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SINGAPORE, March 1 (Reuters) - Spanish side Real Madrid have inked a deal with a Singapore-based soccer events company aimed at building their fan-base in Asia and keeping an eye on young talent in the region.

The La Liga giants are considering setting up an academy in the city-state and could bring youngsters to Madrid to train under their coaches.

“We’ve been talking to our partner here, (events company) Centurion, about that … to have the chance to play in Singapore,” Real’s international sponsorship manager Alfonso Roberes De Cominges told Channel News Asia on Monday.

“And not only to play a match but also to run different activities related to football through Centurion, as academies, as camps and as clinics, and also to strengthen our relationships with all the football clubs as well in Singapore.”

Real had planned to play an exhibition game in Singapore as part of a pre-season tour in August but that looks unlikely as the venue is to be used for the national day parade.

The nine-times European champions first visited Asia on a pre-season tour in 2003 with stops in Thailand, Japan, China and Hong Kong. (Reporting by Tan Jinhe; Editing by Peter Rutherford; to query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Labels: Asian, build, fanbase, Reuters, Singapore

{ John Terry - Chelsea (Getty Images)John Terry has urged his Chelsea team-mates to keep on fighting to ensure they find some consistent form off the back of their comfortable 2-0 Champions League victory over Copenhagen.

After abject performances in recent weeks, and a penalty shoot-out FA Cup exit at the hands of Everton on Saturday, club captain Terry echoed the fighting talk of manager Carlo Ancelotti before the match, and is hopeful that re-capturing the winning feeling could spark a fresh run of form.

The 30-year-old told Sky Sports: “It’s a good lift, obviously winning does that, you can see the buzz in the dressing room but it’s important now we continue this run again this could be the start of it as I said yesterday.

“The manager said we’re still not dead, there are still an awful lot of points to play for and we will keep fighting.”

Terry and his defensive comrades had little to do in a game which Chelsea eased through and the skipper was pleased with how his side executed their plans for the fixture, showering particular praise on the Blues strike force.

Quizzed on his views of the performance, Terry said: “Exactly what we asked for yesterday, I thought we set out our game plan very well, the two up top worked very well and with the pace of the two guys up-front it caused difficulties all night for them.”

Chelsea’s front pairing on the night saw Fernando Torres and Nicolas Anelka lead the line, with the Frenchman grabbing the headlines while the Spaniard came close to breaking his duck on several occasions.

Anelka put Chelsea in-front on 17 minutes and the Blues never looked in threat of losing their lead, only capable of extending it. The Frenchman obliged early in the second period when rounding off a sweet Chelsea move with a crisp drive across the helpless Copenhagen 'keeper.

Commenting on Anelka, Terry added: “Fantastic, it’s difficult for the strikers at the minute because there’s so much competition, but credit to themselves, Didier when he came on as well caused a lot of trouble, they seem to be clicking and working well.

“And obviously it’s always going to take a couple of weeks for the guys to settle in, hopefully this is the start of very good partnerships.”


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Labels: build, CALLS, champions, Chelsea, Copenhagen, Goalcom, league, Terry, victory