Benzema's top scoring season

The striker tallied 32 goals in the 2011/12 campaign

Javier Garcia / Translation by Michael J. O'Donnell

Karim Benzema's third season at Real Madrid has been the one in which he's tallied the most goals in his career. The player has netted 32 strikes (one more than in the 2007/08 campaign with Olympique Lyonnais), brigning his total tally at Real Madrid up to 67. This is one goal better than his 66 goal tally during his five years on the French team.

BENZEMA GOALS AT OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS
Season	Ligue 1	Cup of France	League Cup	UCL	Super Cup	TOTAL
2005/06	1	2	0	1	1	5
2006/07	5	0	0	2	0	7
2007/08	20	6	1	4	0	31
2008/09	17	1	0	5	0	23
TOTAL	43	9	1	12	1	66

BENZEMA GOALS AT REAL MADRID
Season	La Liga	Copa del Rey	UCL	S. S. Cup	TOTAL
2009/10	8	0	1	0	9
2010/11	15	5	6	0	26
2011/12	21	3	7	1	32
TOTAL	44	8	14	1	67

Casillas celebrates 31st birthday

The captain has just ended his 13th season on the team winning his fifth league title

Realmadrid.com / Translation by Michael J. O'Donnell

Iker Casillas joined the Real Madrid academy to play for the Under-10s and proceeded to climb through its ranks to become a true Madridista icon. The captain has won two Champions League titles, two Intercontinental Cups, one European Super Cup, five league titles, one Copa del Rey and three Spanish Super Cups with Real Madrid.

Casillas was born on 20 May 1981 in Madrid. He made his first team debut against Athletic Bilbao at San Mames on 12 September 1999 in a match that ended in a 2-2 draw. He has since made 625 appearances with the Whites. Casillas is also the most capped Spanish player (128), winning the World Cup and the Euro once each with Spain.

CASILLAS' OFFICIAL MATCHES
Season	La Liga	UCL	Copa del Rey	Int. C./W. C. C.*	S. S. Cup	E. S. Cup	TOTAL
1999/00	27	12	5	3	0	0	47
2000/01	34	11	0	1	0	1	47
2001/02	25	9	5	0	1	0	40
2002/03	38	15	0	1	0	1	55
2003/04	37	9	2	0	2	0	50
2004/05	37	10	0	0	0	0	47
2005/06	37	7	4	0	0	0	48
2006/07	38	7	0	0	0	0	45
2007/08	36	8	0	0	2	0	46
2008/09	38	7	0	0	2	0	47
2009/10	38	8	0	0	0	0	46
2010/11	35	11	8	0	0	0	54
2011/12	37	10	4	0	2	0	53
TOTAL	457	124	28	5	9	2	625

* Intercontinental Cup and World Club Championship games

Real Madrid's records in La Liga 2011/12

Among-st other impressive feats, the Whites took 100 points, scored 121 goals and earned 32 victories

Alberto Navarro / Translation by Michael J. O'Donnell

Real Madrid won their 32nd league title when they defeated Athletic Bilbao at San Mames, becoming the first visiting side to win the trophy at the stadium. The Whites have established several new records this season, such as taking 100 points, scoring 121 goals, winning 32 games, earning 20 heavy victories and having a +89 goal difference.

Taking 100 points has made a real impression in Spain and in the rest of Europe, since never before had a champion side from any of the top six league championships in the continent achieved this.

MOST POINTS EVER TAKEN IN SIX MAIN EUROPEAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
COUNTRY	TEAM	SEASON	POINTS
Spain	Real Madrid	2011/12	100
England	Chelsea	2004/05	95
Portugal	Porto	2002/03	86
France	O. Lyonnais	2005/06	84
Germany	Dortmund	2011/12	81
Italy	Inter Milan	2006/07	97

The Madridistas took 100 points in 32 victories and four draws, losing only two games in the entire season. No other team has won so many games in La Liga; the previous best mark was Barcelona's and Real Madrid's 31 wins in the 2009/10 campaign.

Twenty (62%) of those victories were heavy victories in which the team scored three or more goals. This is also a new record that improves on Real's own 16 heavy victories of the 1989/90 season.

The Whites turned scores around nine times, also a first in the championship. Real Madrid and Deportivo had done this eight times in the 1996/97 and 2002/03 campaigns, respectively.

Real Madrid also scored a record 121 goals in the competition, largely improving on their own 107 goal record from the 1989/90 campaign. Thanks to conceding only 32 strikes, the Whites earned an unprecedented +89 goal difference.

Real Madrid are also the first team in the history of La Liga that managed to win at the stadiums of seven previous league winners in one season (Deportivo played in the Second Division). They've defeated Barcelona, Atletico, Athletic, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Betis and Sevilla at their home turfs.

REAL MADRID'S RECORDS IN 2011/12 LA LIGA
RECORD	REAL MADRID	FORMER RECORD HOLDER
Most points	100	Barcelona: 992009/10
Most goals	121	Real Madrid: 107 1989/90
Most victories	32	Real Madrid y Barcelona: 312009/10
Most heavy victories (three or more goals)	20	Real Madrid: 16 1989/90
Largest goal difference	+89	Barcelona: +74 2009/10, 2010/11
Most turnarounds	9	Real Madrid, Deportivo: 8 1996/97, 2002/03
Most victories on the road	16	Barcelona: 142008/09, 2009/10
Most goals scored on the road	51	Barcelona: 49 2010/11
Most points taken on the road	50	Barcelona:46 2010/11
Most victories at the stadium's of former league champions	Against Barcelona (Camp Nou), Atletico (Calderon), Athletic (San Mames), Valencia (Mestalla), Real Sociedad (Anoeta), Betis (Benito Villamarin) and Sevilla (Sanchez Pizjuan)
Victories against every opponent	Twelfth time the team achieves this

 

Kuwait 0-2 Real Madrid

Whites seal season with victory in the Middle East country with goals from Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo

Realmadrid.com / Translation by Michael J. O'Donnell

Real Madrid put an end ot the 2011/12 season with a 2-0 victory against the Kuwait national team with goals by Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo. Jose Mourinho used a different lineup in each half and the team always dominated the encounter.

Mourinho said in the pre-match press conference that Real Madrid weren't doing tourism in Kuwait and proved it tonight. He used a lineup with changes in the defensive half, but using heavy guns Ozil, Di Maria, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema in the first half. Ozil put the local goalkeeper to the test with a powerful shot on the 7-minute mark. Cristiano Ronaldo was the team's most active player in the opening minutes and hit the crossbar from a free-kick early in the game (9').

Mourinho made Callejon come on for Benzema on the 22-minute mark and Di Maria scored the opener four minutes later with a left footed shot from outside the box. Cristiano Ronaldo later scored the team's second goal by heading in a solid cross into the box by Altintop (31').

Nine different players joined forces with Callejon and Altintop after half-time and Real continued dominating the encounter while Kuwait tried to create danger in counterattacks. The locals also made changes and improved their game, forcing Casillas to clear three shots before the end of the clash.

► PLAYER MOVEMENTS

Kuwait

• 22N. Al Khaldi
• 5A. Al Fadhel
• 2A. Al Maatouq
• 13M. Al Enezi
• 3F. Shaheen
• 7F. Al Enezi
• 11F. Al Ansari
• 14T. Al Amer
• 15Waleed Ali
• 16H. Al Enezi
• 20Y. Al Sulaiman

Substitutes

• 23A. Al Salimi
• 6K. Al Qahtani
• 19M. Rashed
• 4H. Fadel
• 8S. Al Sheikh
• 18J. Al Ataiqi
• 12H. Al Moussawi
• 17B. Al Mutwa
• 1K. Al Rashidi
• 21A. Al Maqseed

Coach

 

Goran Tufegdzic

Real Madrid

• 13A. Adán
• 16H. Altintop
• 19R. Varane
• 2R. Carvalho
• 15Fábio Coentrão
• 11E. Granero
• 5N. Sahin
• 22Á. Di María
• 10M. Özil
• 7C. Ronaldo
• 9K. Benzema

Substitutes

• 6S. Khedira
• 1I. Casillas
• 12Marcelo
• 17Á. Arbeloa
• 4S. Ramos
• 21J. Callejón
• 8Kaká
• 24Lass Diarra
• 18R. Albiol
• 20G. Higuaín
• 3Pepe

Coach

 

José Mourinho