9 Man Madrid make historic comeback to take the Super Cup

Real Madrid's pre- season has not been the best in years compared to their Spanish rivals. On more than one occasion they had to be saved by some individual brilliance. It has also not been the great transfer summer for the Spanish champions. After the Ronaldo saga, the highlight though has been the signing of Van der vaart, a real steal. The big problem for Schuster has been the injuries. He has used some make shift players in certain positions and though they scraped through the pre-season, it was always not going to be enough for the highly competitive La liga. The first realization for Schuster came, after claiming that they are going all out and serious for the Spanish super cup when they visited the Mestalla to face Valencia last week. The last time Madrid tasted any success in the Spanish super cup was back in 2003, when David Beckham made his debut. I am one of those men who believe that Schuster is indeed one of the sharpest tacticians i have seen. Unfortunately he also has some serious problems in hiding mistakes. Well the simple reason is that he makes some really childish ones.

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.

Just two minutes later Alexis made a back pass on some pressure from Robben and super sub Higuain obliged and one touch to beat the keeper and scored. 4-1 Real Madrid with a few minutes left and an aggregate of 6-4. Former Madrid striker Morientes grabbed one back to make it 4-2 on the night but Madrid won the Spanish super cup 6-5 on aggregate with an astonishing come back.

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.
I have never been a big fan of this weird midfield formation that Madrid plays. It maybe effective, but i would rather look at a more in the book style. With Robinho almost destined to leave, Schuster may now have a problem of a different sort. Schuster tried to calm things by including the Brazilian in the substitutes. Real President is claimed to have said that the Brazilian can leave if he pays 45M and that Madrid do not want an unhappy player in their ranks. In the tense last 15 minutes when his team mates were outside the Madrid dug out, Robinho seemed to be glued to his seats. When finally he did come out to collect the winners medals, he was jeered and booed by a vast section of the fans with signs printed "money grabber". Robben as in the last season is just superb when he is on the ground, but still is pretty unlucky with his injuries. But for the night Robben can be happy that he put in a Man of the Match performance in one of the most remarkable turn arounds in football.

Rafael van der Vaart adds more Dutch quality at Madrid?

For Real Madrid fans it has been an awfully quiet summer in the transfer department, mainly because the club officials have claimed time and again that Christiano Ronaldo is the only target for this year. Media claimed a spat between Madrid President who said that "It is Christiano or no one" and Manager Schuster's counter claim that if that is the case he is the last one to know, is now all resolved. At the press conference after their pre-season friendly match against Hamburg FC in the Emirates cup, the question was put forth to Schuster on the possibility of signing Rafael van der Vaart who has been supposedly a long time target. The Hamburg midfielder was conspicuously missing in the game against Madrid. Schuster said, Rafael is one of the players Real is monitoring but everything will depend on whether Christiano joins or not. It seemed more as though the Dutchman was more of a back up plan.

A day later media claimed that Real lodged a 5M bid and was rejected right away by Hamburg. Real was anticipating that Rafael can exercise a move next year for just over a million and that this was the time to negotiate with Hamburg. Sunday Real played Arsenal and lost by a lone goal from Adebayor. The unfortunate incident of the night was second half substitute Wesley Sneijder being stretchered off after a poor tackle from Diaby. Obviously the Dutchman was in severe pain and the fear of ligament damage and possible 6 months away from the game was going to be a disaster for Madrid.

Monday morning the good news was that the MRI scans showed that Sneijder could be out only for about 3 months and the even better news was that Real made an official statement on their website stating that the Spanish Champions have reached an agreement with the German club in the transfer of Rafael van der Vaart, subject to clearing a medical and then an official presentation on the President's balcony on Tuesday. Though the fee was not mentioned it is rumored that Hamburg was set to benefit 9M on the Dutchman.


Without a doubt Rafael van der Vaart is a superb addition to the roster, and along with the long list of Dutchmen like Sneijder, Van Nistelrooy, Drenthe and Robben is sure to add some real quality. Just 25 years of age he is for sure one of the superstars in Holland. Coming through the ranks of the Ajax youth system like a lot of Dutch stars, has done some superb things in his career which has also been tainted by fair share of injuries. An amazing stat on van der Vaart is that for an Attacking midfielder he scored 18 goals in 21 league games in 02/03 season which earned him a well deserved European Player of the Year in 2003. van der Vaart has had more limelight off the pitch than on, when he was romantically involved to Sylvie, a Dutch model and actress who was voted the sexiest female in Holland in 2005. Their wedding was shown live on the prime network in Holland. Amidst interest from clubs like AC Milan, van der Vaart decided to join German outfit Hamburg and was a key player for them as well as is leaving them after 3 seasons as their Captain.

It will be interesting to see how Schuster manages his midfield. If it is going to be the rotation of last year, which was more of the Manager being unsure and not giving players the playing time they need. Sneijder came from Ajax as a left sided attacking midfielder. He was moved to an attacking midfielder role in the center playing right behind the strikers and he was a success. Scoring 9 goals on his way to a title in the first year with his team, Sneijder was superb in his set piece play and open play goals. He was one of the less heralded transfers last season and the lack of pressure probably helped. van der Vaart is very similar in playing style to Sneijder. Since Wesley is injured and if van der Vaart plays decent in the same position then Schuster definitely has a problem on hand. Marco Van Basten used both Sneijder and van der Vaart in midfield in the Euros this year and though they were decent as a combination Sneijder really outshone his new club team mate. Madrid's success in midfield is rather an unorganized mode that Schuster uses, where Sneijder though is supposed to be positioned on the right, really has a floating role. From what i have seen van der Vaart is primarily left footed, is a set piece specialist and can take long shots and brings home a decent kitty of goals every season. Would Schuster be tempted to play Sneijder and van der Vaart behind his strikers and have Robben or Robinho play on the right wing is to be seen. With "contract for life" Guti holding on to a spot, is Madrid making the mistake of stacking up too many players of the same kind? It is the likes of Baptista, Sneijder, Guti and now van der Vaart battling for one spot. Roma could very well renew their interest now and could see Madrid accept the 15M bid for Baptista.


We still have about 25 days to go for the transfer window to close, if indeed Christiano Ronaldo joins the Capital city club, it will be without a doubt one of the most formidable midfield's in Europe. Well 5 years back we had Zidane, Figo and Beckham on the pitch wearing the white shirt, but then lets hope it is different....