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.