Star duo have fingers crossed

Real Madrid stars Raul and Luis Figo will fly out to Zurich on Monday where both are candidates for FIFA's player of the year award.

Real have a 66 per cent chance of bringing the trophy back to Spain with Manchester United's David Beckham the only other candidate.

It was thought that neither Raul nor Figo would be able to attend the ceremony gala seeing as Real have a fourth round Copa del Rey return leg to play at the Bernabeu the next day.

The Madrilenos suffered an embarrassing 1-0 defeat in the first leg of the competition to Gimnastic and coach Vicente Del Bosque, eager to settle the return leg will require both Raul and Figo even after the long trip out to Switzerland for their FIFA engagement.