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.

Real Madrid unstoppable....Barca draw with Bilbao

Sunday's first fixture was Barcelona against Athletic Bilbao. Trailing by 7 points from Real Madrid, Barcelona had to keep winning and hope for a possible slip up from the defending Champions. They had a tough game away to Bilbao and Barca have not been exactly the best when it gets to their away game results. As it turned out with Samuel Eto and Yaya Toure out for the African Cup of Nations and Messi just back from injury Barcelona are really struggling to play their usual flowing attacking football. Rijkaard is giving starts to Messi, Henry, Bojan, and Gudjhonsen in midfield meaning he is playing all his attacking cards at once. Through the match Barcelona did not create the chances for the number of attackers played. They went ahead on 37 minutes through a fine finish from the 17 year old Bojan. But Barcelona could not finish off the game and Bilbao made the best of some lose defending with Llorente finishing off inside the box. This was past the 75 minute mark. Trailing by 7 points in the league Barca should have gone all guns blazing to get a second goal for a winner. With Messi not looking the sharpest and Ronaldinho still recovering from injury they settled for a draw. Barcelona's record this year in travelling games has not been the greatest.

That left Real Madrid hosting Villarreal who was third in the league to follow. Real Madrid had earlier visited Villarreal and come out with a 0-5 drubbing earlier on in the season. But Villarreal has since then recovered and started getting some goals through Rossi the Italian striker the former Man U man, and the Turkish international Nihat. When Real Madrid had 50 points from 20 games Villarreal had 38 points from the same number of games a huge 12 pts separating 1st and 3rd in the league, very unusual in the Spanish La Liga. Last year till the penultimate week Sevilla who was third placed was just one point away from 1st and second Real Madrid and Barcelona who finished with the same points.

Real Madrid coming off with a hard fought win last week in the Madrid Derby was still missing many players due to injury. Pepe, Metzelder and Heinze are still injured leaving Schuster with minimum choices in defense. Sergio Ramos and Cannavaro in the center, Torres and Salgado in the wings. With Diarra away for African Cup of Nations playing for Mali, Gago was lining up in midfield along with Guti. Schuster rested Sneijder who had a phenomenal game against Atletico and brought in Baptista. The most feared strike force in Europe of Raul, Van Nistelrooy and Robinho were to look for the goals.

Villarreal did not exactly make a fluent start and looked a bit shaky in creating some consequtive touches on the ball. Either they did not do a good homework or they did not expect Guti to start, because with Guti having three forwards in front of him was already trying some deadly through balls. Marcos Senna did not do a great job marking Guti as the Madrid second captain received a ball from Gago and reading Robinho's movement he made a stupendous pass with Villarreal players ball watching. The Brazilian finished with a first time shot to the right corner of Villarreal goal. 1-0 Real Madrid in the 9th minute.

The goal was a shot in the arm for Villarreal as they came out attacking full strength. Ramos was marking Rossi and was making some strong tackles. But it was some wing play from Cani that created the chance for Villarreal. Some poor positioning from Ramos who went in to attack the wing play found Cannavaro all alone with two strikers and it was Rossi who came in and finished off a fine shot to the top corner past the helpless Casillas. 1-1 Villarreal in the 15 the minute.

Gago was doing an excellent job marking Nihat and also making some valuable contribution in the playmaking department. He almost had more than 90% pass conversion along with Guti. Well the next best chance for Real Madrid actually came from a source that really surprised me....ya lot of points for guessing, it was Michel Salgado. I am not a big fan of Salgado and have written numerous times that as a wing back the only place he runs at is "his own goal". But this time Guti receiving a ball inside the right side of the Villarreal box instead of passing across the goal made a cute touch to Salgado who made a decent shot at goal which was saved by Diego Lopez, the Villarreal goal keeper who is a former Real Madrid man who was to make more spectacular saves. Half time it was 1-1.

Real Madrid came out focused on playing some good football in the second half and Villarreal trying to get the surprise winner got a corner. But it was the superb young blood of Ramos who ran the entire pitch and squared it was Raul who had already made a run in the right side of the penalty box, instead of passing it back, the Captain shot at goal only to be saved by Diego Lopez, but he got a second bit at the apple as the ball fell back to him, but this time he opted to pass but Ramos could not connect with a shot as there was some pressure from defender Cygan, and it fell to Guti whose powerful shot at goal was saved again by Diego Lopez, but the third time Villarreal were not lucky as it fell to Robinho, who ran square and created the space to finish off into the right bottom corner of the Villareal net. 2-1 Real Madrid. Robinho scoring his 8th goal in the La Liga.

I was thinking that once Real went ahead they had to score and increase the safety net and ensure the victory as Villarreal were a constant threat when it got to scoring. Van Nistelrooy was not looking exactly the sharpest but was digging deep to run wide and create some plays especially on the right side of midfield. Raul was making all the efforts to get in striking positions but was constantly getting himself ahead of play and in offside positions. There was a couple actually which were touch and go and on another day those runs would have been dangerous for Villarreal. But against the run of play Villarreal scored and it was Capdevilla who scored from a corner. Again a bit of questionable marking from Real Madrid. 2-2 Villareal in the 75th minute. Schuster made the change in bringing Sneijder and the Dutchman decided the match with almost his first significant touch on the ball. Its praise for Raul who battled with Cygan and the french defender could only head it out for a throw. With the Villarreal defenders still complaining for a foul, Robinho smartly did not wait for Torres to come restart the match with a throw in, instead took it himself and found Gago, the Argentine in turn scooped in a delightful ball to Sneijder who got ahead of the defense and with the in form Diego Lopez to beat Sneijder no mistake. After his terrific start in Spain, 4 goals in 3 games Sneijder has only notched one more goal following that and man did he look happy after scoring his 6th. 3-2 Real Madrid.

The defending Champions went through some nail biting final minutes, free kicks, corners in the favor fo Villarreal but it was Real who cam out winners, 3-2 the final score and they lead the pack by 9 points.

Here are the match highlights:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=44458362569187930

Last week after Real battled to a 2-0 away victory against Atletico Madrid i heard one of the football analysts on Fox Soccer Channel say, "7 points lead? i don’t know how this is happening as Real Madrid are not playing the best football"

I agree with him to a certain extend as Real may not be the fluent best, but there are lot of changes that Schuster has made to the style of play. Under Capello Real were focused on defending close to their penalty box, especially playing two defensive midfielders and Raul in a withdrawn role. Now under Schuster Real seems to be playing up the field and mark plays down in the midfield and back. He is playing one defensive midfielder and is playing Raul as a striker. With new players coming in this season, Schuster has succeeded in keeping the crust of the team together just fine tuning the positioning on the field to get better results.

I saw a few details on Realmadrid.com which i think is worth sharing here:

* After 21 games in the Spanish La Liga Real Madrid have 53 points, which is a record 9 more than second placed Barcelona and 15 more than third placed Villarreal.

* Real Madrid have won 8 consecutive games now and the record in place is 15 set by Real Madrid team in 1960/61.

* Real Madrid's 53 points are even the best in Europe. Having completed 23 games in the EPL, Arsenal and Man U have clocked 54 points; The German Bundesliga will restart only on Feb 1st, having completed 17 games both Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich have 36 points. In the Itaian Serie A having completed 20 games Inter Milan lead with 50 Points. In the French Ligue 1 Lyon lead the pack with 46 points from 23 games. In the Dutch League PSV lead with 46 points from 23 games.

* Real Madrid goal keeper Iker Casillas went 594 minutes without conceding a goal with some extra ordinary performances.

* Real Madrid have the best scoring record in La Liga having scored 46 goals.

* Real Madrid are unbeaten in their home ground in the Spanish la Liga for 16 games now.

* Real Madrid's three strikers in Raul, Van Nistelrooy and Robinho have contributed with 27 goals.

* More importantly in most cases winning matches against the likes of Barcelona, Valencia, Villareal and Atletico Madrid especially in away games usually make Champions. Real have beaten Atletico Madrid 2-1 at home and 2-0 away, Have beaten Villarreal 5-0 away and 3-2 at home, have beaten Valencia 5-0 away at the Mestalla and Barcelona 1-0 at the Nou Camp.

Football is not an individual sports where individual stats make or break teams, but these are stats any team can be proud of, as Real Madrid coach Schuster said "we are our own opponents now".

Big name transfers accross Europe, how did they do?

Big name players make or break clubs and how clubs perform in a season. As in every season the summer time is a time to look out for sports journalist around the world. Who a club buys during the transfer window is so important that in Spain when there is a Club President election, the candidate promises some of the best players. Maybe it is too early to come to a conclusion on whether the player is going to be successful or not. Some of the most successful players definitely needed a few seasons before they promoted themselves into the world class league. Examples of Kaka for Milan and C.Ronaldo for Man U are recent examples.

Since i started officially blogging before the summer transfer in 2007 and that i have written a lot on possible transfers and also on the possibility of success of these players, i thought it would be apt to analyze how some of the big name and big money transfers did half way through the season with their new employers.

I will start with the league that i follow very closely, ie the Spanish La liga no points for guessing

Wesley Sneijder:

The dutch midfielder was signed from Ajax without any fuss. There was no press news at all till the date the Attacking Midfielder signed the contract and was presented. Really unlike any signing that Real Madrid make. The 18.3M signing made one of the best impacts by a new player in Real Madrid in a few years. 4 goals in his first 3 games including two spectacular free kicks. Wearing the #23 jersey he was immediately taking over the Beckham mantle. But the press writing about him on a daily basis probably put immense pressure on him and his form deteriorated to an extend that the same press claimed that Sneijder has problem settling in the Spanish capital and is taking counselling sessions. Sneijder has responded back with some good performances and goals and assists and is the number one choice for coach Schuster in the link man role in midfield. Real Madrid have not played with an attacking midfielder in their team since Zidane left and Sneijder though is very different from the french great has created new flair in the Madrid midfield.

Here are 4 goals with which Sneijder started his Madrid career:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtTZ2BLmW8w

Pepe:

Press across Spain and Europe said Real Madrid are blowing up the transfer market by paying 20M for a lesser known player. As i mentioned in one of the previous blogs Madrid Sporting Director Mijatovic said "You need to see him play and you wont ask me this question again". He said it right, as everyone had to wait for a few games as Pepe was injured from the beginning of the season. Once he stepped on the pitch, there was a defender who showed some terrific ball control similar to a forward, excellent in the air and attacks the ball well. He was the Center Back that Madrid was searching for a few seasons, precisely 4 years since their great Fernando Hierro left. Since then Madrid was a defenders jinx, as they had the likes of Woodgate, Walter Samuel all not lasting more than a season. Pepe's performance against Barcelona so phenomenal that when he reached Portugal the next day for the winter break there were people crowding in the airport. The Brazilian born defender is a naturalized citizen with Portugal and was called into the national team earlier in the year. Though Madrid brought in the likes of Metzelder and Heinze also to bolster the defence it has been Pepe who has brought new life and confidence into the Madrid defense. Cannavaro who had a miserable first year seem to have formed a spectacular partnership with the portugese and has helped Sergio Ramos move into his natural RB position. Unfortunately the defender has got injured yesterday and is expected to be out for 3-4 weeks.

One of my favorite videos on the net. This is a compilation of his spectacular performance against Barcelona:

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

Arjen Robben:

The 23 year old flying Dutchman made the most anticipated move of the summer for Real Madrid fans with Chelsea holding up for a huge amount of money. Though they have not disclosed the amount it is expected to be over 30M. I had a blog on this when the transfer happened and had mixed reactions as comments from tow regular readers Spartan and Nik. Nik though is a Chelsea fan said while he agrees that Robben is a spectacular player, he is injured all the time and does not get through 20 games. Spartan meanwhile said Robben is the most under rated winger in the world. I am forced to agree with Nik now. 1 start in the Champions League, 2 in the League and 2 in the Spanish Cup half way through the season is the reason why. I agree with Spartan because the time Robben has played he has looked phenomenal. 15 mins of magic is not going to make a good player. Since he is young, Madrid would not loan him out so Robben still needs to prove his worth or might find his way out at the end of the campaign.

Thierry Henry:

As a fan i was fed up with this particular news coming up year after year and finally this year Barcelona convinced Arsenal to sell and Henry to join the Spanish giants for 16.1M. When i saw Ronaldinho and Henry on the ground i thought there was something wrong here. Henry is not a target man striker and not a pure #9. He is more of a drifter, who drifts wide left. Henry having enjoyed all the responsibilities in Arsenal was bound to miss being the creative man, the scoring machine, the set piece kick taker and the penalty taker. Henry is just average in the air. It took him too many games to thrill the Barcelona faithful. Henry has scored 10 goals so far in all competitions including 6 from 13 games in the League. The games recently played without Ronaldinho, Henry has looked more confident and has been his normal self. With Ronaldinho's future hanging in the balance it looks as though Henry has stardom waiting him for at Barcelona.

It took a while but his first goal in the La Liga was not exactly just one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y1BHp5htIQ

Gabriel Milito:

There was probably no doubt in Milito's class. He had proven that in Zaragoza. Bought for 13.8M the Argentine has been a regular in the Barca squad and has given some speed to an aging back line and has put Thuram on the bench. Has already made 24 appearances in all competitions. Whenever i write about Milito, i cannot stay away from mentioning the fact that he was brought to Spain by Real Madrid in 2003 and later not signed after the medical showing some injury concerns. Ya of course Madrid is very careful about it. Woodgate, Metzelder, Robben, Ronaldo, Cassano to name a few who all were signed by Real with evident injury concerns.

Eric Abidal:

Barcelona spent 10M to obtain the services of the french LB from Lyon. He has been a regular for Rijkaard. Having already played in 16 of the 20 league games and 5 of the 6 Champions League that Barcelona have played so far. Abidal enjoys running up and down the left wing. Does not seem to be super fast, but is a solid LB. With the importance of total football, Barcelona have made a good signing, but Barca may get only a maximum of 3 years from him as he is already 28 years old.

Yaya Toure:

Signed from Monaco for an Undisclosed amount Toure has cemented his place immediately in the star studded midfield of the Spanish giants. The reason is simple, Barcelona do not have a good defensive midfielder. They have the likes of Edmilson who is always on the injured list and Xavi who is more of a CM and is not exactly a pure defensive midfielder. The impact that Toure has made in 19 appearances in total for Barcelona have been more important to Barcelona because of the necessity. He is a good tackler and is a decent distributor of the ball.

Diego Forlan:

Signed by Atletico Madrid from Villareal almost on the same day Fernando Torres left for Liverpool for 14M has made a decent impact and has filled into the big shoes left by Torres. If you look at his stats he has done better than what Torres used to have midway through the season to show for in goals. In 25 appearances the Uruguay international has scored 12 goals in all competitions. Football journalists around the world appreciated Atletico for making a good choice when Forlan was signed. Football analysts predicted him to be a big success, the fact that Atletico are in the top 4 of the league is mostly due to Forlan and Sergio Aguero. If playing well they have an excellent attacking team, Forlan, Sergio Aguero, Raul Garcia and Jose Antonio Reyes. Forlan is a player who has never been able to show his class even at teams like Man U. This is his chance.

Enough of the Spanish League, i know this will have very limited interest, if i dont bring the EPL into picture. I will start with the biggest transfer in the EPL and no points for guessing.

Fernando Torres:

The most expensive transfer in the Premiership 26.5M is what Liverpool parted with to bring in the highly rated Striker. The true target man and a target with the best attributes. When he signed for Liverpool and in my blog, Spartan one of the regular readers and big time Liverpool fan was not sure if they had spent all this money on the right player. I had replied saying that watching La liga i pretty much knew that Torres could make a big impact in EPL. No offense to the EPL but at his time at Atletico Torres used to struggle past 15 goals a season. Ok now an EPL fan would argue that Torres did not have enough service in Atletico but has some good midfield support here in Liverpool. 11 goals from 17 Premiership games, 3 (spectacular hat trick) in one Carling cup, 3 Goals in 4 Champions League appearances. A total of 18 goals in 24 appearances should create a fan base for the Spaniard. The 23 year old has signed a 6 year contract and for me is the transfer that has made the maximum impact. Some of the goals he score were purely extraordinary and Torres has just been terrorising the defenders in EPL. Benitez on the other hand has just been a little difficult to understand with his rotation policy. The lack of squad depth is again going to affect Liverpool and they might again end up in the top 4 but a lot of points away from the eventual winners.

superlative is all i can say:

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

Andriy Voronin:

If you get a 28 year old striker #10 on a free transfer, any impact is good impact. The Ukrainian joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen. He has not been exciting in the goal scoring department, has definitely added a bit more to Liverpool apart from his Hollywood movie star looks. From the Liverpool games i have seen, Voronin is the best second striker combination to Fernando Torres. He digs deep, puts the defenders always on their toes by tracking them down and always is happy to have a high work rate by joining the midfield to start moves. Voronin has scored only 4 goals from 16 starts for Liverpool, but you want to partner Torres with Crouch?

Ryan Babel:

One more addition by Benitez to an a record breaking transfer period. 11.5 M is what Liverpool paid for the high flying attacking midfielder from Ajax. Considering the fact that he has made only 5 starts from the 19 games played in the EPL, Benitez probably things that the 21 year old is not there yet. The 7 goals Babel has tallied in all competitions is not bad considering the fact that he is more of a super sub. Looks like an Arjen Robben in the making, but lets just hope he is better with the time spent in the sick bed.

Carlos Tevez:

I have the bragging rights for this one. Last summer i had identified Tevez as the one for Man U, the second striker to play along with Rooney. The Argentine who saved West Ham from relegation was chased by almost all of the big clubs in Europe. Finally i am still not sure what kind of a deal Man U worked out with his agents, which is to be initially a loan deal and then be converted to a permanent deal. He has started in 21 of the 23 EPL games and has scored 10 goals, 2 more from 2 Champions League appearances, but its been the partnership with Rooney that has been spectacular. With a Attacking midfielder like C.Ronaldo who has scored an unbelievable 23 goals in 24 game to compliment the two strikers it is a treat to watch Man U in full flow. Full credit to Ferguson for playing Tevez on a regular basis ahead of the fit and ready Saha.

Owen Hargreaves:

Man U had to get into a bidding battle for almost a year for the highly rated defensive midfielder. Midway through the season Hargreaves has just made 11 starts for Man U. With tough competition from Darren Fletcher its not time yet to guarantee a starting spot for Hargreaves.

Luis Nani:

The 21 year old Portugese attacking midfielder was signed from Sporting Lisbon for an undisclosed amount. Many consider him to be a prototype of C.Ronaldo. It seems the Manager has a plan for him and that is to play him in all Champions League matched, he has started in 5 of the 6 such matches. Having started in 9 EPL games and having seen him play he looks very similar to Ronaldo's first season at Man U. He seems to be superb in wing play but lacks quality in his final ball. A couple of seasons under the Scottish Maestro would definitely turn Nani into a good player.

Oliveira Anderson:

The 19 year old Brazilian was signed from FC Porto for an Undisclosed amount, and for some reason has got into the good books of the Manager. With an aging midfield that Man U have with the likes of Scholes and Giggs past their prime Fergusson must be looking to groom a fresh set of midfield stars. Anderson has surprisingly made 15 starts for Man U, each time i have seen him play there has not been anything so far that has made me say "wow".

Alex:

Surprising Chelsea was silent in the transfer window and did not splash their millions. They signed a few on free transfers before they reinforced their defense by bringing in this Brazilian center back for an undisclosed amount from PSV Eindhoven. When his transfer was confirmed i had written about his abilities. In a team with minimum focus on defense like Brazil, Alex has been able to hold fort. The huge center back is superb in the air and has a decent standing tackle. 22 starts for his new employer shows that new Manager Avram Grant is trusting the new defender. Also the fact that captain fantastic John Terry is injured has given the right platform for Alex. He is a threat in the air and almost if Terry was not enough of a threat in attacking set pieces, Alex has already score 3 goals.

Tal Ben Haim:

A free transfer from Bolton the Israel International has also got the opportunities with injury concerns in the Chelsea back line. Ben Haim has made 13 starts for Chelsea this season and from what i have seen, he is a fair player....

Claudio Pizarro :

Another of the free transfers for Chelsea this time from Bayern Munich as proven by the signing of Anelka has not been a good enough back up for their strike force of Sheva, Drogba and Kalou. The 29 year old in my opinion does not have a place in a squad like Chelsea...

Eduardo Da Silva:

One of the most talked about transfers and i am not sure many knew the talent and was always thinking of the 24 year old Brazilian born naturalized Croatian as a replacement for Henry. Well he is no Henry for sure, but he is flair and a striker with the natural eye for goal. I was always skeptical about what he would achieve moving in from Dinamo Zagreb. There was immense expectations from the Gunners hopefuls especially knowing the fact that Eduardo scored a stunning 34 goals the last season. In 15 starts for Arsenal Eduardo has scored 8 goals, by no means anything less than impressive. My colleague Marina was quick to correct me and say that Eudardo is for sure going to be a star. I am bound to agree with her now as since Henry left the young players at Arsenal are getting a chance to take responsibility and boy are they not shining. Fabregas has even openly admitted that Henry leaving Arsenal has let some steam off. The problem for Wenger is to give Eduardo playing time, when Emmanuel Adebayor has scored 15 goals from 20 EPL appearances.

Here are his first 10 goals for Arsenal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUkZCU5P-f4

Elano:

Man City under new boss Sven was indeed building a team to dislodge the usual top 4 in the EPL. I noticed Elano first in the Copa America last year in the shock final between a Brazil team without the big guns taking on a fully loaded Argentina. His stupendous cross pitch pass to Baptista who scored from it, had class written all over it. Unfortunately he was injured minutes and later and could not complete the final. Man City spent 8M "Thai money" to obtain the Brazilians services from Shaktar Donetsk. He along with Bulgarian Petrov has taken over the Man City midfield. Elano has so far featured in 22 games and scored 7 goals including some spectacular free kicks.

Here is a video of his first goal for Man City and man its a cracker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VOYMtyoduQ

David Beckham:

The shock transfer of last summer though finalized in the winter of the previous year, was that of English midfielder David Beckham. Arguably one of the most recognizable faces in all sports, LA Galaxy in the MLS obtained Beckham's signature on a free transfer. Beckham's 5 year contract is estimated at a whooping 50M a year. Well i wrote about this so called transfer coup of the century, and failed to understand most articles written on this. There was minimum focus on Beckham's sports value it was more of his marketing value and an icon. That is exactly what happened. MLS and Soccer (as Americans call it) got a kick in the rear end that was lacking in the US. Becks arrived in the Hollywood city injured and took a while to be match fit. When he did make a start he did it in Hollywood style indeed. 50,000 screaming fans saw Beckham smash in a free kick and give a taste of his quality. But that was it, Galaxy is still languishing at the bottom of the MLS and Beckham is struggling to stay match fit during the long winter break in the US. He is now training with the Arsenal first team and reserves in a hope of being called up for England's first game in february since Fabio Capello took charge. Having played 99 matched for England and having played for two of the best clubs in the World, i dont think Beckham has made the right choice so early in his career.

There are players like Juan Pablo Angel at NY the Colombian striker signed from Aston Villa, Denilson at Dallas, Fred at DC United, Blanco at Chicago have done wonders in MLS compared to Beckham.

I have definitely overlooked players at smaller teams who have made an impact, my idea was specifically to analyze whether big spenders are indeed getting the value for the money spent.

Real victorious again in the Madrid Derby

People always say that for Real Madrid the derby is the match against Barcelona. For fans it might mean a lot if they win or lose against the islanders. Its more of a mainland was the the island team. But in every sense for Real Madrid the derby is against Atletico Madrid. They are their city rivals, the first leg of this derby was the Spanish la liga opening fixture for Real at their home turf and they won 2-1. Now its time to visit Vicente Calderon the home turf for Atletico Madrid, it was not going to be easy as Atletico are 4th in the league and have one of the most feared strike force including the likes of former Man U striker Forlan, wonder boy Agüero, former Liverpool striker Raul Garcia and former Real Madrid loan boy Jose Antonio Reyes.

Schuster made few changes from the team that lost at home in the second leg of the Kings cup and found themselves out of the tournament again. Pepe was doubtful but he indeed started partnering with Cannavaro, Torres and Ramos in the wings. The surprise entry was Guti who finally dislodged Baptista from Schuster's favorite list. With Diarra still away Gago still occupied the big space left by him and Sneijder played in the other linking role in midfield.

I got up at 9 AM my time on Sunday (pretty early by my standards) to see the 10 AM kick off, well am i on time, because Real required only 30 seconds or so to score their first goal. Robinho was on the left side of midfield close to the Atletico box, but was defended well by Pablo one of the center backs, but that was the only good thing he did, what was to follow would make any Manager furious. Pablo did not exactly know if he could pass it back to keeper Abbiati or had to put it away corner or shield it for a goal kick, there was only a second of indecision and Robinho stole the ball back and squared it in for Captain fantastico to score from a simple tap in. 0-1 Real Madrid. It was Raul's 11th goal against the city rivals.

Real Madrid then suffered a blow when Pepe had to be replaced. There was no straight switch possible as Schuster did not have any Center backs available. He brought in Salgado onto the right back role and of course it was Sergio Ramos to move into a CB role. Atletico came back full force at Casillas goal trying to nullify the shock Real Madrid lead. A brilliant save from Casillas saw Forlan's powerful shot saved. But it was not just Atletico's day as the Goal post, Casillas and the Real defense kept them out time after time.

Simao was replaced by Reyes through injury and he immediately linked up well with Agüero and he almost scored with a powerful shot but Casillas again made a spectacular save. Again it was Agüero who hit the bar just minutes later. It almost seemed as though it was a competition between the Atletico players to hit the Goal post, they just could not find the few inches below the Real goal post. From a corner set piece it was Motta who rose unmarked and headed it at Casillas goal. Again the Real Madrid goal post to the rescue.

At the 40' minute mark it was from a corner, Sneijder floated in a ball to the unmarked Van Nistelrooy at the far post and he volleyed in. It was not the perfect of shots and Abbiati seemingly had enough time to react and did get a hand on the shot but it did go in for the second goal of the night for the visitors. 0-2 Real Madrid.

Both teams took the pitch after half time with Atletico still looking the more confident and controlling possession but it was Real Madrid who created the chance first. It was Wesley Sneijder, the Dutchman making a good run after collecting a lose ball but it was shot did not match the quality of the approach play, as it was easily collected by Abbiati. Sneijder was playing a good game, as he helped out Gago in tracking back and defending and also in midfield was always passing first time as soon as he got the ball to release the forwards. There was some flair too in Sneijder's play today as he got into shooting positions in open play which is what he should try to do more as that his strength.

In one of my earlier blogs i had written about how Gago plays differently from Diarra in the fact he does a lot of covering on the wings, and that leaves him wrongly positioned. Well a week earlier he had mentioned in one of the interviews that he needs to improve on that and has to be more centrally positioned. He did exactly that against Atletico and i really feel he had a good game. If he has a good defensive game Gago is bound to have an exceptional game as he is far superior to Diarra when it gets to the Link play part and also joining the attack in counter attacks.

More attacks followed but Real Madrid's defense and Casillas did well to keep out each and every Atletico attack. Robinho screamed down the left wing in a sweeping counter attack move by Real and he passed a beautiful ball to Sneijder and his shot went wide of the near post. As in any away game, Real Madrid after going 2 goals ahead was mainly focusing on defending well and just playing some straight forward football by trying to hold on to the ball well and then counter attacking when possible. The game was ugly in the tackling department as the referee dished out a total of 8 yellow cards and was very fair in it as well, 4 each for both the teams.

There are certain key moments in a game, which could be the deciding factor of a match as such. In this case it was the Raul goal that was scored so early in the game. It just deflated Atletico and also made Real ever so confident in defending. Well yes Atletico did hit the bar a few times, but thats not how it should be? "Luck favors the brave....." Real still lead the La Liga by 7 points and is breaking records accross Europe as they have 50 pts from 20 games.

Here are the match highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKZ3sDtL7B4

Real Madrid difficult to keep up with...

My last blog update was about the last game before the winter break when Real Madrid beat Barcelona in the first fixture of the El Classico. Real went in to the winter break as Champions with a 7 point lead over second placed Barca. Their first match back from the break was at home against Real Zaragoza. Speaking of starting the New Year with a bang, i fell sick on 31st and the partying dint help a bit. The two weeks that followed i watched all the games, much more than usual across different leagues in Europe as i was at home recovering. But i was in no mood to write about them. Now i am in a difficult situation here and that is to write about games that are not fresh in my memory. Hence i am only writing a brief on what has happened.

Real Madrid V Real Zaragoza:

The winter break was over and Schuster gave a well deserved break to Pepe after his herculean effort against Barcelona. He had Heinze back healthy and fit and partnered him in defense with Cannavaro. Unfortunately Heinze's return was to last only 16 minutes as the player fell injured and had to be replaced with Torres. Fortunately Schuster has someone like Ramos in the team who can easily play both as a CB and as a RB. Baptista still continued getting the nod ahead of Guti. The Champions definitely looked out of sorts and slow off the block and it was Zaragoza who were looking dangerous. The first real chance was flagged offside against Ricardo Oliviera after latching on to a rebound from a Diego Milito shot. The star of the show was Casillas, the keeper coming up with save after save and the Zaragoza player started thinking if they will ever get through him.

After a dull first half of lacklustre football, Schuster replaced Sneijder by Guti, which immediately had an effect. He started threading in his trade mark through balls. Robinho who made a brilliant run along the right floated in a cross for Van Nistelrooy to make an easy header. It was 1-0 Real Madrid. Zaragoza still was not prepared to give up yet, the strikes at the Madrid goal continued and it always ended up hitting Casillas in goal. Zaragoza made the mistake of pushing too many men forward as a corner in the Madrid half that was cleared saw Robinho collect the ball in midfield make a brilliant run at the Zaragoza goal and pulled the trigger at the right time to score to the right bottom corner. 2-0 Real Madrid.

It still required Casillas to make more extra ordinary saves to maintain a clean sheet. In total he made 9 saves, including some spectacular diving saves and some point blank saves. Real Madrid took all 3 points though the football was lacklustre. But it is no cheap feat that they have been unbeaten in 20 games in their home ground including all competitions. They have played 9 home games in the season and have claimed all possible 27 points. Real lead the pack by 7 points.

Levante V Real Madrid:

Levante are a team in trouble. From the looks of it everybody wants out of there. 3 players left in the January transfer window. The players on the roster have not been paid in months. Easy match for the visiting Champions right? Well wrong guess, Levante took the pitch as a team who has nothing to lose and went straight at Real Madrid. With Diarra out playing for Mali in the African cup, Gago had a lot to prove and contribute for the team in that holding midfield role. While Gago is not exactly very strong in his tackles and not great in winning defensive headers, but compared to Diarra, Gago is a superb link player and passes the ball well.

Riga was looking really threatening and he was creating the maximum trouble not enough to trouble the defense of Real with Pepe and Cannavaro. Baptista has a chance at goal which fell to Raul and that was also cleared by the Levante defense. This was not the only time Baptista would get agonizingly close to scoring, he recieves a cross fro Gago in the second half of the match and with goal at his mercy hits Tomassi in the back. He gets a second bite at the apple, which is again blocked.

Schuster knew it was time to make changes, he brought Guti in fro Baptista. Neither team were able to break the deadlock. Higuain came in to the match on 71' for Sneijder and his first touch was an attempted cross when he was inside the penalty box, and it hit the hand of a Levante defender. The penalty was awarded by the referree and Van Nistelrooy scored from the spot.

0-1 Real Madrid.

Van Nistelrooy had more ideas to celebrate his contract extension and he received the ball deep in the right side of Levante box, Higuain made a dummy run and the Dutchman instead of making the evident pass, with no Levante defenders closing down on him took the shot across and completed his brace. 0-2 Real Madrid.

Real Madrid finished playing half the league (19 Games) and had scored 41 goals the highest across major leagues in Europe. Real Lead the Spanish La Liga with 47 points from 19 games.