturday, they have the opportunity to move above them in the table and apply further pressure on Pep Guardiola's side ahead of their game with Malaga.

Despite their first major setback of the campaign, the former Arsenal and Portsmouth man can't see any real concern within the Barca ranks.

Diarra said: "I've seen Barcelona's last few matches and I don't think they have a problem. If you asked me if they are weaker than last season, maybe yes, maybe no.

"A team cannot be at 100 per-cent all the time. But we have to take advantage of the small slips they might have."

Elsewhere, Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez has admitted he has mixed feelings following his side's Champions League last 16 draw against CSKA Moscow on Wednesday evening.

The Spanish outfit opened the scoring through Alvaro Negredo only for Mark Gonzalez to lash home a stunning equaliser.

Although his team are favourites to progress ahead of the second leg at their Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan home, Sanchez believed his team would grab the advantage in Russia.

He said: "Although the result is good, we cannot avoid going away with a bitter-sweet taste in the mouth.

"It's not a negative result, as scoring away from home is always positive.

"I was convinced that the game was going to be ours, it's not completely gone the way I wanted and I'm sure that CSKA, who are a great team, will come and give it everything at our ground."

Cristiano wants to play with Wayne Rooney

Cristiano Ronaldo would love to link up with Wayne Rooney again.

The pair enjoyed a fine relationship during their time at Manchester United, where Rooney continues to prove he is a world class talent.

Ronaldo, of course, left Old Trafford for Real Madrid in a world record £80million deal in the summer, but he admits he would love to line up alongside his pal again in the future.

“He was always brilliant when I played with him," he told Sky Sports News. “I played with him for three or four years and he was always brilliant, not just this season.

“He is fantastic and a winner. I hope to play with him again someday. I don't know if this is possible but I am really happy for him and for all the players at Manchester."