Source: Daily_Mail
Kaka is ready for his Premier League audition at Tottenham - Game in Spain
[LNB]Hairy moment: Kaka sports his beard against Spurs[LNB]GAME IN SPAINKaka made a rare appearance for Real Madrid against Tottenham and making an even rarer appearance was his beard. The normally clean-shaven face of Gillette sported a new look on his comeback.[LNB]Bizarrely it has been suggested in Spain that he's not shaving because his contract with the brand has come to an end and he is haggling over a new deal. Presumably the bigger the beard he grows, the more he takes with him to the negotiating table.[LNB]Of more concern to all his sponsors will be that very little has been seen of him at all this season. [LNB]The first three months of the campaign were spent recovering from a knee operation but he has been fit since the turn of the year and it seems a feeling that he no longer fits in at Madrid is as much behind his slow return to full fitness as ongoing physical problems. [LNB]Mourinho seems as unsure of the player as Kaka is of his coach, and he is likely to leave in the summer. Which means while Wednesday night at White Hart Lane might not be the biggest game of the season for the rest of the squad, for Kaka it could be crucial.[LNB]When he came on as a substitute in the first leg he was whistled by his home fans who are fully behind Mourinho's plans to move him on. Jorge Valdano would be his greatest defender within the club but his influence is massively on the decline. [LNB]When Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice on Tuesday it might just as well have been Valdano in goal. January's row between the Madrid director and Mourinho was all about the need to sign the Togolese front man. [LNB]Valdano believed any signing would stunt the growth of the player he signed the previous summer Karim Benzema. Mourinho said Real needed a third striker. [LNB] Who's the man? Emmanuel Adebayor celebrates scoring his second goal against Spurs[LNB]With Benzema injured on Tuesday, Adebayor headed Real into the next round and Valdano's credibility took another body blow. [LNB]It was a small victory for Mourinho but there have been lots of small victories over Valdano and they all amount to the Portuguese coach having full control of transfer activity next summer.[LNB]Kaka is on the list to leave the club and Valdano - the man who brought him - will be helpless to prevent his departure. His cross for Cristiano Ronaldo to score the fourth reminded everyone what he is capable of. [LNB]Mourinho will rest players ahead of El Clasico which comes just three days after the match in London so Kaka could even start. The Spurs game might be his perfect chance to show English clubs he would still be worth signing this June. [LNB] There were 18 goals in the Champions League this week and half of them were scored by Real Madrid and Barcelona. [LNB]Barca have a striker crisis with Leo Messi failing to score since the win over Arsenal, David Villa having gone seven games without finding the net and Pedro in a drought since February. [LNB]But fortunately for Pep Guardiola everyone else knows how to find the back of the net, including Gerard Pique whose goal celebration - two fingers raised on both hands - is apparently because he and girlfriend Shakira both have a birthday on February 2.[LNB]Just the two of us: Gerard Pique marks his goal against Shakhtar Donetsk[LNB]The four=fingered salute could also now stand for four Clasicos in the space of 18 days. Real Madrid have not beaten Guardiola's Barcelona in five attempts but the Champions League could be their best chance with history firmly on their side.[LNB]The pair have only met three times previously in the European Cup and when the duel came at the semi-final stage as it will this time, Real knocked their rivals out in both the 1959-60 and 2001-02 seasons. [LNB]Jose Mourinho also has happy memories of semi-finals against Barcelona. Last year he was showered by the pitch sprinklers and wrestled by Victor Valdes as he celebrated in front of Inter fans after qualifying for the final.[LNB] The Real punishment for Tottenham's 4-0 defeat against Real Madrid will come at the end of the season if the brutal nature of their exit from the competition they lit up for so long affects their league form and they end up in the dreaded Europa League. [LNB]UEFA have managed to devise a competition so financially, physically and mentally draining that many teams now don't want to be in it.[LNB]This weekend Villarreal play Valenciain one of La Liga's biggest games of the season. Three points separate the two teams with third placed Valencia heading for an automatic Champions League place and fourth placed Villarreal in danger of having to qualify.[LNB] Hanging on: Nilmar and Giuseppe Rossi celebrate during Villarreal's 5-1 win over Twente[LNB] Villarreal must win the match and they must doit with just two days to prepare because UEFA had them playing their Europa League quarter-final at 9pm local time on Thursday night.[LNB]The never ending slog around Europe that begins every July is a burden on every top-four wannabe side in Europe'sbig leagues. [LNB]Liverpool'sattempts to break back into the elite next season would be hampered by their participation. Tottenham will be in the same position if they don't make the cut this year. [LNB]And if Villarreal are beaten on Sunday by a fresher Valencia, socondemning them to having to qualify for next season's Champions League, they will also be cursing the worst competition a football governing body has ever come up with.[LNB] More from Pete Jenson... Game in Spain: Blistering or burnt-out - which Ronaldo will return?01/04/11 Game in Spain: Unfinished business pits Real against Jose's suitors 24/03/11 Game in Spain: Is Ali Syed a sugar daddy or serial fraudster?17/03/11 Game in Spain: Raul may have snubbed Man United but is there an unlikely trip to Old Trafford ahead?10/03/11 Game in Spain: Mourinho mayhem at Madrid more exciting than title race04/03/11 Game in Spain: Toral gives Barca another reason for revenge24/02/11 Game in Spain: Special One Mourinho offers Real European reminder18/02/11 Game in Spain: New deal couldn't have come at a more poignant time for Pep 11/02/11 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE[LNB] Explore more:People: David Villa, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Leo Messi, Gerard Pique, Victor Valdes, Shakira, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jose Mourinho Places: Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, London, Spain, Europe
