Madrid

The first galactico of the Florentino Perez era at Real Madrid, Portugal star Luis Figo, compared the last few years at the Spanish club to a circus in an interview with Spanish newspaper Marca on Wednesday. ”If the most important thing in your project is to make a circus then you have a lot less chance of achieving sporting success.

Real Madrid have included England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho on a seven-man shortlist from which they hope to find a replacement for Juan Ramon Lopez Caro. Four English-based managers and three Italians appear on the shortlist, announced by Real Madrid president Fernando Martin on Monday.

Spanish surgeons using cranes and ropes removed a 60kg mass of fat and liquid from the abdomen of a middle-aged woman in the procedure known as a tummy tuck. Francisco Javier Gabilondo, chief of plastic surgery at Hospital Cruces near the Basque city of Bilbao, said on Friday the operation was ”more spectacular than it was difficult”.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero led homage to the victims of the March 11 2004 Madrid train bombings in a quiet ceremony held on Saturday. As in 2005, the ceremony was held in a garden comprising 191 olive and cypress trees, planted to commemorate the victims of the attack exactly two years ago.

Real Madrid’s elimination from the Champions League by Arsenal may signal a revolution at the ailing powerhouse. Wednesday’s 0-0 draw at Highbury ousted Madrid before the quarterfinals 1-0 on aggregate, and looks likely to sentence the team to a third straight season without a major trophy.

Forty-five migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have drowned in two separate incidents while trying to reach Spain, the Spanish Red Cross said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Jaime Bara said 23 people had drowned when a small boat carrying 43 migrants collided with a rescue boat and broke in two off the coast of western Sahara.

Real Madrid’s new chairperson Fernando Martin said he believed a smoother road lay ahead for the club following what he termed a ”very important win” on Saturday over city rivals Atletico Madridt. ”It was a very important win,” property developer Martin told reporters after the 2-1 success gave him a winning start five days after taking over from friend Florentino Perez.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has resigned, the Spanish first-division club confirmed on Monday. ”Real Madrid needs change and this is the right moment for me to leave the presidency,” Perez said at a press conference. ”I am convinced this is the boost the club needs.”

Spanish police have detained about 200 African undocumented immigrants in the biggest such swoop this year, press reports said on Monday. The north and sub-Saharan Africans were captured off Almeria and Granada on the southern coast as well as the Canary Islands after arriving on five boats over the week-end.

Real Madrid great Alfredo di Stefano is in hospital after suffering a heart attack, the Spanish first division club said on Saturday. Di Stefano suffered the heart attack in the early hours of Saturday morning before being moved to a hospital at Sagunto near Valencia.

Samuel Eto’o scored his 16th and 17th goals of the season and FC Barcelona beat Celta Vigo 2-0 on Tuesday to take a five-point lead in the Spanish League standings. Eto’o finished third behind teammate Ronaldinho in voting for Fifa’s World Player of the Year award on Monday.

A 63-year-old man died and more than 200 000 people were left without power in several cities as Tropical Storm Delta unleashed torrential rain and strong winds on the Canary Islands, authorities said on Tuesday. The rains and winds also affected hundreds of people who were left stranded at the islands’ main airports.

David Beckham will hope to bend the ball even further at next year’s World Cup finals in his new soccer boots. The Real Madrid and England midfielder took turns with other top players taking free kicks and playing soccer tennis at an Adidas boot launch. They also shot a ball against a wall to measure how fast it was moving.

The luckier ones sleep in crowded apartments or shelters and do construction work, dodging inspectors or using a friend’s papers. The less fortunate live in parks and hand out fliers, toiling for a pittance. They are Africans in limbo, scraping by in a country that does not want them but cannot expel them.

Real Madrid appealed on Tuesday against the red card issued to David Beckham for applauding after he had been booked. Referee Arturo Dauden Ibanez wrote in his report after Madrid lost 2-1 against Valencia that ”Beckham was behaving in a mocking way after being reprimanded”.

The body of the wife of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was set to leave Spain on Monday afternoon for Abuja, a day after she died in the southern resort of Marbella, Nigerian officials said. Stella Obasanjo died on Sunday and an autopsy was carried out, but the sources were unable to comment on the findings.

Spanish top seed Rafael Nadal battled back from two sets down to beat Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) at the â,¬2,1-million Madrid Masters on Sunday. The dramatic match took nearly four hours, with the French Open champion notching up his 11th title of the season.

Male models will be used as ballboys at the 2006 WTA Tour Championships, officials announced in Madrid on Friday. With female models into their second year of similar duties at this week’s men’s ATP Madrid Masters, the Spanish organisers believe they are on to a good thing.