I have been neck deep in work, not an excuse really but that has kept me away from writing here for two weeks. Well for a Real Madrid fan like myself it was a time to forget. Real faced Sevilla in and lost the match 2-0 and also had Sergio Ramos the former local boy sent off in the second half. Real then travelled to Greece to face Olympiakos and apart from Van Nistelrooy hitting the bar, the game was a dull affair which ended in a 0-0 draw.
After Real's loss and Barca winning the corresponding week at home the lead for the Spanish champions was cut short to 1 point. Barcelona lost to Getafe this Saturday and Real were at home to Real Mallorca on Sunday. The last time Mallorca were here was a great day for Real as the 3-1 victory handed them the league title on June 17th. It was no different this year as it was to be a cracking game in front of a packed Santiago Bernabeu. Schuster was forced to make changes as Ramos was suspended and Guti was injured. He partnered Cannavaro and Heinze in defense and had Torres at RB and the young Brazilian Marcelo at LB. He continued with Gago and Diarra in midfield and Sneijder found his way back to the team as the attacking option. Raul, Robinho and Van Nisterlrooy have proved to be one of the most dangerous attacking trio in Europe currently.
As early as the 3rd minute from kick off Robinho found Raul floating on the left side and the Captain's cross just missed the on rushing Van Nistelrooy. With some good ball movement from both teams and Mallorca in no mood to stay back and defend it was a cracking opening to the game. The goal came in the 11th minute when Robinho made a stupendous heel pass to Marcelo and the LB crossed in to precisely find Robinho in the box who headed it in to make it 1-0 Real Madrid. Though Marcelo has been making some runs down the left his final ball or even attempts have been below average. This was a pleasant surprise.
The Brazilian LB was hero a minute and villain the next when a long ball found his way to Valera as Marcelo missed his clearance and a cool finish past the already committed Casillas to make it 1-1 Mallorca. Defensive error number 1.
On the 16 minute mark Sneijder in a much central role and enjoying more touches found 3 strikers ahead of him and his pass fell off Raul and a Mallorca defender to Robinho who one-one with the keeper finished it off cool as a cucumber. 2-1 Real Madrid.
Just when Real were gaining some momentum Mallorca again struck back again through Valera when he got past Marcelo again and Heinze could not get him before he unleashed a powerful right foot thunderbolt that flew in to the top corner. 2-2 Mallorca and it was half time.
I was expecting changes, atleast in the defense and my feeling was that Schuster will take out Marcelo and move Heinze to LB and have Pepe to partner Cannavaro in defense. Schuster surprisingly took out Cannavaro who may have been a little off from his usual self and gave the Brazilian born Portuguese Pepe a chance. Pepe has not played in a competitive game for Real since his 30M Euro move in the summer as he was injured. Now having been called up by Portugal for the upcoming International games Shcuster would have thought "wait a minute we pay his salary and you guys get the benefit?"
Well Pepe did justify the 30M Real paid for him in the next 45 minutes. He was so full of confidence and the way he cut out aerial plays was brilliant. The guy is a formidable presence on the pitch. Even he could not save Real from the second defensive blunder of the match. Pepe tackled Dani Guiza and the ball fell to Diarra who tried to be cute and passed it back to Heinze in the box and instead the ball fell to the Spaniard who blasted a shot past Casillas to prove why he just got called to the National team. 2-3 Mallorca. Defensive blunder #2.
Real Madrid have not lost a game since February of this year in the Bernabeu and Mallorca was about to beat that good run. But as last season Real were in no mood to give up. Robinho has been consistently performing well in the last 4 games and he made a similar trade mark run down the left got into the penalty box and squared the ball for Raul for a simple tap in. 3-3 Real Madrid.
The Champions wanted all three points and the understanding between Raul and Van Nistelrooy again showed as Raul set up an excellent through ball for the Dutchman who finished with a neat finish past the keeper trademark Van the Man style. 4-3 Real Madrid.
Real held on for the 3 points and also have the best record in club history for the same number of games played in a season. Its been 278 days in the Spanish League that Real have lost at the Bernabeu. They won the last 7 to close out last year and have an impressive 6/6 win at the Bernabeu this season. The Spanish FA started rewarding 3 points for a win in the 1995/96 season and Real's record of Played 12, Won 9, Drawn 1, Lost 2 is the best start since then. Real have 28 out of the 36 possible points from the 12 games played so far and the closest any Real Madrid team have reached is 27 points from 12 games and even then they were second in the league.
Real will lead the Spanish League for another 2 weeks without playing a game as it is a break for International duty. Real are leading with 28 points, Villareal at 27 and Barcelona at 24.
Here are the match highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBLFkKX-y8A
3 comments:
Robinho is starting to show his real class. Its nice to see him starting a lot more games rather than being a substitute like last season. Marcelo is emulating his predesessor Roberto Carlos. Making great runs into the box and attacking through the left wing but just like Carlos his defensive capabilities are a big question mark. Its nice to see that Ronaldinho is also getting a hint of his old form back. Its gonna be tough to hold Brazil back if this trend goes on. :D
ohh finally Alexander thanks for your comment actually the first one since i started the blog. Marcelo is very similar to Roberto Carlos but though he gets into the last quarter while attacking, he rarely is able to make a cross and defending as always is not any Brazilian full back's strength. Ronaldinho is definitely getting back into form but again all of them playing at Brazil together does not necessarily mean a great team on the pitch.....
Yup.. You are right in a way.. But the fact is that if all these guys start playing well the chances of scoring goals are more coz one flash of brilliance from any one of them is enough. As was shown by Kaka in the world cup qualifier against Peru. But then again the great defence did it again for Samba boys.
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