Is 100 a big deal? It is for me and I am sure Mr.Beckham agrees

David Beckham plays he is in the news, David Beckham does not play- He is still in the news. If an embarrassing exit from the upcoming Euro 2008 was not bad enough for England, it happened at home against Croatia in a disappointing 2-3 loss. Steve Mclaren was out and as usual in England that paved way for speculations on who would be the next Manager. When Jose Mourinho was considered the favorite it was Fabio Capello the Italian who got the nod. At 6M a year he was not going to be cheap, but trophies on his resume proves he is worth it. Ok we have a new coach, who is going to see the players once every 3 months before some useless friendlies. The players are the same, you have a coach who does not speak English, who is notorious for playing a defensive game and we expect miracles to happen in England?

Its not just his defensive style that Capello was famous for, but his discipline and non favorites was of more consequence. Arguably the most famous sports person in the world was about to be on the receiving end. This was exactly not the first time. Months before Capello announced the 25 man initial squad list for the friendlies, it was all about whether Beckham would make it or not. Unfortunately Beckham was playing in the MLS, which has an extended winter break from December through to March. What was the big deal if Beckham was selected or not? Simple, the loss to Croatia was Beckham's 99th cap for England. Beckham trained with the Arsenal squad during winter to have continued training and the reports were being sent to Capello.

I was closely watching how the press went on this one, and as usual it was split 50-50. A portion thought that Beckham is not match fit and will have to wait for his 100th cap. The second half of the press thought, the game was a mere friendly, call Beckham up, give him maybe half the match and say "Beckham, thank you for all the good things you have done for us". I agree with the second half, my opinion is the same, this is not a World Cup final, not even a qualifying fixture for any competition. But Mr. Capello did not agree with us, as Beckham never made it to the squad list. Newspapers a couple of days before the squad list announcement were showing pictures of Beckham in the beaches of Brazil, where he was setting up a football academy for the young. That's an irony for you, an Englishman setting up an academy in the land of flair and talent.

Well England labored to a win over Switzerland on Feb 6th at the Wembley to a 2-1 score and why am i writing about this now?

Early May 2007 I stepped into the world of Blogging, writing about the finalists of the Champions League. I realized that the season in the Spanish la Liga was so nail biting with 6 games left and Barca and Real locked even on points it would not hurt to have a few memoirs in writing. Blogging was just like writing a diary to me and I thought it would be fun reading the match reports from years back. But as it turned out, it was much more for me. The whole perspective of watching games changed, from a mere fan to more of a critic or an analyst. I added packages after packages to my Cable so that I don't miss any European league. I contacted a few of my best buddies whom I knew had a great interest in football and gave them access rights to write in my blog. My cousin in NY, was the only "co-author" who got close to contributing, his couple of drafts have been there since June 07.

10 months later i have a 100 posts on my blog (including the two drafts from Anand, who i hope will complete it now). Not exactly in the same league as playing for England 99 times after making a debut in 1996, but boy am i happy. I just wanted to write a few lines of appreciation to people who supported me in my ramblings.

First off it would be the guys whom i granted author rights on my blog, Sony, Rahul, Antony and Anand, who have still not found time to pen in. Sony i am happy Arsenal is doing well, Rahul i am sorry that being in the army has made you lose out on 28 goals scored by Christiano Ronaldo this season and Antony a huge Barcelona fan has been graceful in defeat last season but thank you for listening to my thoughts and spreading the word around on my blog to other buddies of yours. We do agree on one thing and that is the Brazilian national team. Anand, dear cousin of mine, titled his post "a fine through pass cousin", 8 months later he is still waiting for the right time to score.

There are two guys who are a real inspiration, Deepu who pings me on Monday for my blog update so that he can read about the Spanish League. Still remember how we almost brought the house down when Roberto Carlos scored a stoppage time winner last season. I watched the Barca V Real Madrid match 3 times and it took me 3 hours to write the blog, but your appreciation of it mattered.

My buddy Hari with a lot of Brazilian girl friends is no stranger to football, but told me that he needs to know more about the La liga so that he understands what i am talking about. He still listens!

My colleague Marina, I know Eduardo is a Brazilian born Croatian.... or was it the other way round, just kidding i know, sorry he is out for the season with a broken foot.

My colleague Doug, who always has so much to talk about Soccer. Always looking out for some interesting videos and his trademark "Dude he was offside man"

My friend Pradeep who never ever followed football, a Cricket fan like most people from the sub continent, says i should write maybe semi-professional. I have a connection for you, Mohd.Azharuddin has 99 caps in test matches for India and Ian Botham used to play professional football before he went on to Cricket. He called me a week back and said "Arsenal down to bare bones for their match against Man U"... i have an effect on people!

Mithun-When i started thinking of a website dedicate to Real Madrid, it was my friend from the Czech republic who took time out, to guide me through that. Though the website idea went no where my blog is still on!!!

Shreyas- The guy who religiously read all my older posts and even had my blog link as his Gmail status. Dear cousin at Carnegie Melon calls me a Spanish league 'fanatic'...

Spartan- the one person i know who reads my blog for sure, because its his comments that never made me lose hope. I was writing about him and he posts a comment on my latest post. Thanks Spartan, especially for the read "How football defines the world", it defines my life for sure.

I am writing this as if it is on a "Thanks to" section in a best seller, but the one man who inspired me, he calls himself as my PR, but Abhishek has been the guy who said i do a good job, i guess he still does. When i said i am nearing a 100 posts, he said "so 100 caps for you". He is just waiting for 50% his share that i promised him when i start making the millions. With so much of these discussions at work, they even gave me a "non employee of the month" t-shirt. Am i proud to hear Abhishek and Nishant talk about some players and even about the clubs that they play for.

Beckham may get his 100 th cap but i am going for 200 this year!

Madrid School boys lose and Barcelona thump Levante

It is not often in the past 10 years you see a Madrid side lead the second place team by 9 points in the La liga in January. As if to show that they are not comfortable being the leaders in the past 2 months the point difference has come down to 5, with Real losing two away games and a big win at home in between. Barcelona meanwhile had the chance to cut the deficit down to 2 points as they played first on Sunday. With Messi and Ronaldinho back it was not going to be a tough task. Levante on the other hand was a team that was just recovering from months of not having funds to pay their players. Banks were taking away the houses of players and the roster was thin. But now they are under a trust which is run by ex-players and they seem to be doing good.

Barcelona scored first through Xavi on 14 minutes but the packed Camp Nou was stunned to silence on 41st minute when Riga converted from the penalty spot on 41 minutes. It was no way back for Levante from then on as Barca scored through Messi just before half time. If the last 4 minutes in the first half, more was to come from Barca, as Eto score a superb hat trick for a final 5-1 scoreline.

Real Madrid were hosting Getafe, after a mid week defeat at Roma in the Champions League and a Spanish la Liga defeat to Betis the week before. The positive was Real Madrid has not lost a game in the Spanish league at their home ground in over a year. But there was a statistic that probably most of them overlooked, it was that Getafe was the team that got away with any point from the Bernabeu in their last encounter in March 2007. There were also some other evident things to worry about as Getafe were active in all three competitions, the La liga, UEFA cup and the Kings Cup.

Schuster does not have to look or think hard to figure out how Getafe plays, he just has to look at his old note pads. The German coached them to success before Madrid came calling. Getafe plays well with one striker up front in Uche. Schuster lined up the same starting 11 as against Roma except that Baptista started ahead of Diarra. Madrid were playing well holding the ball, but though their approach play was good, the final pass to the strikers and their finishing was poor.

Though Robben started playing on the right wing at the beginning, he switched to the left and he immediately made an inviting cross for Guti who missed with a free header. Once Robben moved to the left the right wing was just empty and Sergio Ramos made some runs from his RB position. One such run ended in a cross from the Spaniard, Baptista connected with a header but it was wide again. Seeing how the Brazilian was playing Schuster should have brought in Drenthe at half time. Baptista was constantly losing possession of the ball, because of his extra touches on the ball. Gago was superb in his play once again and the Argentine is just becoming super successful at Real. He was recovering a lot of balls and also his pass completion rate was high.

Guti's weak free kick and a chested pass to Baptista which the Brazilian again were all that Real Madrid could muster after the half time team talk. In the 64th minute Van Nistelrooy finally took at a shot between defenders, the keeper's save fell to Raul who assisted Robben who made a cool finish. Robben ran to the right corner flag to celebrate, Gago and Sergio Ramos joined him. The referee had called the goal, but while the celebration was going on quickly changed his decision as he saw the linesman's flag. Getafe defenders quickly took the free kick and it was just Heinze and Guti in the back, three passes and Uche made a cool finish for Getafe 1-0.

Schuster now decided to make changes, Guti was niggled and was replaced by Higuain, Drenthe in for Baptista which should have been at half time in my opinion. The only time Getafe looked shaky was when Robben had the ball and he was just covering one wing. Drenthe could have spread the Getafe defense much more. On the scoring front they were not posing any threat as Uche was the only striker up front, and though Cannavaro was struggling against him Getafe never looked like scoring. Though Madrid tried all possible methods of scoring there was no way to break the defense. The final score was 0-1 and Madrid now just lead the La liga by 2 points, if they don't win next week against Recreativo they will no longer be league leaders.

When Real Madrid went 9 points of Barca in the winter break everyone said it was all over and Schuster said "We are our own enemies". I see an explanation and that is the inflexibility for the Madrid front line. Both Raul and Van Nistelrooy might hold different records, but the same two who were scoring such a lot of goal suddenly look clueless in the past 3 weeks. I have an answer, and that is Robinho. It was the Brazilian who was making all the moves and also though he plays as a winger he is a better finisher than Robben. Robinho's off the ball play, and his flair is missing. This was almost the same patch Barca went through when Messi got injured. This factor coming into picture too, i personally think that Schuster has to give some of the reserves more chances. You have a genuine striker a number 9 in Soldado on the bench and you see Van Nistelrooy struggling to get a shot away, still he is not on the pitch till the 80th minute or so. Saviola is at present injured, but even when he is fit he does not get a start. There is no point in squad rotation for the sake of it, but at least when your regulars are not delivering the goods, it makes sense to try some other combinations. Soldado while on loan last year scored 19 goals for Osasuna, so you are not replacing Van Nistelrooy with some B team player.

As Guti put it "They have scored a goal against us like in a match for four-year-olds. We can't afford to lose games in this way."

Here is the analysis on the bizarre goal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1EyFUeQjYc

Champions League-English teams fail to impress

Out of all the first round matches on Tuesday, no points for guessing i saw the Real Madrid V Roma match live. I would not have written about the Liverpool V Inter match which looked such a mouth watering encounter on paper, till i read a comment from one of my friends and also certain things that were going on in the press.

With such an indifferent season that Liverpool have been having in the EPL, and the fact that football pundits around the world had declared that a loss in this match would mean the axe falling on Rafa Benitez, meant it was the English team under pressure. There are a few things here, Of course Liverpool with the money that they have spent in the transfer market need to be producing some results. At the beginning of the season everyone predicted that Liverpool is the team who is really going to challenge for the title and Arsenal will barely make it in the top 4. A little over half way through the season, Arsenal lead the EPL and Liverpool is not even in the Champions League qualification spots. With a proposed new stadium and re-financing they have to win the Champions League which is the only competition that they can win now.

Press across Britain were confident that a loss to Inter yesterday would mean the exit of Rafa. Rafa Benitez would have felt the weight of the entire world on his shoulders as Inter was coming to Anfield as leaders of Serie A having not lost a game. Fernando Torres was on the pitch and that was what i was looking out for. Well he instantly had an effect on a match which was otherwise a dull affair. Materazzi received his first yellow card for an accidental clip on Torres. If that was a poor decision the next one was a slight tug on the Spaniard's shirt and that too not even close to goal. The second yellow came out and Inter were reduced to 10 men at the 30 minute mark.

Now hand ball decisions especially inside the penalty box are tough ones. Because it is how you look at it. If the ball hits the hand then its not a foul, but if the hand hits the ball it is a foul. What about an out stretched arm in the line of the ball? Now in the second minute it was Maicon and in the 60th minute it was substitute Vieira both handling the ball but the referee Frank de Bleeckere or his assistant never saw it. You can dish out a yellow card for each shirt tug but fail to see a blatant hand ball. Vieira himself almost had a look on his face "ya it happened, its a penalty".

Playing against an opponent at home who were reduced to 10 men from the 30 minute mark, you would expect some fire works from Liverpool. It never came and i was surprised at how well Inter had reorganized their back line. No wonder Real Madrid have been following Christian Chivu for a while now as he moved from LB to center of defense and had a good game. Except for a shot from Torres from a run after a rebound from Kuyt, his shot was tipped away by Inter keeper, there was not much. Then it was Hyppia heading at goal in a corner set piece.

On the 85 minute mark Kuyt inside the box hit a volley hard into the ground inside the box, the keeper Cesar looked to have it covered, but as it hit the ground it just bounced high into the goal.

on 89 minutes it was Captain fantastic who took long range shot from the right corner of the box which went in with the help of a deflection from the post. Liverpool win 2-0 and have the upper hand going into the second leg at the San Siro in 3 weeks. Wednesday morning newspapers across Britain said Rafa Benitez is safe and a big deal about the win over Italian league leaders. I am not at all surprised at the fact that goals decide the perception of games and Liverpool scored with two not so impressive shots, which converted luckily for them. Everyone is so quick to overlook the fact that they played for 85 minutes or so against a 10 man Inter team with particularly no flair or creativity.

In Champions League matches played in two legs, results are all that matters especially when it is a one off knock out phase, but after yesterday's performance if someone was to say Rafa Benitez is safe at his job, they dont know their football.

Chelsea seemingly getting an easy fixture against Olympiacos rested both Lampard and Terry but they had just one shot on goal through the entire match and was complaining that they played defensive in Greece. This is exactly how they play, as Avram Grant said, this is the worst performance since he took charge at Chelsea. One thing is to score and win the other is to play well and lose, Chelsea took a third option.

Champions League- Cracker of a game in Rome

With the first leg of the first knock out stage games in the European Champions League played yesterday, there was one big game atleast on paper. This was Liverpool V Inter Milan, the Italians making their trip to Anfield for the first leg. I did not see the Live game as i was glued to ESPN Deportes for Real Madrid's trip to the Stadio Olimpico to face Roma, which ultimately turned out to be a cracking match.

We have two different styles here, which is evident when they take to the pitch. Real Madrid has half their defensive line in the injury list and Marcelo the LB also added to their worries by getting on the list in last week’s defeat. They were obviously going to make some risks and Schuster did exactly the same. He brought in Gabriel Heinze who was declared fit to play over the weekend, but was not a 100% and was not sure to complete the game. He has not played for over a month with a thigh injury. Roma currently second in the Serie A has a very strong midfield. Totti plays as the lone striker and some excellent wing play by Mancini means its a crowded midfield to follow and a deep backline. Their wing backs including Panucci are not exactly the ones who keep making the overlapping runs.

Schuster if he had to match Roma and cut out their ball possession has to make changes to his midfield. He did exactly the same. He played both Diarra and Gago in midfield. Gago quiet surprisingly taking the CDM role and Diarra in the CM role. Guti was to play as the link man in midfield and Robben the only winger with Robinho injured. Van Nistelrooy was back and the partnership with Raul back. Real Madrid as in the past 4 weeks, looked confident in the first few minutes and looked eager to attack, well thats the only way they know to play after all. The first goal came quickly from the Spanish side to the shock of the full Stadio Olimpico. Robben made a run down the left before squaring the ball to Guti who took a shot from just outside the box, which took the slightest of touches on Raul and past the stranded keeper Doni. 0-1 Real Madrid in the 8th minute and the Captain reached 60 goals in Champions League.

From that point it was an onslaught from Roma trying to score, but all they could manage were some weak and off target shots from outside the box. Gago was doing extremely well gathering the lose balls and making the quick passes. First it was Robben who took a shot from outside the box, Doni did not collect it and pushed it right into the path of Van Nistelrooy who finished it, but was rightly adjudged to be in an offside position. The turning point in my opinion came around the 22 minute mark when Robben made a run this time on the right before serving a delightful cross to an onrushing Raul who failed to hit the target with a free header. This in my opinion would have buried the game.

There is no way a team like Madrid is going to withstand so much of pressure. They did that for until right after the miss from Raul. Mancini squared the ball into the Madrid box, where Gago and Totti collided and with both on the floor an on rushing Pizzaro hit a powerful shot, which hit Gago and Casillas into the net. 1-1 in the 23 rd minute.

Real was controlling the game and was dominating passing the ball around trying to make the split in the defense. There were two free kicks missed, Van Nistelrooy not shooting on target and Robben failing to connect with a shot. But Schuster would have been happy with the away goal at half time and also the fact that Real looked the more in a position to score a goal.

The game was being played in midfield, for Real to get through 5 midfielders and reach their strikers was proving to be very difficult. Roma on the other hand were playing direct football from goal kicks, that was finding Totti and he was doing a tremendous job in holding off the defender when battling fro aerial balls. It was creating a lot of free kicks. It was one such move, Heinze tried to use his legs to clear the ball while being held off by Totti and missed it, with Totti clear the Roma captain passed it through to Mancini who had come in on the blind side of Cannavaro. One-One with Casillas Mancini made a cool finish 2-1 Roma. If you have to be super critical, we can always question the positioning of Ramos who is supposed to be marking Mancini.

Real still continued to dominate the game and it almost looked as though Roma were playing away and wanted to hit Madrid on the counter attack. Gago and company were making a genuine effort to stay back though there were gaps through the center of midfield where he could run into. The Argentine had two shots from outside the Roma penalty box and missed both.

Schuster introduced Drenthe and Baptista together for Robben and Diarra. Drenthe set up a superb cross for Van Nistelrooy at 78 minutes, the striker hit the post with the effort. It was Rudd again with a quick lob to Raul, who smartly chested it down for Baptista who was rushing in and his shot from outside the box was not on target.

It was to end 2-1 in favor of Roma, but i don’t think Schuster would be extremely unhappy with the result. Yes, Real Madrid should have buried this fixture in the first leg itself but with history as their backing and the way they have been playing in the Bernabeu, it will be a cliff hanger of a return leg in 3 weeks. The last three meetings between the two teams prior to yesterday's match have all ended in 3-0 defeats for Roma. Schuster's starting back 4 is Pepe and Cannavaro in the center of defense, Ramos at RB and Heinze at LB. There is only game they all played the full 90 minutes, and that was against Barca and a they shut down the dreaded strike force at the Camp Nou. Hopefully Pepe back and also Robinho would bring back some consistency to Real Madrid's performances.

Here are the match highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfrFYS5tQT4

Barcelona catching up as Real slip at Betis

The wait is finally over, the Champions League first knock out fixtures first leg matches are around the corner. Real Madrid after their 7-0 victory last week did not take Relegation threatened Real Betis visit seriously right before their Champions League match with Roma. Schuster still has a lot of big names in the clinic and thus fielded the same line up as last week. Van Nistelrooy was fit but was on the bench, and Drenthe was a starter this week as opposed to replacing Robinho on the left wing.

Real Madrid did not show any signs of being in any defensive mood as they went right at Betis. Within minutes a Baptista free kick was a signal of what was to come from Madrid. Fernando Gago again getting the nod ahead of Diarra from his Manager showed how good his link play when he put an inviting through ball over the top of the Betis defense. Robben's pace was so superb that he got there first and squared it to the onrushing Baptista. The Brazilian could not keep his footing and Betis defense could not clear it and it fell kindly to Drenthe on the left who made a cool finish for his second goal in two weeks. 0-1 Real Madrid in the 6th minute.

Real Madrid could not finish off the game with the second goal and that would come back and bit them. Betis realized that they need to put Madrid on the back foot and that is by scoring against them. They had smartly identified the Madrid weakness, and that was their wing backs. On the left they had Marcelo the 20 year old Brazilian and the right it was veteran Salgado. Both of them had a part to play in how things went bad for Real Madrid.

Each time I see Salgado play at wing back i feel what is wrong with this guy? He has a problem making a tackle. When a winger approaches him he just keeps running backward towards his goal. He does not attack the ball and make a tackle. Maybe he is not as quick as he used to be, which is probably why he is afraid of committing and making himself look stupid if the winger gets by him. Well the logic is not working because what he does is brings the winger as close to the Madrid penalty box from where he can cross in the ball. Right around 32 minutes this is exactly what happened as Pavone had gotten away from Cannavaro and with a lot of unsuccessful tackles from Salgado got a cross in. Man Marking maybe the way Cannavaro and Sergio Ramos play, but with Pavone out of the equation Cannavaro was not marking anyone and so was Sergio Ramos. It was Edu who rose above ball watching Marcelo to head it in. 1-1 Real Betis.

Within 3-4 minutes it was almost like watching the repeat of the first Betis goal, the same drill and there was Salgado again letting the approach play happen and again Sergio Ramos out of position and Mark Gonzalez the former Liverpool man finished rising ahead of Marcelo again. 2-1 Real Betis.

Betis were doing extremely well in keeping the pace of Drenthe and Robben in check on the wings. Even on occasions when Drenthe did get into a crossing position there was hardly any one to target. Schuster had to bring on Van Nistelrooy to try spread the Betis defense and also to provide the Madrid defense with a target man. It was all Madrid in the second half but Betis was defending in numbers and was doubling up on Guti and Robben cutting down on any flair. Madrid starting was getting desperate. Schuster hoping to save a point played all his cards, brought in Higuain for Baptista and also Balboa for Raul. Betis still was getting the better of each and every attack from Madrid. Real were throwing caution out of the wind, with Sergio Ramos constantly joining in attack and it almost paid when a weak shot by Van Nistelrooy from close range cam back off the post.

The last ten minutes was all about some hard tackles, elbows and sliding tackles everywhere. First it was Melli elbowing Van Nistelrooy, and then it ensued into return elbows and pushing and shoving between the players. The referee as though dint have enough had the maximum alotted 6 minutes at the end in stoppage time. Betis deserved the win but and the 3 points was absolutely crucial for them to help in their staying in the La liga.

Right after the Madrid match it was Barcelona who was making their trip to Real Zaragoza. Zaragoza showed no fear against Barca, without Ronaldinho again, who was on the bench. Henry opened the scoring with a good goal, but with numerous missed chances for Zaragoza and a missed penalty from Diego Milito did not help their cause. The Brazilian Oliveira did equalize for Zaragoza in the 53rd minute. still more chances, still more missed chances. Ronaldinho made a substitute appearance just in time to score from the penalty spot after a hand ball inside the box. Barca came off with a 2-1 victory to cut down Real's lead at the top to 5 points.

Real Madrid have made their trip to Rome to play Roma at the Stadio Olimpico for the first leg of their knock out fixture which will be on Tuesday.

Real Madrid thunderbolt strikes Valladolid, 7 times

Real Madrid hosted Real Valladolid on Sunday at the Santiago Bernabeu for round 23 of the Spanish La Liga. Real's loss last week to Almeria had brought the lead from Barcelona down to 6 points. The positive for Real was that Barcelona could only salvage a draw against Sevilla on Saturday. A win against Valladolid will take them 8 points ahead of Barca. Real Madrid and Manager Schuster had major injury worries. He only had 18 out of the 25 first team players with some key players in the clinic. International friendlies also did not help with some players including Sergio Ramos and Diarra carrying niggles. Van Nistelrooy injured meant Schuster having to alter his formation a bit. He did just that. Sergio Ramos and Cannavaro in the center of defense and Marcelo back from injury on the left and Salgado again getting a start at RB.

Its in the midfield that Schuster made the changes. As they showed against Barca a couple of weeks back they are no push over. Valladolid plays a high line in defense whether they are home or away. For the same reason he has Gago play in the holding role instead of Diarra in order to utilize the Argentines better link play and that he can put some good balls to the strikers over the high defense line. With Sneijder out injured it was going to be Baptista and Guti in midfield, Robinho on the left wing as usual, the crucial start was Robben in an attacking winger role on the right and Raul as the striker. Robben's natural position is on the left which is his strong foot also but then he was looking lively on the right.

It was the flying Dutchman who made the first action with a run on the right and faking a shot he made a superb pass to Baptista who was following up through to the penalty box, though his first touch was not the greatest the keeper stayed on his line that let him compose himself and make a shot to the left corner. 1-0 Real Madrid in the 7th minute.

For the next 23 minutes it was almost all Real Valladolid. The same performance they had against Barca in the past 20 minutes which helped them score the equalizer was almost happening here in the Bernabeu. To make matters more nervous for Schuster Robinho fell to the ground clutching his stomach and had to be replaced by Drenthe seemingly in lot of pain.

But i was telling my friend who was here that they are playing too high a line in defense and also playing too much attacking football for an away team. Rather they should have been focusing on choking the packed Real midfield. In the next 14 minutes it was raining goals and probably Valladolid did not know what hit them. On minute 31 it was a superb through ball from Guti that put Raul through one-one with the keeper, he rounded and made a cool finish with his right foot from a narrow angle. 2-0 Real Madrid.

With Drenthe in, Robben had traded places with him on the left wing. Just a minute from the Raul goal it was the high line the Valladolid defense was maintaining that let them again. Guti again found Robben on the left with a super cross field through ball that just set him off. It’s a treat to watch him full speed, the close control he has on the ball even at such speeds is just amazing. The Valladolid did come out and make himself big trying to narrow the angle for Robben who has a natural left foot. He squared his body faking a shot across the goal but went for the near corner a small space the keeper had left. Superb finish for a 3-0 score line. This was Robben's first goal for Real Madrid in the La Liga since joining the Spanish giants in the summer of 2007.

Guti with another superb through ball this time to "the beast" Baptista whose screaming run into the Valladolid box ended when keeper Asenjo brought him down. The referee immediately pointed to the spot and it was Raul with the responsibility. He made no mistake with a shot to the left corner. The keeper guessed it right but it was too well placed. 4-0 Real Madrid in the 38th minute.

The provider supreme Guti turned goal scorer when he was put through by Drenthe with a nice ball on the right side of the midfield. Again with the high backline it was Guti one-one with the keeper and he smashed a ball into the roof of the net. 5-0 Real Madrid at half time.

Llorente who scored the equalizer in the match against Barca was always on the prowl. There were occasions he had on goal. The Real defense looked much better organized especially Marcelo looked good defending. There was minimal attack by Valladolid on the left side and that made Salgado's life easy. When Real struck 5 times with a poor offside trap and high defense line from Valladolid, Real Madrid caught Valladolid strikers offside 5 teams in the first half.


Madrid came out in the second half and i did not honestly expect a lot of action except that they would hold on to the ball and maybe look at hitting their visitors on the break. The damage had been done. On 58 minutes Schuster was forced to make a change to the backline with Sergio Ramos niggled he did not exactly have a center back on the bench. Instead he put Diarra to partner Cannavaro. Except for a mistake on a back pass game with Casillas which almost led to a Valladolid goal he looked good.

Casillas made a poor gather which fell kindly to Valladolid, Cannavaro made the first tackle, it fell again to Llorente whose shot at open goal was saved on the line by Salgado.

Real Madrid were in no mood to settle for a 5 star performance they wanted more. It was Robben again on the left side of midfield, inside the penalty box, just squared a good pass to Guti who was just joining in on the top of the penalty box. It was a difficult shot to take, he still did take it and it somehow went in off a little help from the cross bar. 6-0 Real Madrid in the 62 minute.

Schuster replaced Gago with the striker Soldado on 72 minutes. It was a smart move by Schuster i think to give the youngster some playing time. With Van Nistelrooy injured and Robinho also a casualty he might actually need a Striker to partner Raul in the next match. With the introduction of Soldado, Raul started pushing deep into midfield and putting some long balls into the striker. It was one such pass that was cleared weakly by the Valladolid defense with Guti coming in close to the penalty box, made a clever headed through ball to Drenthe, who had little time and space to finish but still was able to with a cool sliding finish. 7-0 Real Madrid.


It was around the same time last year that Real Madrid lost a home match. It was to a solo goal from Henry in the Champions league fixture against Arsenal. What a way to celebrate a whole year of going unbeaten at their home ground. Guti scored 2 goals in the match, more importantly he made 4 assists in the 7 goals. He heads the assists chart in the Spanish La Liga. It was one of the days that Guti was all over the pitch and was not making one pass wrong. With Baptista on the ground it allowed Guti more space and how much more dangerous can he be with wingers like Robben on the pitch, with Valladolid playing such a backline. It was as though Valladolid offered Guti a canvas and provided him the paint, and Guti made the master strokes.

At the end of it all i felt as though i had almost a repeat of Ghana V Brazil in the 2006 world cup when the Africans also made the same mistake of playing a high defense line against the quickness of Ronaldo and Adriano. Brazil only scored 3, but Real Madrid were in no mood to be kind.

Real Madrid lead the La Liga with 56 points, Barca in second position with 48 points, and Villareal with 42 points. It is Real Betis next week for Real Madrid before the all important Champions League fixture against AS Roma.

Here are the match highlights:

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

Almeria red flags Real Madrid steam roller

Real Madrid the defending Spanish La Liga champions were just unstoppable and the next in the league was a huge 9 points behind them. Now Madrid have been doing well with all their home games, as they are unbeaten in the league at the Bernabeu and they have been super successful in some of the most difficult away games.

On Saturday Real Madrid made the trip to Almeria for round 22 and Barcelona was hosting low lying Osasuna at the Nou Camp on Sunday. If Real Madrid were hoping to maintain the 9 point lead over Barcelona, they disappointed. Real Madrid coach had his problems, which was an injured backline. Metzelder, Heinze and the impressive Pepe all out injured. This meant Sergio Ramos will play again in the center of defense along with Cannavaro. It was Torres again at LB as Marcelo has just joined the team back from injury, Salgado at RB. In the midfield it was Diarra back from the African Cup of Nations. Shcuster can be considered lucky here as Gago was serving a suspension for collecting 5 yellow cards in the league. The roster does not have another defensive midfielder. Diarra meanwhile was not match fit as he had just brief training back from Mali. Getting eliminated from the African cup of Nations is a big deal and Diarra had to travel to Mali along with his team to passify the country's disappointment. It was Sneijder in place for Baptista as the Dutchman got the not ahead probably because of his goal scoring super sub performance against Villareal. Guti continued to play the link man role and it was as usual Raul, Van Nistelrooy and Raul to provide the goals.

Both teams made a decent start but the play in midfield was poor. Diarra looked sluggish with the efforts of the African cup of Nations and Guti was no looking as effective as the game against Villareal which is of course trade mark of the Spaniard. He has days when he is unstoppable and on other days he is just no where to be seen. Unfortunately for Madrid this was one of the latter days. Raul made the first real attempt with an audacious attempt on goal with a lob. If it had gone in it would have been one of the most spectacular goals of the season. In the end it was a feet high.

The two strikers Negredo and Ortaiz were constantly putting pressure on Cassilas goal. Negredo is a former Real Madrid player and Cannavaro was finding it difficult to contain him. Torres was also struggling at LB, Sergio Ramos all over the place it was just a matter of time before Real conceded a goal. The only way out was for the Madrid giants to score first but again the approach play was poor. Robinho was put under control superbly and there was no action on the right side of midfield because as usual the only place he runs at yes you got it right is toward his own goal.
Cannavaro bundled Negredo and it was strike partner Ortaiz who took a swipe at goal. Casillas made a full stretch save and everyone thought he had indeed made a spectacular save but the goal was given and Almeria celebrating for the first time. 1-0 Almeria after 16 minutes.

There was still no movement in midfield for Madrid and they were not able to counter the wing play by Almeria. Schuster had declared before the match that Almeria is most dangerous in set pieces and that Madrid would definitely counter their set piece expertise. But it was Real Madrid who were creating danger in Set piece play. Van Nistelrooy tested the keeper from a corner from Guti, Sneijder did not even go close to the target from a well positioned free kick. Robinho initiated a super counter attack (may be the only) move with a pass to Sergio Ramos and the young defender did exactly what he knows to do best and that is to run the entire pitch, the keeper came out and made a clumsy challenge on him but luckily for Almeria it was just outside the penalty box. Yellow card to the Almeria keeper, free kick was well placed by Guti but again not on target.

Real Madrid went into the half time 1-0 down and whatever Schuster said during the break did not work. A minute into the second half Cannavaro had again clumsily brought down Negredo, the penalty was converted. 2-0 Almeria at 46 minutes.

Schuster tried to go on the aggressive by taking Salgado out and bringing in Baptista. But the real problem was Van Nistelrooy limping away after receiving a hard knock. He was replaced by Higuain who looked really short of confidence and playing time. After receiving a ball inside the box the Argentine youngster's first touch let him down when he was clear. Sneijder was replaced by Balboa and he made some quality runs on the right wing. This is something Schuster should have probably tried much earlier. Balboa is a strong and the authentic right wing you see, who has speed and dribbling skills and can put in crosses.

The game ended 2-0 to Almeria who is 8th in the league with 32 points in the league. 3rd & 4th place Villareal on the 39 points so you can see the quality in the middle of the league. Real Madrid would wait to see if their lead on Barcelona would be cut down to 6. Indeed it did as Barcelona struggled in finishing off Osasuna at home until an 88th minute strike from Xavi saved them the blushes and the 3 points. It is a 6 point lead now for Real Madrid.