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.
No comments:
Post a Comment