
Last week Valencia won 3-2 when they scored all three goals in the second half after a rather dull first half. Garcia and Heinze at the center of defense, Torres at LB and the veteran Salgado at RB. Midfield also had a rather bizarre combination of Diarra and De la Red. Van der vaart played behind the strikers and Robinho on the left. With his mind already possibly in London, Robinho looked completely out of touch. It was only the superb finishing skills of Van Nistelrooy that saved the day for Madrid. The introduction of Robben in the second half and also Sergio Ramos at RB, really did spread the play for Madrid. I am lets say puzzled when a Manager would leave Metzelder and Sergio Ramos on the bench.
Andy Gray the famous commentator has said "Each football match is like a blank canvas at kick off and you never know what would be drawn on it". It was exactly the same at the Bernabeu when Real Madrid welcomed Valencia in the return leg of the Super cup. Schuster knowing that he would be under immediate pressure from the fans, line up Pepe and Heinze in the center, Ramos at RB and continued to have Torres at LB ahead of Marcelo back from the Olympics. He reverted back to the formation that he used for major portion of last season. He had Diarra in the holding role, Guti on the right ( so as to say) and Van der vaart in the provider role. Robben got the nod ahead of Robinho and the two strikers in Raul and Van Nistelrooy.
Madrid came out confident and controlled the ball, but unfortunately the midfield was so packed from both teams that there was no play in the final attacking quarter. Few long range shots from Van der vaart and Van Nistelrooy were all that Madrid had to show for. With Pepe the orchestrator in the back line for Madrid, David Villa the tormentor in the first leg was taken out of the equation. Pepe was also trying to feed some long balls with the hope of finding Robben. Against the run of play it was David Silva who scored, the one two outside the Madrid box, Heinze hesitated for a second and the shot just was too perfectly placed. 0-1 to Valencia and they were leading 4-2 on aggregate. Within minutes of the goal Van der vaart made an absolutely stupid two footed studs up tackle on Mata and out came the straight red card. His first appearance in front of the Bernabeu ended in an early shower for him.
1o man Real Madrid came out in the second half looking a bit more determined and Robben went past a few defenders on the right and put in a delightful cross for Van Nistelrooy. His header on target was blocked by Raul Albiol with his arm. In my book, he was the last man, it was on target and it should have been a red card. Nonetheless Madrid got the penalty and Van Nistelrooy converted calm and cool from the spot. 1-1 and an aggregate now 4-3. But again the drama of the night just started when Van Nistelrooy already carrying a yellow card, went in studs up on Baraja, he got the ball but also got the man. Two tackles two cards and Madrid are down to 9 men.

Schuster realizing it was time to either fight or give up, decided to gamble. I have been analyzing football matches closely for about 10 years now and i have thought that i have seen some really remarkable turn arounds. One that comes to mind is Liverpool's stunning comeback against Milan in the Champions League final a few years ago. I would rate this match also among one of the best in this league. Torres was replaced by Drenthe who was to play a free role on the left. Guti was replaced by De la Red. Robben was running riot on the right and from a set piece, some astonishingly poor marking let Diarra have a go at the goal and it fell back the cross bar and Sergio Ramos was in to finish it off. 2-1 to Madrid and 4-4 on aggregate. If it was to remain this way Madrid would win the cup due to the more number of away goals scored. Madrid had to survive about 10 minutes. Higuain replaced Raul and in a counter attack Madrid cleared the ball quickly from their box and De la Red was off through the middle, with only Higuain up front he took an audacious shot from nearly 30 yards out, which went in. The boy is young but it has to be given credit on the attempt he made. 3-1 Madrid.

With the obvious tactical genius that Schuster is, he would not have failed to observe how good Madrid plays when the midfield is not stuffed. The dribblers like Robinho and Robben need the space to dribble past a few players and make their contributions count with some wide wing play. This basically will pull out one or more players to support the wing backs and will thus open up more spaces in the center. This is exactly what happened when Madrid were reduced to 10 men. It just opened the stage for one Dutchman in Robben who was just superb in the second half.
