Robinho and his Brazilian magic saves sorry Madrid

Real Madrid faced Olympiakos at home on Wednesday in the third round of the UEFA Champions League first group stage. Real leads the group courtesy of a win at home against Werder Bremen and a draw in Rome against Lazio. Schuster would have been definitely hoping that his players recoverred from the weekend defeat to Espanyol and put up a good show in front of the home fans.

Schuster had a lot of problems in squad selection especially in defense. He already had two players with a combined price tag of $80M in the treatment room, Pepe and Robben. With Heinze also aready out Schuster's nightmare became worse when Cannavaro and Diarra also joined them in the injured list. This left him no option but to partner Sergio Ramos and Metzelder in defense, he continued his faith in Marcelo at LB and picked Salgado ahead of Torres at RB. Fernando Gago filled in for Diarra as the ball winner to partner with Guti. His major worry was the lack of practice time for Robinho whose news about returning late after international duty due to extensive partying was already the headlines around the world. The German tactician kept his faith in the Brazilian and continued with Sneijder, Raul and Van Nistelrooy.

Olympiakos on the other hand has a young team this term and was second in the group. They had the likes of Rivaldo and other foreign players playing for them till a couple of seasons back, but now primarily rely on some greek talent. There are Spanish players in the team including Luciano Galetti the former Atletico Madrid striker and Real Madrid's own Raul Bravo, the LB having joined the Greek team during the summer.

It was a dream start for Real as Robinho put Van Nistelrooy through but the Olympiakos keeper Antonis Nikopolidis denied the dutchman only to see a cool finish from the Captain Raul. The guy just cannot stop scoring in the Champions League. It is goal number 58 for the Madrid captain in the Champions League. Unlike my earlier post game posts i am just putting up one video for the entire game so that there will be a continuity to the game. 1-0 Real Madrid.

Real were not to stay ahead for a long time. On the 7 minute mark Djordjevic found a lot of space on the left side of midfield. I should say Michel Salgado should either retire or Madrid should throw him out. I dont agree with Shcuster in picking him ahead of Torres. The last time Salgado played it was the same thing, as you can see from the video that the only direction he runs is towards his own goal. When defending he runs back towards his own goal allowing the player to get into a better crossing position. In this case it was the same, Djordjevic was advancing on Salgado, one on one with him Salgado did not put a single challenge instead kept him company by running backwards and finally he put in a slide which he missed and the cross fell kindly to Galletti who finished with his left foot. Salgado may have enjoyed a long spell in Real Madrid after coming in from Celta Vigo in 96 or 97 but i dont see any reason why he is considered to be such a hard nut character and the only reason why he stayed so long in a team like Real is because he was dating the former President's daughter. Now forget the defending, each time Salgado advances, even if there is an acre of space, after getting in to the Olympiakos quarter of the pitch he passes it back to either Gago or one of the center backs. He does not run at defenders, nor is able to cross the ball. People have bad days but Salgado should not be in the playing 11 at Real.

The game got really worse for Olymipakos when at 9 minutes Torosidis was given a straight red card for a tug on Van Nistelrooy when he was put through by a clever pass from Sneijder. Playing against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu with 10 men for 80 minutes is the battle lost already, but not for Olympiakos because their 10 men proved better than Real's 11 when Julio Cesar scored from a free kick from Djordjevic. Well if he was the only un marked man Real could say that was unfortunate, but there were atleast two Olympiakos shirts unmarked. Sergio Ramos again as last week against Espanyol seems to be marking space and not the man. "Space will not score goals it has to be a player so Schuster has to make his players understand that they have to mark Players" 1-2 Olympiakos.

Real had 70% possession in the first half and after going ahead in the second half Olympiakos was staying in their half defending hard and waiting for the chance to break. The veteran goal keeper Nikopolidis was in fine form as he constantly saved shots from Sneijder, Marcelo and Robinho.

Now it was time for the Brazilian to take center stage. First it was Schuster who took out Salgado (ohh finally thank God) and put in Higuain. Guti put an amazing ball to Sergio Ramos on the right, the center back who is so versatile put in a delightful cross to the far post for Robinho unmarked to head in to the bottom corner. It was nice to see Robinho run straight to Schuster and celebrate the goal as in "Thanks for believing in me". Minute 68- 2-2 Real Madrid.

If you think that was it from the Brazilian, think again. There is a famous video of Robinho during his time in Brazil when he did almost 12 of his famous step overs before he was brought down inside the box to win a famous penalty. It was a replica of the same, recieving the ball on the left wing he used the step over again and again pushed the defender into the penalty box and the slightest touch on his shin, he fell earning Real a penalty. But all his hard work was to be blown away as Van Nistelrooy blazed over from the spot.

Casillas kept Djordjevic out at the Real end, but Real's man advantage finally paid out when an intricate play between Van Nistelrooy and Robinho found the Brazilian firing in a thunder bolt inside the box when a tackle was flying in. The shot was so powerful that the keeper could not even move. 3-2 Real Madrid.

The action was not to stop and Olympiakos almost stole a last minute point when Casillas made a world class save to a Darko Kovacevic shot on goal. Olymipakos kept coming at Real and the Real defense put the packed Bernabeu at a razor's edge. Casillas looked disappointed the entire game from the goals conceded through some poor work defensively from Real, now this is a save which definitely warrants him a spot amongst the top goal keepers. As soon as the 3rd goal for Real was scored Schuster smartly took out Raul and replaced him with Torres.

Robinho broke away from an Olympiakos free kick, run the entire pitch dribbled past a defender and un selfishly passed it to Balboa the substitute on for Sneijder and inside the box he took his time and turned and made a cool finish. 4-2 Real Madrid. Its hats off to Olympiakos for putting the Real fire power to test, but it was their problem of having 10 men on the ground for the majority of the game that pulled it off for Real. Gago, Guti and Robinho were enjoying the space, especially the Brazilian who straight away moved to the left flank when Olympiakos were down to 10 men. Real had a total of 28 shots on goal but still needed the Brazilian's inspiration to win. Robinho should be the automatic choice for Man of the Match with 2 goals an assist and also a penalty earned. Shcuster claimed this was a difficult 3 points, well it might be but the final passing and Real's inability to finish off a game that was at their mercy 10 minutes into it should be alarming for the Spanish giants.
Here is the video and i have one luckily with some exciting English commentary....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOPm-p9y6sw

Unbeaten Big guns fall in Spain

Real Madrid showed great signs of retaining their Spanish title holder name after going into the international break leading the pack with 19 points from 7 games and they were unbeaten in all competitions. 15 days or so of International duty in the South America qualifiers and the Euro qualifiers meant that Real players who did participate in the international games had limited rest and time to train. The Brazilian contingent of Robinho and Baptista returned late after their 5-0 drubbing of Ecuador and it is heard that Robinho was late as he was partying heavily with his friends. Both missed training and missed out on the difficult game away to Espanyol. The club board is heard to have fined both players.

It would be the clash of the Raul's. Raul Tamudo captain of Espanyol and Raul Gonzales the captain of Real Madrid. Tamudo picked over Raul for the Spanish striker spot when David Villa got injured spiced up the game more.

In terms of a squad line up Schuster did not find it easy. Apart from the Brazilians, Robben and Heinze also returned injured from their respective International games. The positive was the return to action of Christoph Metzelder to partner Cannavaro in defense. Sergio Ramos and Marcelo played as wing backs. Diarra and Guti continue to be Shcuster's primary choice in midfield. He also had Sneijder and Higuain to start in the midfield wings and Raul and Van Nistelrooy in attack.

Game started well for Espanyol's liking, the fans were creating a hostile environment, as early as the 2nd minute from kick off Espanyol scored from the corner set piece. Alberto Riera rose unmarked inside the penalty box to head home, Sergio Ramos not doing a good job marking the tall lanky left midfielder. 1-0 Espanyol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRKUkrQcWIU

Real showed some positive signs in attack, for a brief period. But that was it, Espanyol suffocated the Real players till the last minute of the game. Whenever a Real player touched the ball there were at least 2 people ganging up on them. Real's Pass completion percentage was really poor. Guti was no where to be seen. Diarra were making a lot of wrong passes. The biggest achievement for Espanyol was that they took Sneijder out of the equation with some tough tackling on him and closed him down letting him have no time on the ball.

Van Nistelrooy had a golden chance inside the penalty box to equalize for Real when the ball fell kindly for him inside the penalty box, but for his finishing skills what happened next was funny. Nistelrooy missed the ball completely and just kicked at thin air, with a tackle in from an Espanyol player on his no kicking heel. Van Nistelrooy fell down from his non balance on missing the ball, but the referee duly showed him the yellow card for diving. In the foul department there was a lot of nasty tackles coming in from Espanyol and it is this physical dominance that took out the finesse out of the Real play.

On 53 minutes it was Espanyol again on the high as a mistake from Cannavaro rushing in to tackle and found Raul Tamudo totally free on the D. The finish from him was out of the world as he chipped Cassilas for Espanyol's second goal. 2-0 Espanyol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7TYbcCPc-0

The sign from Espanyol fan was "The only real Raul is Raul Tamudo" , in response to media complaining that Real Captain Raul should have been picked ahead of Raul Tamudo. Spain coach has ignored Raul for more than a year claiming recently in an interview "What has he won?" well if that is a genuine question then it is the coach who should be out first, because with all the world class players and one of the best domestic leagues in the world, what has Spain won?

I was thinking it was Saturday afternoon i have a friend waiting to go for a movie, should i sit and watch this match any further. For some reason last season's matches came to my mind when Real made some unbelievable recoveries in the final minutes. Well the match went on with almost the same flow with Espanyol denied again by Cassilas. Real defense did not look very confident. Metzelder looked a bit slow and Cannavaro made that one vital mistake, maybe he was covering for the young left back.

Real again was not to disappoint in the drama side, Sergio Ramos scored on 90 minutes from a corner, when he acrobatically got a touch on the ball in a crowded box. Real pushed forward with even Cassilas joining the attacks, but Espanyol held on to a good win. 2-1 the final score.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aBt7C1Wl1k



Barcelona's visit to Villareal was the other match on Saturday. Unfortunately for Barca fans and fortunately for me this was the game the TV rights issue affected. It was not televised. Ronaldinho-less Barca were defeated by Villareal 3-1, 2 of which were penalties to the home side. This was the first defeat of Barcelona this season.
Real stay top of the league still with 19 points, with Villareal and Valencia on 18 closely followed by Barca on 17 points. With the mid-week Champions League fixtures there is an extra match to savor this week. Real play Olympiakos at home, Real are unbeaten in the Champions League in the two rounds completed so far.