MADRID - Defending champion Real Madrid hopes to recover from a 2-0 first leg loss at Atletico Madrid and stay in contention in Spains Copa del Rey. USA Soccer Shirts .Atletico coach Diego Simeone, renowned for his optimism, will aim to motivate his squad to succeed again after a bruising 3-1 defeat at Barcelona on Sunday.Here are some things to know about the round of 16 return-leg Copa games this week:___EL NINO IS EAGERAtletico faces a tough visit Thursday to the Santiago Bernabeu where it must contain Madrid to advance to the quarterfinals.Given the teams need to defend, Fernando Torres, back on loan with Atletico, may be left on the bench against its cross-town rival.Torres has scored twice against Madrid, once at Liverpool in the English teams 4-0 — 5-0 on aggregate — trouncing of the Spanish powerhouse in the 2009 Champions League and for Atletico in a 1-1 league draw in 2007.However, the 30-year-old striker is eager to be involved.Its a great feeling when you win against a big opponent, when you defeat the best team in the world, said Torres. Our first leg score gives us many possibilities of moving to the next stage, but were playing at the Bernabeu.You know that 90 minutes is a long time at the Bernabeu.___TEAM BUILDINGSimeone maintains the only way a smaller-budget club can beat a big-spending team is with teamwork.Since taking over from Jose Mourinho as coach at star-studded Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti has relied on the individual quality of Cristiano Ronaldo who, this season, has scored 26 goals in 20 appearances.Yet in his subtle way, Ancelotti has also made clear that the team comes first.After fans at the Bernabeu booed winger Gareth Bale for trying to score, instead of passing to the better-positioned Ronaldo, during the teams 3-0 win against Espanyol, Ancelotti laid down the law.Bale is just as fundamental for us as Cristiano, he said. If we see selfish behaviour, we will deal with it.___DAMAGE CONTROLBarcelona has moved into damage control mode after facing a wave of off-field problems.After its win against Atletico, the normally camera-shy Lionel Messi was presented to appear before the media to dispel rumours.Im grateful to be able to give my version, Messi said. Ive heard all sorts of things said.The Argentina forward said he had heard of alleged bad feeling between himself and former coach Pep Guardiola as well as former players Bojan Krkic and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.All that was lies and I want people to know it, he said. Everything that was said is false.Messi heaped praise on fellow forwards Neymar and Luis Suarez. Luis is capable of scoring lots of goals and he fights for every ball as if it were his last, he said. He gives us his all and Neymar has a lot to give, as he is proving.Barcelona travels to Elche on Thursday to defend a 5-0 first-leg lead.___ANADLUCIAN CLASHSevilla defends a 2-1 advantage when it hosts Andalucian rival Granada on Wednesday.Coach Unai Emerys Sevilla team is currently fourth in the league after beating Almeria 2-0 at the weekend. USA Soccer Jerseys 2020 . As if he had been rehearsing it, Vasquez looked around with a grimacing stare as he clinched two fists and flexed his muscles. What do you think of DeMar DeRozans face after he hits a big shot, he was asked moments earlier. Cheap USA Soccer Jerseys . 2015 Oscar nomination pending. Here is an open letter from Steven Stamkos to his fans: When I shot this final Moment Zero film last August, it was a fun few days on set with Coke Zero and Jordan Eberle in my hometown of Markham. https://www.cheapusasoccer.com/ . Pearce had a career-high four hits and drove in two runs, and Wei-Yin Chen shut down Texas again as the Orioles completed a four-game sweep of the Rangers with a 5-2 victory on Thursday night.Less than a day after talks broke down between the Canadian Football League and the CFL Players Association for a new collective bargaining agreement, the CFL issued a memo to the media stating that even their own CBA proposal would lead to three of their nine teams losing money. "We want CFL players and fans to have the facts," read the statement, written in a fiction vs. fact format. "Fiction: The CFL offer would set the salary cap at $5 million and the players want it set at $5.8 million, so they could just saw off the difference a little and get a deal. Fact: The players unions ask is actually much, much bigger. You see, a lot of player compensation does not fall under the cap. Things like benefits, pensions, pre-season and post-season pay, plus any bonus to be paid for ratifying a new agreement. If you look at everything in our offer and everything in their offer, you find that the CFL is offering to increase player compensation by $850,000 per team in the first year of a deal, and the union is asking us to increase player compensation by $2.4 million per team in the first year of a deal. Their ask is not realistic. Under their proposal, six of nine teaams would lose money. USA Soccer Pro Shop. " The league also reiterated that it made its best offer to the union, a response to what it calls fiction - that all the CFL has to do is add a little more to its offer to get a deal done. "Its the most we can pay," read the statement. "It was put forward knowing that under the CFLs best offer, three of nine teams would still lose money this year, even with the new TV deal in place." After almost two days of talks at a Toronto airport hotel, the league eventually did increase its financial offer and the union removed any revenue-sharing percentages from its own proposal, but talks between both sides broke down Thursday afternoon. The current CBA expired Thursday at Midnight et. "The players gave up revenue sharing last time because the CFL promised back then to put it back in this round of bargaining," added the league statement under the fiction heading. "Thats not true. That was never agreed to." Theres been no update on if or when the two sides will meet again at the bargaining table, but the league and the union said it wont stop players from reporting when training camps open Sunday. ' ' '