The inspirational part

There are these things called dreams. I don’t have many of them; I’m not a dreamy type. But as a Madridista living in Russia, I’ve always dreamt of going to the games of my favorite club or at least visiting the Bernabeu once. It’s weird how one day you decide that enough is enough and it’s time to fulfill your dream. You just stop making excuses, you find time, means, willpower and what more is necessary to start doing everything for the dream to come true.

Buying tickets

I chose my goal at the beginning of the season – the home league game against Barcelona. Back then I couldn’t imagine what situation Real Madrid would find themselves in March. So I booked an apartment in Madrid, got my visa and plane tickets, all with the support of my sister and friend Maria who chose to share this dream with me for which I am very grateful.  But the most important thing was to buy tickets for the game- with all the people around me knowing I was going to the game, I would become a joke if I didn’t find tickets.

As I found out, tickets for a league game (unless VIP, EUR 400 – 1700) may be acquired one week before the game. First, Real Madrid socios, season ticket holders, are given the priority of choosing seats. The next day holders of Madridista cards are allowed to buy tickets, and after that the remaining tickets become available for public. As a Madridista card holder, I hoped to get my tickets for a reasonable price. At 10:00 am Madrid time, the sale began and I felt like it was the Olympic Games and I had to get to the tickets first. It took me 40 minutes and so much nerve to beat all the ‘unexpected errors’ and ‘not enough tickets’ to get my two long-awaited tickets for EUR 150, with seats in different parts of the Tribuna Norte. After getting confirmation of purchase, I felt like I defused a bomb by cutting the right wire.

Hard times.

We left Moscow 2 days after Real Madrid eliminated Barcelona from the Copa del Rey 1-3 at the Camp Nou. As it happened, I chose to attend the least important game out of the 3 tough encounters we had that week. Losing any game would mean either we are eliminated from the Copa del Rey or I get to see the defeat from the stands or we are eliminated from the Champions League. What were the odds we win them all? With all the reports that Mourinho would rest most of the squad for the game in Manchester, honestly, I was preparing myself for a bitter result at the Bernabeu.

Before the game

One day before the game, we decided that we should use our chance to get autographs of the players. So the morning of the match-day we were out in Madrid streets, looking for a big piece of paper to make a poster, which is not easy in Europe on Saturdays. I felt like a 16-year-old fan girl.

3 hours before the game, 3 grown-up girls, with signs in Spanish saying we came from Moscow for the game, were heading to the team hotel. Half way through, we understood that the chances were high the team would have left the hotel by the time we arrived. We decided not to risk it and greet the players when the bus arrives at the stadium. When we arrived, I got a series of mini heart attacks as I saw the Bernabeu; so beautiful and magnificent! There were already many people there, with scarves of different colors. No tension between the fans of the rival teams at all! We walked around the stadium and found the place which was most probably where the bus should arrive. The crowd was growing every minute but we didn’t lose hope. And here we saw a white bus approaching the stadium; Maria and I unfolded the posters to show it to … the Barcelona press. The players didn’t arrive with any of the next 3 buses. Disappointed and feeling stupid, we decided to leave the spot in search of a ticket for my friend.

Buying a ticket – Take 2

2 hours before the game, the ticket touts were selling tickets for about 300 EUR. 1 hour before the game you could buy it for about EUR 170, which initially cost 120. Official ticket offices also had some tickets remaining, 120 EUR minimum. We were determined to buy it cheaper.  That’s when we really needed the sign we’d made for the players. In the back side we wrote that we needed a ticket for 80 EUR. People were pointing at us and smiling, someone even asked to take a photo with us. We only agreed to exchange a photo for a ticket but the guy wouldn’t agree. At last, a guy came up to us. He had a season ticket and agreed to sell his seat at the upper layer for 80 EUR! With the crisis in Spain growing more and more, season ticket holders sell their seats for the big games both in Madrid and Barcelona to earn some money.

The game

I entered the stadium 20 minutes before the game. It was half empty. With the number of tickets offered, I thought it would not be full but I was wrong. You need only 5 minutes to enter the stadium and find your seat, so many people come right by the time of kick-off. I found my seat among some older Madridistas who’d seen a lot of games at the Bernabeu unlike me. They were even somehow surprised to see a new face in the seats which are usually sold to socios. Unfortunately, their command of English and mine of Spanish didn’t allow me know much about them, but they were good company anyway.

To tell you the truth, at the stadium I was not worried about the outcome as I am usually worried at home, especially against Barcelona. I was too busy trying to see and remember as much as possible. Since the game was not decisive, the atmosphere at the stadium wasn’t tense as you would expect at the game against the Catalans.  Ultra Sur were good, they were chanting and whistling and shouting but the rest of the fans … they just came to watch the game. Of course, from time to time, the whole stadium was united in the ‘Puta Barca’ chants but generally, they were not very loud.

My seats offered me a great view. When Benzema scored from Morata’s assist I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was so close, so beautiful, I was so happy. The two other goals were scored at the opposite side so the view was not so good but the emotions were overwhelming.

I won’t describe the game here, as you’ve seen it yourself and my emotions are really hard to describe. I couldn’t believe it was happening to me, I couldn’t believe we scored so early, I couldn’t believe we missed that unnecessary goal, I couldn’t believe Sergio scored the winner; we played so good and I was witnessing it all. I still can’t believe. 10 minutes before the whistle I was ready to cry, as I realized it was about to end soon. But when it ended, I left the stadium with the feeling of complete happiness.

Bernabeu’s tour

2 out of the 5 days we spent in Madrid were football related. The next day we came back to the Bernabeu for a tour. An unforgettable 2 hours! The organization, the museum and the feeling are totally worth the money. The idea that so many things happened there makes the tour even more amazing.

People to remember

My trip to Madrid proved once again that internet, particularly Twitter, offers you great opportunities. A year ago, when Madrid travelled to Moscow for a game against CSKA in the Champions League, I wrote a post about the game. I mentioned that it was my dream to watch a game at the Bernabeu and Gaëlle from http://www.madridismo.org commented that one day we would watch the game together. We didn’t exactly watch it together as Gaëlle had to work in the mixed zone and watched the game from the seats for press, but we met the next day at the Real café at the Benabeu. I think we could have spent hours there talking about Real Madrid. It was really a very interesting and nice meeting and what the guys do for the fans around the world who don’t live in Madrid and don’t have a chance to follow their team so closely, is amazing. I’m forever grateful for that and happy to meet in person. Cheers, guys!

With the help of Twitter again, I got to know Grigor, an Armenian, who has a bar outside Madrid with the Real Madrid museum there. Madridistas come to watch the game at his bar and AS even made a video about one of such gatherings. Grigor has been living in Madrid for 15 years and when he knew a fellow Armenian Madridista was travelling from Moscow for the game, he prepared presents for me and we met at the stadium. Now I own a 25-year-old ball with autographs of the players and a flag with the players of Hierro era in it. Still can’t believe his generosity and my luck. Need to go back to Madrid to visit his bar one day!

I did my best not to fill this post with only superlative adjectives but make it informative and useful and hopefully motivating.

Watch football, support Real Madrid, fulfill your dreams!

Michael Essien. The name that used to strike fear in opposition players. The name that used to give headaches to opposition managers. The name that every manager wanted to have on his squad list.

Born in the capital of Ghana, Michael Essien started his professional Football career at local team Liberty Professionals. His energetic performance in the 1999 U17 World cup caught the eye of many Clubs with Manchester United even offering him a trial.

In 2000, however, Essien joined French Club Bastia and made a name for himself in the 3 years he played there. Soon, Lyon came knocking and Essien joined them in 2003.

This is where the world saw him play at his full potential.

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea were known for their defensive astuteness, no holds barred type approach and quick counter-attacks – Michael Essien was a perfect fit for a team like this. It was his ruthless approach that took a lot of burden from Carvalho and Terry’s shoulders.

He was the one who would win the ball and initiate the attack for Chelsea and then make those quick box-runs to distract opposition defenders for his team-mates, or himself, to score. His right-footed shots were like bullets coming out from a gun; unstoppable for the ‘keeper – he scored a lot of long range beauties this way.

• We have one: From the first two matches of Liga BBVA, Real Madrid have managed only 1 point. Playing against the new look Valencia with old Real Madrid players, (including Soldado and Gago), all the defending champions could manage was a hard fought draw. Which actually was not a bad start keeping in mind Valencia look like a team that is going to be a tough nut to crack this season. Then this week staying in Madrid, the Los Merengues travelled to the Coliseum where the gladiators of La Liga (pointing towards Real Madrid) managed to miss many opportunities to take a 3 goals lead in the first half and ended up finally losing the game which included a lack lustre performance in the second half. However, this no way points towards that the La Liga title is already lost, playing two tough matches and earning one point doesn’t mean ‘congratulation Barcelona for La Liga 2012-13 title’ – all it means is like last year, this year also it is not going to be a rosy ride towards winning the Liga BBVA.

• Welcome David Guetta with incredible footballing skills to Bernabeu: Finally, finally and once more finally, Croatian Luka Modric has joined Real Madrid on a 5-year-deal costing almost £33million and except Los Blancos, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is the other winner. He not only got a good deal for Modric but also managed to get Real Madrid to sign a partnership deal which will allow Spurs to exchange players and coaches with Madrid and the contract also includes a future friendly between the North Londoners and Liga BBVA Champions.

• He came, we didn’t see him and he went: That my friends is the story of our Turkish star Nuri Sahin and who with lots of love is called as Nuricorn (Nuri+Unicorn). He joined Madrid with huge expectation but what can the poor fellow do with expectation when he just can’t fit into Jose Mourinho’ plan. So after one full season of not even warming the benches and actually warming the Bernabeu seats or the hotel room couches, Nuri Sahin has left for Anfield on a year long loan. There were huge possibilities that he would have joined Arsenal instead of Liverpool but Arsenal wanted a permanent deal clause included in the contract which really didn’t materialise with the guys at Bernabeu. So, Sahin shall now play Swansea style football for Brendan Rodgers at Anfield.

• Pepe had too much of Iker: So at Bernabeu, during the first match Real Madrid not only lost 2 points but also lost their centre back Pepe due to a head injury caused by a big time collision with Saint Iker Casillas. I added Saint so that our Barcelona friends understand that it was not on purpose and so that Marca don’t end up making news that Iker wants Pepe to leave so he gave the signal on the field. Due to this head injury, Pepe also missed the El Clasico and that caused deep sadness to Dani Alves as he felt alone at Camp Nou. As head injuries are always taken seriously at all the clubs around the world, there are still no fixed dates for Pepe to return to full time football.

• Valdes was the thirteenth man: Coming back to Santiago Bernabeu from Camp Nou with a 3-1 loss would have looked like a lost cause for the Madridistas for the second leg of Super Copa. But thanks to Victor Valdes’ howler, Real Madrid will welcome their Catalan friends with not one but two away goals. Di Maria’s presence of mind and great speed and Valdes’ dance moves in front of his own goal helped Real Madrid earn that critical second away goal and also open up the Super Cup for the second leg to be played at Santiago Bernabeu. This called for Valdes to earn the 13^th man title as 12^th man is always with Jose Mourinho.

Campeones!

The wait is finally over: the season has begun. Thanks to the Euros and then the Olympics, the off-season wasn’t that long and boring – at least not for this writer – and now Football is back.

It’s been a quiet off-season for Real Madrid so far, in terms of incoming transfers, with only Luka Modric coming in from Spurs. Some players – Sergio Canales, Fernando Gago, Hamit Altintop & Nuri Sahin (on loan) – have left the Club, and others – Kaka and Ricardo Carvalho – are expected to leave soon. Two of our brightest young stars – Dani Carvajal and Joselu – have also left the Club and we Madridistas are hopeful that Real will exercise the buy-back clause for both of them after two years.

Anyways, the season has kicked off and we have, to the surprise of many people, not won a game yet even after playing 3 official matches so far. We drew against Valencia in our season opener and then lost to Barca (in the Super Cup) and Getafe. Despite that, this writer is confident that Real Madrid can retain the La Liga title and here’s why:

Champions’ mentality-

A mentality of a team is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects in Football. When Barca won the Liga in 2008-2009, they defended it successfully for the next 2 seasons. For all the talent our team had, we fell short. The closest we came was during the 2009-10 season when we bought Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, Kaka and Karim Benzema, but ultimately fell short by just 3 points.

That season – which was Pellegrini’s only season as our manager – was a testament to the fact that Barca were a lot superior than us in terms of mental strength. They didn’t implode despite Real being within sniffing distance to them all the time.

In terms of talent, we were just as good as Barca – but they were superior mentally and those Clasico wins proved that.

However, last season we got over the mental barrier and beat Barca in the League marathon. Despite Barca and Real having equally strong teams in terms of talent, we were mentally superior to them and had that Champions mentality which was lacking the previous season – Mourinho deserves a lot of credit for imparting that mentality to our players.

And now that we have finally won the League, our players will have that mental edge over Barca players. We now have the mentality of the Champions. If you follow the English Premier League during the 2010-11 season, you’d know that Manchester United had won the league that year despite, having considerably weaker teams than the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal.

Man United even reached the final of the Champions League that year. This just goes to show what a champions’ mentality can do to a team – and it’d do wonders for us this season, too.

Squad depth better than Barca’s-

This was a very crucial factor last season. Mourinho’s use of Benzema and Higuain and Barca’s lack of depth both made significant contributions to our title triumph last season.

During Ferbruary-March, Barca dropped quite a few points – mainly because Iniesta & Xavi looked jaded and Puyol was out injured. With no players good enough to replace them when they need some rest or when they were injured; Barca had to pay the price.

The same is the case this season as Barca have just signed 2 players, so far, in Alex Song – a defensive midfielder who is a great aerial-ball passer; but is in no way a direct replacement to Xavi or Iniesta – and Jordi Alba, a left full-back/winger.

Tito, like his predecessor Guardiola, looks reluctant on signing a center-back – a position in which Barca have just 2 recognised players; Puyol and Pique. Montoya was set to feature more this season, but he is now injured. Mascherano and Busquets do a good job when they play at center-back, but when they play there, Barca’s options in midfield reduces significantly.

Also, Barca do not have an out-and-out striker apart from David Villa. Yes, Barca play a false-9 system where they don’t need a pure striker, but if any of you read my Camp Nou League Clasico’s review of last season – where we won 2-1 – you’d notice that all Barca lacked in that game was a pure-striker (David Villa was out injured) and that cost them the game.

Barca faced a lot of similar scenarios last season, the 2 legged Champions League tie against Chelsea being the best example. Barca couldn’t unlock Chelsea’s defense, who also got lucky at times, with Messi being man-marked and closed down faster than dogs leap on a bone. They needed a pure-striker whose movements could confuse Chelsea’s defenders, but there weren’t any.

MADRID, SPAIN – AUGUST 27: Luka Modric holds his son and poses with his wife Vanja Bosnic and his parents

We have two great strikers in Benzema and Higuain, two excellent back ups for Xabi Alonso in Modric and Granero, a good back-up for Sami Khedira in Lass Diarra, 2 great replacements for Ozil in Kaka (who may leave) and Modric, a superb back-up for Di Maria in Callejon, a brilliant Varane as back-up to Pepe & Ramos, and two fantastic left-backs in Marcelo and Coentrao. The only position where we could strengthen is right-back, but other than that, we have some amazing strength in depth which also allows Mou to use many different systems.

Squad depth comes into play late in the season – after February when the pressure of playing 2 games a week takes its toll on players’ bodies. That’s when a thin squad suffers a lot and if there are injuries, then matters just get worse.

Mou’s third season in charge; better team chemistry-

The last manager to oversee Real Madrid for three consecutive seasons was none other than Vicente Del Bosque. The result? Two La Liga titles and two Champions League titles. This is the kind of stability which brings success to a Club. It is of no wonder that we didn’t win the Champions League since Del Bosque left.

But now, we have that stability with Mourinho in charge. Mourinho’s personality has made Perez in awe of him, so much so that it doesn’t look like Perez would sack Mourinho even if we have a bad season.

Stability is the key. Whether it is in relationships or Football Clubs – there must be stability if success is what you want. It’s been a little over 2 years of Mourinho’s charge at Real Madrid. The players know each other well, they know Mou well, they know his tactics well, and they know what Mou expects of them.

Even though we lost against Getafe, there was this one moment – Oezil hitting the cross-bar from 3 yards out in an empty net, to be precise – which made fans go ‘wow!’. That moment was when Oezil and Cristiano exchanged passes to let the former go clean through on goal. These movements don’t come after just 2-3 training sessions – these are the results of the hard-work the team are doing in the last 2 years. The understanding between players have improved and that’s why such beautiful link-up plays are possible.

The fact that we just signed one player in this transfer window shows that our whole team is on the same wavelength and signing many players might just disrupt that. We may look a little rusty now, but it won’t take long when the players are back to full match fitness and we see them do magic.

The Cristiano Ronaldo factor-

Our best player. The man who scored 46 goals for us in the League last season. The man who showed his thighs after scoring a 30 yarder against Osasuna. The man who played the biggest role in our League triumph last season.

The man who we know as Cristiano Ronaldo.

27 years old now, and surely at his peak, Cristiano is reaching a phase where we might see the ultimate best of him. He hasn’t really picked up his form yet, but it just takes him a moment to turn the game on its head. And once he starts scoring, he won’t stop.

Ruud van Nistelrooy once said to a young Gonzalo Higuain, “goals are like ketchup; sometimes as much as you try, they don’t come out, and then they come all of a sudden.” And we all know how much ketchup falls when Cristiano starts scoring. That is the Cristiano Ronaldo factor, which takes away the sleep of opposition defenders before match-days.

Cristiano was key to our first Copa Del Rey title since 1993 – he scored in the final against Barca. Cristiano was key to our League triumph last season – he scored 46 goals in La Liga. And if we are to win the Champions League – La Decima – then Cristiano Ronaldo must be the key once again. And if Cristiano Ronaldo does indeed repeat what he did last season, then Real Madrid will almost certainly retain the League title.

Two rounds of La Liga are over and 36 rounds are still left. We might be trailing Barca by five points now, we might be winless so far this season, but the season is far from over, and a win against Barca to win the Super Cup could just be the perfect way to kick-start our season.

Hala Madrid!

2011 – Barcelona is playing the Copa del Rey final against Athletic. Normally, the best stadium to play the final is the best stadium in Spain – Real Madrid’s Bernabeu. It’s the great Pep Team, which is ruling Europe and Spain with their great football. They asked the Spanish Federation to play the final in the Bernabeu. Real Madrid denies it. Barcelona demands it again. Real Madrid says no. Barcelona’s staff, propaganda, coaches, and supporters claims. “Real Madrid is a shame, they can’t accept Barcelona winning in their stadium”. Moral: Barcelona are good, Real are bad losers.

2000 – Real Madrid’s Figo starts to play the el Classico in the Camp Nou. The Game was suspended 30 minutes in the second half because Figo can’t take a corner. In the first half also, the same happened. Barcelona is sanctioned with 2 games behind closed doors. The RFEF president absolved Barca of this penalization.

2001 – The Camp Nou supporters threw a burner at Roberto Carlos, and the Brazilian had a gash in his head. Nothing happened to Barcelona.

2002 – Barcelona refused to play the 2nd leg semifinals against Atletico de Madrid, the game was suspended and Barcelona were  penalized and lost the game 0-3 (they lost 3-0 on the field in the first leg), and 1 season out of Copa del Rey competition. The RFEF president absolved Barca of this penalization.

2006 – Barcelona played 10 games with an illegal line-up, 4 non-european players at the same time. Etoo, Ronaldinho, Marquez and Messi. The RFEF president absolved Barca and Messi got the double nationality – Spanish-Argentinian  -the same weekend the scandal appeared.

2007 – Espanyol challenged the Espanyol-Barcelona result because Barca had an illegal line-up. Xavi and Puyol played when Fifa rules clearly say that “a player who refused to play international games for his national team, isn’t allowed to play official games within 5 days”. Xavi and Puyol refused to play with Spain because they were “injured”. They play edagainst Espanyol. The RFEF president absolved Barca.

Real Madrid president and staff never say something against those decisions.

2012 – Jose mourinho is absolved by the RFEF president (alongside Vilanova) after his horrible act last year. Barcelona staff, media, supporters: “Its a shame, Mourinho is a criminal, we will have recourse against this injustice, its a shame, we will play with the second team in protest”

Moral: Barcelona are good, Mourinho is a criminal, Real Madrid is helped by the RFEF power, its an unbelievable injustice, Barcelona guys are humble, good guys, the perfect example for the kids.”

Everybody has his own opinion, these are facts, not fantasy. Be wary of the Barcelona propaganda, they  forget that everybody has made mistakes. Just like they forgot Victor Valdes assaulting Jose Mourinho when Inter eliminated them. Everybody feels bad when they lose.

So as the Euros have concluded, here is a look at how our players did at the Euros.

Karim Benzema

Was the first Real Madrid player to go out of Euro 2012 when his France were pitted against World Champions, Spain.

Before the tournament began, Benzema promised to dedicate his goal to Florentino Perez and his wife Pitina, who passed away some days before the Euros started.

However, that goal never came.

After playing 4 matches in the Euros, one would have thought that Benzema would have scored at least once given his form of late. But it wasn’t to be as a combination of a lot of things – lack of service from his team-mates, rarely making runs inside the box (which might have been because of the lack of service), slow build-up play and so on – prevented Benzema from opening his account at the Euros.

Benzema made 17 shots in 3 games and most of them were attempted from outside the box. One could criticise him for not making enough runs inside the box, but whenever he was seen inside the box, he was either really isolated or that killer pass didn’t come quick enough. And thus Benzema decided to stay close to his team-mates and for that he dropped really deep at times, leaving no French players in the box to aim play balls to.

Benzema was so isolated in the box that he decided to drop really deep to help with the build-up play and gradually move towards the goal along with his team-mates. He wanted to drag his team-mates with him to the goal, but it didn’t work out as by the time Benzema and his mates reached the box, the opposition team had several defenders already covering the area and hence breaking up the play which was built.

One game where he played well was against Ukraine. In that particular game, in the first half, it was the same old story. But in the second half, his game improved when Yohan Cabaye was constantly making bombarding runs into the box, giving Benzema someone to work with. And it did work as France won 2-0 and both the goals were assisted by Benzema.

Apart from that match, Euro 2012 was disappointing for Benzema – not only for Benzema alone, but for all French players.

We Madridistas now hope that Benzema recovers from this and has an even better season, than the season prior, with Real Madrid next.

Umid’s rating – 6/10.
Anita’s rating – 6/10.
Rena’s rating – 6.5/10.
Manar’s rating – 6/10.
Ashay’s rating – 5.5/10.

Fabio Coentrao

The way he started the tournament gave us an idea of how his overall performance in the tournament would be. Receiving the ball for the first time in the tournament, he went past 3 German players and created a goal-scoring chance on his own before the Germans broke the attack down.

It was a sign of things to come.

A very few people expected Portugal to make it to the quarter-finals, given the tough opponents they had in the group. But Coentrao’s massive contributions in both attack and defense ensured a place for Portugal in the quarter-finals.

Coentrao performed extremely well in all the 5 matches he played. Frequently bombarding forward, executing accurate crosses, linking up well with Cristiano, blocking every shot he could using every part of his body, defending with all his might, almost nothing went down his flank and most of Portugal’s goals came from his flank, too.

His performances in the Euros reminded me of the greatest left-back of all time: Paolo Maldini. Mind you, he just reminded me of him, I myself don’t think that there could be another left-back who could consistently perform like how Maldini did.

However, if Coentrao continues to perform like this consistently, he would surely end up being one of the best left-backs of all time.

Many Madridistas, including me, were wondering why he doesn’t play like this for Real. Now all us Madridistas are hoping that Coentrao continues this with Real and that would give us an extra weapon next season. Marcelo must be on his toes after seeing how Fabio did in the Euro. He’s got some competition now!

Umid’s rating – 10/10.
Anita’s rating – 10/10.
Rena’s rating – 10/10.
Manar’s rating – 10/10.
Ashay’s rating – 9.5/10

Pepe

This guy is a beast. A beast of a defender.

Pepe was another reason for Portugal’s brilliant run in the Euros. His no-nonsense approach to the game saved Portugal on a number of occasions, especially when Bruno Alves had one of those moments which he regularly has (failing in judgment, making mistimed aerial jumps and so on).

His man-of-the-match performance against Denmark was a testament to the fact that he is, indeed, one of the best defenders the world of football has at the moment. Add to that, he received just one yellow in the whole tournament – that too, in the semi-final, the 5th match, against Spain.

There were some people in the Madridista amalgamation who wanted Pepe out of Real after his violent conduct against Messi. And they were probably justified at that time given that his acts were tarnishing the reputation of our great club. But in the Euros, he showed that when he keeps his madness under control, he not only is a great defender, but also a great leader on the pitch who can organise the defense – that is what we need, that is what we have been needing since Hierro left.

That leadership skill in organising the defense was what was missing from our team. That was one of the reasons why our defense sometimes tended to lose its concentration last season. However, Pepe has shown that he is more than capable of being a leader in defense and hopefully, he will be that with Real Madrid next season.

Umid’s rating – 9/10.
Anita’s rating – 10/10.
Rena’s rating – 9/10.
Manar’s rating – 9.5/10.
Ashay’s rating – 9/10.

Cristiano Ronaldo

His goals sent Portugal to the semi-final.

When his haters were ready to pounce on him – they got a field-day after Cristiano’s horrendous performance against the Danes, for which he was crucified in the newspapers all over the World – he decided that he’s had enough and shot straight back at them by scoring twice against the Dutch and once against the Czechs to send Portugal to the semis of Euro 2012.

But even after such accomplishments, his haters still taunted him with the Messi chants – the same Messi who couldn’t score and take his team beyond the quarter-final in the Copa America.

In the semi-final, when 120 minutes of football couldn’t decide the winner, the game went to penalties. Cristiano was chosen to take the fifth penalty by Bento. However, as luck would have it, Cristiano couldn’t take his penalty as Spain won the shootout before Cristiano could take it.

And then there was more criticism.

Criticism on Cristiano for not taking his penalty earlier. It was like Cristiano was supposed to be psychic and know that Bruno Alves and Moutinho would miss their penalties and thus he should have taken his kick earlier.

The amount of people blaming Cristiano is fascinating given that I have not seen a single person blaming the guys who actually missed their penalties: Moutinho and Bruno Alves. Cristiano must be the first person in the history of football to be blamed for his country’s loss when he didn’t even get the chance to take his penalty.

If this keeps up, it won’t take long when we start seeing people blaming Cristiano for the economic crisis of the World.

It is really a shame that most people will forget his amazing performances in this Euro, to get Portugal to the semi-final, and remember him for the decision of him being the fifth penalty taker and thus not getting a chance to take that penalty at all.

Anyways, for me, he had an excellent tournament. And people who have any knowledge of the game would agree.

Umid’s rating – 8.5/10.
Anita’s rating – 9/10.
Rena’s rating – 9/10.
Manar’s rating – 9/10.
Ashay’s rating – 7/10.

Mesut Ozil

After 2 quiet games, by his standards, Mesut picked himself up for the 3rd and 4th game putting in majestic performances to help Germany reach the semi-final.

The 2 quiet games were not all his fault, though, as Joachim Low opted to use a conservative approach to Germany’s game because they were facing two tough teams in Portugal and Holland. He used Podolski and Muller as left and right-midfielders, respectively, who were burdened by a lot of defensive duties (so much that, at times, you’d think that Germany were playing a 4-4-1-1 formation).

Ozil is a player who thrives playing one-touch quick pass-and-move football. But when he got the ball, he found no team-mates to play one-twos with, as they were too far away from him.

But against Denmark and Greece, where the Germans attacked, he starting showing how well he could play when he is given the right kind of environment.

In the first 2 games, even if he was quiet by his standards, he made space for his other team-mates, by dragging out the defensive midfielder with his clever movements, which they exploited.

Germany bowed out of the competition in the semi-final when they were defeated by Italy. Low opted to go with a 4-3-3 with Ozil on the right, he was one again isolated and thus put in an average performance. He, however, scored the consolation goal for Germany via a penalty in the last minute of injury time.

Ozil is only 23 and has already suffered 4 knock-outs from semi-finals in 4 major tournaments. Here is hoping that he wins the Champions League with Real next season to end this hoodoo.

Umid’s rating – 8/10.
Anita’s rating – 8/10.
Rena’s rating – 8/10.
Manar’s rating – 8/10.
Ashay’s rating – 8/10.

Sami Khedira

Always there to shield the back 4, always there in the box to score a goal – that is how Sami played in the Euros. A lot of Madridistas were really surprised with Sami Khedira’s exceptional overall performance at the Euros.

I was a bit surprised, but not as much because I knew what Sami is capable of when he gets the freedom of playing in his natural box-to-box role. That is how he plays for Germany and that is how he used to play at Stuttgart before we signed him.

In the first 2 games for Germany, he was asked to play in a more conservative role by Low. But in the next 3 games, he was back to his natural role and shone in it. Against Denmark, he made a lot of key-passes and against Greece he scored a cracking goal and was all over the pitch.

Against Italy, he caused some problems for the Italian defense with his forward runs. However, he couldn’t score.

When there were cries from some Madridistas, including me, to sign a world-class box-to-box midfielder, Sami showed us that he IS a world-class box-to-box midfielder and we don’t need to sign anyone (unless, of course, if Lass and/or Altintop leave). It just depends on Mou, whether he wants to give Khedira that freedom of playing in his natural box-to-box role.

I am sure that if Mou gives Sami that freedom, he would replicate his Euro performances for Real Madrid next season.

Umid’s rating – 9.5/10.
Anita’s rating – 9.5/10.
Rena’s rating – 9.5/10.
Manar’s rating – 9.5/10.
Ashay’s rating – 9/10

Raul Albiol

Didn’t get to play a single minute in the whole tournament.

Alvaro Arbeloa

Too Spartan to handle.

Arbeloa is one of those players whose contribution to his team is almost always unsung. However, when he makes a mistake, it will almost always be there on the lips of people.

A lot of people were skeptical about Arbeloa’s ability; whether he had what it takes be a starter for Spain. Most of them called him the weakest link in the Spain defense. Arbeloa shut them all up by his performance on pitch.

In fact, he not only defended well, but also contributed a lot to the attack. Against Portugal, in the first half, the going got tough for Arbeloa when he had to face his club-mate, Cristiano. But when the going gets tough, Arbeloa gets going and he basically nullified Cristiano’s effect in the second half.

His performance against Italy in the final was brilliant. At times, Mario went to the left flank to cut inside from there, but Arbeloa made sure that Mario couldn’t do it. When Mario went back in the middle, Balzaretti was bombarding on the left-flank, but once again Arbeloa showed how good he is and nullified Balzaretti’s effect as well.

That’s stopping 2 guys of different style – one who cuts inside with the right-foot and the other one who knocks the ball past the full-back with the left-foot like a classic out-and-out winger/full-back – in the same game.

He also stretched Italy’s backline with his forward runs. Spain played with 2 inverted wingers in Iniesta and Silva and they mostly operated in central zones, making the system very narrow. So it was up to Alba and Arbeloa to give Spain the necessary width and they did it very nicely.

Arbeloa is not your flashy, pleasing-to-the-eye right-back. He is a solid defensive right-back and is arguably the best at it.

Umid’s rating – 8/10.
Anita’s rating – 9/10.
Manar’s rating – 8/10.
Ashay – 7/10.

Xabi Alonso

The boss.

A lot of people undermine Xabi Alonso’s presence in Spain’s starting XI, calling him an unnecessary player in the starting XI due to the presence of another deep-lying playmaker, Xavi.

He has, however, proven, time and time again, how important he is for the Spain team and this Euro was not an exception as Xabi Alonso stamped his authority, ike a boss.

Xabi’s best game was against France where he scored 2 goals and had a complete game – passed like a boss, defended like a boss and attacked like a boss. Even if you remove the 2 goals; he was immense, all over the pitch.

When Xavi had an average tournament, apart from the final, Xabi was the one who made sure Xavi’s less-than-flattering performances didn’t affect Spain’s play. Against France and Portugal, he made more passes than Xavi – just goes to Xabi’s ability to take the pressure and carry his team forward.

When Puyol was declared unfit for Euros, there was concern; not only because he is a great defender, but also because Puyol is an exemplary leader on the field. His lion-hearted personality and drive on the pitch was what made him an irreplaceable player in La Roja’s defense.

But now, he wasn’t there.

Who would be the on-field leader now, thought many. Steps in Xabi Alonso. Like a boss. And it was his bossy attitude which gave Spain the new leader on the pitch they so desperately needed.

Organising the defense when Spain didn’t have possession, instructing the players in front of him on where to move when he had the ball at his feet, La Roja had found its leader.

Not many will be talking about Xabi’s leadership in this Euro; this is something which will be left unsung. But his leadership was one of the key reasons to Spain Euro 2012 triumph.

And that is why Xabi is indispensable.

Umid’s rating – 9/10.
Anita’s rating – 10/10.
Manar’s rating – 9/10.
Ashay’s rating – 9.5/10.

Sergio Ramos

When Xabi Alonso stepped up to fill the out-field leader’s void left by the absence of Puyol, Sergio Ramos stepped up to fill in the World-class defender’s void left by Puyol’s absence.

Many were skeptical about Ramos’ and Pique’s center-back pairing, but those doubts turned out to be unnecessary as Pique and Ramos formed the best center-back pairing, at a major tournament, in Spain’s history – Spain conceded only 1 goal in Euro 2012 and Sergio Ramos deserves a lot of credit for that.

Spain’s backline was breached only a few times in the tournament and only once the ball found its way into Spain’s goal – the rest found the hands of Iker Casillas. Ramos only made one mistake in the whole tournament and that was against Mario Balotelli in the group game against Italy when he messed up a clearance and Mario was clean through on goal with only Iker to beat, but Sergio recovered and dispossessed Mario.

Just one mistake – which he himself rectified – in the whole tournament, just goes to show how amazingly he played. Against Italy in the final, he played his best game as he didn’t allow Mario Balotelli or Cassano to do any damage and consistently threatened to score.

Against France and Portugal, he was unbreakable. He didn’t allow Benzema to have a say in the game and Benzema had to be content with harmless shots from outside the box. He knew how Benzema would try to drag him out of position by dropping deep, but he never fell in that trap.

Against Portugal, it was the show of 2 defenders – Pepe and Ramos. It was almost like they both were in a individual battle between each other and had the ‘what you can do, I can do it better’ mentality. When Cristiano shifted to the right, Ramos had to work a lot harder to stop him, especially when Portugal counter-attacked as Alba was higher up on the pitch and Ramos had to move to the left to make sure Cristiano is dispossessed or else he’d have hurt Spain.

To top of the brilliant performance, he executed a Panenka chip in the shoot-out to give Spain the psychological edge.

He was ranked 1 in Castrol’s rating and also made it to UEFA’s Euro 23 man squad – these are testaments to how good Ramos was in the Euros.

In my opinion, this was Sergio Ramos’ best ever tournament, so far, in his professional career (Club included). He is still young and his best years are ahead of him. If he keeps progressing and playing like that, he is going to cement his place as one of the top 10 center-backs of all time by the time he retires.

Umid’s rating – 10/10.
Anita’s rating – 10/10.
Manar’s rating – 10/10.
Ashay’s rating – 8/10.

Iker Casillas

Saint Iker Casillas.

What would Spain and Real Madrid do without him? Just the thought of Spain and Real Madrid without Iker Casillas sends shivers down my spine. When there is no hope, there is Iker Casillas. He saves them all in the hour of need.

Spain’s backline in the Euro was great; very compact and cohesive. However, it was not perfect. Whenever the Spanish backline got breached, all eyes were on Iker to pull off a save. And he always did – apart from the one time when Di Natale got the better of him.

Match vs Croatia. Scores were locked at 0-0. Italy were winning their game against Ireland. A goal for Croatia would mean that Spain were out of Euros from the group stage itself. Luka Modric floated in a cross for Rakitic. Rakitic headed it from point-blank range. And Spain almost conceded. Almost crashed out of Euros.

Almost.

But they didn’t; Iker came to the rescue again. He made one of the best saves in the tournament to keep out Rakitic’s header. That save was made so fast that, in contrast, the speed of light would look like a tortoise moving. The reflex speed was God-like. That reflex saved Spain and kept them in the tournament.

Then against Portugal in the penalty shoot-out. Xabi steps up to take the penalty. And missed. Pressure on Spain. Pressure on Iker to pull off a miracle. Pressure on Iker to put Spain back level. Moutinho stepped up against Iker. He shot.

Iker saved. Saved Spain once again.

Against Italy, Iker made numerous interceptions, which, if not intercepted, could have cost Spain. Be it Balzaretti’s cross or Pirlo’s corners, he intercepted them and made sure Italy didn’t score. He saved Di Natale’s shot late in the game and ensured that he set a new record for the ‘keeper to not have conceded a goal for the most number of minutes in European Championships by keeping a clean sheet for 509 minutes.

After the win against Italy, Iker also became the first player to reach 100 wins international wins. He also became the first captain ever to win 3 major back-to-back international tournaments.

Iker’s legacy will never fade away – even after 10000 years. He will, till the end of the World, be remembered as one of the best ‘keepers to have ever played Football and a saint who graced this Earth with his presence.

No ratings for Iker Casillas as rating a saint would be an unforgivable act of sin and we don’t want to do that and displease God.

June 27, 1977, Madrid, a star was born. Several years later, that star’s luminosity reached all over the World capturing the hearts of millions of people. That star was Raul Gonzalez Blanco.

Raul started playing career at San Cristóbalde los Ángeles before moving to Altetico Madrid’s youth team. However, Atleti’s then president, Jesus Gil, closed the entire youth academy to save the costs of the Club.

Raul then moved to Real Madrid and that is where the star started to shine.

October 29th 1994, a 17 year old Raul subs in for Emilio Butregueno – another Club legend – and puts up a splendid performance on his debut, creating a goal for Ivan Zamorano. The very next week in his home debut, Raul scored his first ever goal for Real Madrid against Atletico Madrid – which was also his youth Club. Here’s the video:

I was not fortunate enough to watch his first ever goal for Real Madrid live as I was exactly 2 years and 2 months old at that time and didn’t even know what Football was. Raul went on to have a stellar career since then, winning 3 Champions Leagues and 6 La Ligas with Real Madrid. His leadership, work ethic, unmatched determination, charisma, calmness, composure, finishing, sportsmanship, Madridismo and almost everything made me, and many people around the World, a huge fan of his.

“Real [Madrid] buy these big players like Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo but I think the best player in the world is Raúl.” – Sir Alex Ferguson.

Even now, at the age of 35, he continuously keeps running for 90 minutes – and scoring, too. But what hurts me a lot is that he never won anything with the Spanish National team.

When Spain were knocked out of the 2002 FIFA World Cup by South Korea, I thought to myself, “will I ever see Spain and Raul win the World Cup?” – I half did. I did see Spain win the World Cup 2010 and Euro 2008. But deep down, I was gutted. Gutted because Raul wasn’t in the Spain squad in any of those 2 tournaments – and perhaps he will never be. Perhaps it was not in his fate to win anything with the national team – his peak not coinciding with the Golden Generation of Spain’s Football makes that point stronger.

But the worst and the most painful day, however, was June 25th 2010. That was the day when I and many Madridistas cried our eyes out. That was the day when our captain left Real Madrid to join Schalke 04.

That was the day when the commentator’s prediction came true, the commentator of the match between Zaragoza v Real Madrid on April 24th 2010 – which was Raul’s last match as a Real Madrid player.

When Raul scored in that game, the commentator said that this might be Raul’s last goal as a Real Madrid player.  He was right; that was Raul’s last goal as a Real Madrid player. Raul, who was going to be substituted by Karim Benzema, jogged into the box and poked a Cristiano Ronaldo pass into the net, And I was lucky, and honoured, to see that goal live.

It was hard. Hard to see Real Madrid without its symbol. Hard to see Real Madrid without its son. Hard to see someone else’s name on the number 7 shirt. Hard to know that Raul will not be retiring from his playing career at Real Madrid.

But now, we have to see it all.

Raul may have left Real Madrid and European Football, but his memories will stay with me till I die. 16 years at Real Madrid and 2 years at Schalke … so many memories, so many moments of glory, so many moments of joy. Looking back at his career, I feel very sad that those moments have passed away and we will never get them back again. He graced the Bernabeu and the Footballing World with his charisma.

His first goal, signaling the Camp Now crowd to keep quiet, his goals in the Champions league final against Valencia and Leverkusen, his goals in Clasicos, celebrating his goal by kissing the right ring finger, breaking Alfredo di Stefano’s record to become Real’s highest goal-scorer, his last goal for Real Madrid, his first goal for Schalke, his heroics in the 2010-11 Champions League to take Schalke to the semis, his last goal for Schalke … the memory remains.

It was fitting that in his last Champions League game ever, the referee blew the full-time whistle when he had the ball under his possession. A charming end to Mr. Champions League’s Champions League career.

The star was unique, no galaxy had it and no galaxy will ever have a star like Raul. There won’t be another Raul.

Happy birthday, Raul! You will forever remain in our hearts! Viva Raul!

“I’m not one to pretend to extol the life of Manuel Preciado, who has broken into a thousand pieces today. But as a colleague and man of football I wish to send in this very hard times my humble message to all his family, the people of Sporting, Racing, Levante and Villareal, a club that he would have rescued from the Second Division, and to all the teams where he has left his mark. Manolo was always a worthy opponent, who I got to know well when he came to visit last March at the Ciudad Real Madrid in Valdebebas. He had everything that I like in people and sportsmen: character, openness and courage to fight against the blows, which were cruelly hard on him. A great figure of football has left and above all a very special person. All my encouragement and support for those who have a special place for him in their heart. My memory of him will be permanent.”

-Jose Mourinho

Anyway, since the season is over, we bring to you the top 20 moments of the 2011-12 season.

20. So we will start off with how our season started – the 6-0 win against Real Zaragoza where Cristiano scored a hattrick

That win really set the tone for the season. Our expectations grew bigger and there was a sense of optimism. Cristiano scoring his first hattrick of the season in our first game of the season was also another moment to cherish.

19. This one is for the ladies: Iker Casillas stripping himself after a game

It looked like a Banana peeling itself and the fangirls out there lost their breath for that particular time. Gifs and images of that moment were flying all over Twitter and Tumblr. If you were a male, like this writer, you would have got frustrated after a while, but it was also funny to see the fangirls going all gaga over their captain (and probably crush) stripping himself.

Sorry for the heart attack

18. 42 passes tiki-taka goal against Ajax

Those who thought that only one team (a team located in Catalonia) in this World can play tiki-taka, then think again. Real scored a beautiful tiki-taka goal, which was the product of 42 successful passes almost all over the pitch. The patience and composure shown by the players, who were involved in the build-up of this goal, was exemplary.

Best part is that we scored a lightning fast counter attack goal against the same team.

17. Orgasmic counter-attack goal against Ajax

Woof! That was one hell of goal. The best counter-attack goal of the season and, personally, my favourite goal, hands down. Those lovely one touch passes between Ozil, Kaka and Cristiano; that brilliant drilled cross from Benzema and that awesome finish from Cristiano made it one of the best – or, probably, the best – counter-attack goal of all time.

This was one of those goals which one can watch over 100 times and still not get tired of it.

Scoring these 2 goals against Ajax made it a bit more sweet, than it would have been if we scored them against other teams, as Ajax were the roots of tiki-taka and one-touch total Football.

16. “¿Concentrao? ¿Quién es ese jugador?”

When a journalist mispronounced Coentrao as ‘Concentrao’, a surprised Cristiano replied, “¿Concentrao? ¿Quién es ese jugador? [Concentrao? Who is this player?]”, before teaching the journalist how to correctly pronounce the name. He couldn’t stop laughing while answering the journalist’s question and in the end referred to Coentrao as Concentrao himself.

The Madridistas still have a good laugh about this and, till date, jokingly refer to Coentrao as Concentrao.

Reporter: “What do you think about Concentrao?”

Ronaldo: “Concentrao? Who is that player ?

Reporter: “Yes the player”

Ronaldo: “Concentrao? Coentrao!”

Reporter: “Coentrao, Yes Coentrao”

Ronaldo: “Concentrao is a good player, he proved that last year in Benfica and I’m happy that he’s with us”

Another Reporter: Are you concentrated ?

Ronaldo:  “Yes I’m concentrated”

15. Callejon celebrations

Well, this deserves to be on this list just because it is one of the coolest celebration styles of all time. Whenever he scores a goal, you know you would see his right index finger pointing at the crest – and that is why whenever any player celebrates like this, it is known as the Callejon.

14. Cristiano and Marcelo dancing on Ai Se Eu Te Pego

‘Nossa! Nossa!’ And then came the epic dance from Cristiano and Marcelo after the former scored a goal against Malaga. The celebration was so epic that this song, by Michel Telo, became one of the most popular songs in the world.

In fact, Marcelo and Cristiano inspired Neymar & Ganso, Dani Alves & Eric Abidal, and many other footballers, to dance on this while celebrating a goal. In the end, it was a win-win scenario for Michel Telo.

13. Roberto Carlos opening the game against Levante at the Bernabeu

The legend was back, and so were his legendary calf muscles (probably the largest calf muscles I have seen a footballer have). Roberto Carlos was given a tribute for his astonishing, and loyal, services to Real Madrid. He kicked-off that game with his epic left-foot and was given a standing ovation by the fans at the Bernabeu.

Certainly was one of the best moments of the season, and why not? When a legend comes back to the club for kicking off a game, it has to be one of the best moments of the year!

12. “I thought Barca didn’t talk about referees”

Probably the quote of the season. In a world where people fall short of words to praise F.C. Barcelona and their values, Jose Callejon actually points out the truth: the truth that Barca are just like other clubs when things don’t go their way.

“I thought Barca didn’t talk about referees,” Callejon responded to a journalist who asked him about his thoughts on Xavi and Messi criticising referee decisions. “Something must have changed. I don’t know why,” Callejon concluded.

This peach of a quote went viral; some, mostly Barca fans, went mad at Calleti for saying this while the others, such as us Madridistas, were lauding Callejon for these outrageously witty words. Bravo, Calleti!

11. Drunk Xabi Alonso

Full time at San Mames and Real Madrid are officially the champions of La Liga. And then came the celebrations at the Cibeles – and that’s where we saw another side of our ever-so-classy Xabi Alonso.

The calm and collected midfield boss was nowhere to be seen in Xabi. Instead, we saw an unleashed Xabi, a drunken Xabi.

A drunken Xabi flies his hands around for no real reason. A drunken Xabi rotates his head around faster than a windmill. A drunken Xabi Alonso doesn’t ‘pass’ the beer can to Gonzalo Higuain. A drunken Xabi doesn’t know what he himself is doing. A drunken Xabi is fun Xabi.

And that is why the Cibeles celebrations were extra fun. Thanks, Xabi!

10. Piggy-back ride on Calleti’s back

 It was at the Mestalla. Scores were locked at 2-2. ‘Tensed’ was the one word which could describe the looks on the faces on the Real Madrid bench. And then suddenly, Cristiano scored to make it 3-2 in Real Madrid’s favour. The tensed looks were gone. Jubilation all around the Real Madrid dugout.

Then came the best part of the night: an ecstatic Mou, running like an 18 year old, jumps on Callejon’s back to celebrate the goal, which turned out to be the winning goal.

The expression on Callejon’s face was priceless, the celebration even more so. There wasn’t one Madridista who didn’t smile after watching that epic celebration. If this wasn’t Real Madrid, then this would have been the best celebration of the season.

But no, we are Real Madrid and we have some of the best celebration styles ever – and there was one celebration which even beat this epic celebration to become the best [Real Madrid] goal celebration style of the season. (Will talk more about that somewhere down this article).

9. Callejon returns the favour

 Celebrations were at full swing at the Bernabeu after the final league game of the season. When Callejon was given the mic, he said ‘I want to finish the season by doing this one last thing’ and then he ran at Mou and jumped on Mou’s back for a piggy-back ride.

It would have been more epic, however, if each and every member of the Real Madrid squad jumped on each other for a piggy-back ride. Hopefully, we will see that happen next year.

So if you ever want to enjoy a piggy-back ride, you know where you should go as Real Madrid have some of the best piggy-back riders in their camp.

Our club is the most fun club in the World.

8. Remontandas

Atleti, Malaga, Mallorca, Zaragoza, Betis, Malaga: something’s common here, right? These are some of the teams against whom we won after trailing in the game.

These were games which resembled the ‘Juanito spirit’. Games which gave us mini-heart-attacks every now and then. Games which kept us on the edge of our seats, chewing nails, till we scored a goal which gave us the lead.

But in the end, we won, and it was hugely satisfying because if you never suffer from the tension of trailing in a game, you will never get the complete taste of being a fan.

If I had to pick the best remontanda of the season, it’d be the one against Malaga. We were 2 goals down at half-time, but scored 3 in the next half to complete a stunning comeback. That comeback surely made Juanito’s soul proud.

7. Cristiano showing his thighs

 Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows my non-secret appreciation for Cristiano Ronaldo’s thighs. It all started when he scored a 30+ yard missile-goal against Osasuna at Pamplona and then revealed his right thigh to the world.

When I was a child, I never thought someone could have broader and stronger thighs than Roberto Carlos. But Cristiano proved me wrong, as his thighs are probably larger than Roberto Carlos’ was (Carlos, however, had larger calf muscles).

Cristiano’s thighs also show us the amount of hard-work he does in the gym to stay fit and be physically superior to his peers. Any man would dream to have thighs like that.

Anyway, the goal was also as brutal as Nile’s Death Metal tracks. The power with which Cristiano shot the ball was out of this world. Some journalist tried a lot to take away all the credit from Cristiano, for the goal, and put it all down to the ball being made of plastic.

But his attempts went in vain as people were busy watching the goal a million times and didn’t have the time to read those journalist’s views.

Once again, sorry for the mini-heart attack.

6. Benzema’s van Basten goal

Pamplonais is always a hard place to win because of the condition of the pitch (‘potato patch’, as most refer to it). Barca lost at this stadium and many were expecting Osasuna to pull off another upset by beating Real.

But those expectations were all shattered by Karim Benzema.

The French talisman scored a beautiful volley-goal from a very tight angle, which had an uncanny resemblance to the goal Marco van Basten scored at the 1988 Euros against USSR, to give us the early lead in the game and calm down our nerves. That, in my opinion, was the best goal scored by a Real Madrid player this season.

5. ‘¡Pipita, quédate!’

When something close to your heart is taken away, it hurts. A lot. The pain of seeing Higuain leave Real Madrid would have been far more brutal. He is not something ‘close’ to the heart – he is the heart of Real Madrid.

The rumours of Pipita leaving were flying all around. It became more intense when all other Real Madrid players signed a shirt for him which read ‘thank you for everything’. Almost every Madridista, who loves Higuain, were worried.

So worried that the fans, and even the players, chanted ‘¡Pipita, quédate! (Pipita, stay!)’ during the Cup-lifting ceremony at the Bernabeu after the last game of the season.

Those chants brought a chill down my spine. Madridistas at the Bernabeu made sure that Higuain knew how much he was loved by everyone who supported the Club.

If Higuain was close to leaving, then the chants from the crowd and his peers changed his mind as he now looks set to play in the white shirt of Real Madrid next season. And, hopefully, every season till he retires.

Ask any true Madridista and he/she will tell you that they want to see Higuain retire at Real Madrid. Such is his love for Madridismo.

Pipita Quedate!

4. Cristiano’s ‘calm down’ celebration

 This was the celebration I was referring to earlier. This was the best goal celebration by a Real Madrid player in this season. If there was a celebration, which would haunt the Cules for years to come, after Raul’s ‘keep quiet’ celebration, it has to be this one.

“Calm down, Calm down.. I goth this”

This epic celebration came after Cristiano scored the winning goal against Barca at the Camp Nouand ‘gifted’ Pep his first ever league Clasico defeat as a manager. This goal also, virtually, made us win the league after 4 long years.

When people labeled Cristiano as a big-game flop, he shut those critics up by rounding Valdes and slotting home the winner and then asking the crowd to ‘calm down’ and probably also saying ‘I got this’. What a way to shut up the critics.

ALL HAIL CRISTIANO.

3. Clasico win

May 7, 2008. RealMadrid 4-1 Barcelona. Who at that time knew that that would be the last time we would win a league Clasico in the next 4 years? Probably, no one.

But that was how it turned to be as we Madridistas had to wait for almost 4 long and painful years to win a Clasico in the League.

As they say, nothing lasts forever and Barca’s unbeaten streak finally broke when Cristiano scored the winner, at the CampNou, on April 21, 2012. And that virtually won us the League.

The curse was broken.

The fact that we won at Barca’s own backyard in front of approximately 98000 Cules made the win even more sweet. As Casillas put it, ‘we have suffered a lot, now it is time for Barca to suffer’.

2. Winning the League at San Mames

 Until this season, no team ever won the league, officially, at San Mames. But Real Madrid officially won the league at San Mames and annihilated that fact.

The Basques are our other rival. And winning the league at the backyard of one of your rivals is always a satisfying thing. It becomes even more satisfying when the best player of your team – Cristiano, in this case – responds to the taunts of the rival fans by showing the Liga BBVA crest on the shirt, indicating that ‘we have won the League’.

And it becomes epic when your best player shows the ‘shove it up your arse’ sign to one of the rival players – Javi Martinez, in this case – in response to the rival player telling ‘celebrate at your place, not here, you son of a bitch’.

Anyways, winning the league in itself makes it worthy of being 2^nd in the ‘best moment of the season’ list. You might be wondering what could actually be a better moment than winning the league. Well, here it is.

1. Lifting the La Liga trophy after the final League game of the season

 Finally.

Finally, the La Liga trophy came where it belongs; it came back home, to the Bernabeu. You could feel the trophy singing, ‘I am coming home, I am coming home, tell the world that I am coming home’,

When Iker went to the podium and lifted the trophy, it was a wonderful sight. A sight more beautiful than seeing the sun set from the beach. A sight which made a lot of people cry of happiness, smile, laugh and jump around. A sight that spread joy. A sight gifted by God.

This was also the first time Iker lifted the League trophy as the captain as the last time we won the league, Raul was the captain.

The saint lifting the trophy gifted by God – you can’t write this stuff, it just happens. That’s the script written by God.

La Liga trophy was finally ours. And so were the bragging rights.

Hala Madrid!

Share your favorite moments with us by commenting below

Players celebrate

The match started with Barca having a lot of possession, as usual, and Real sitting back and breaking on the counter. The first goal came from the unlikeliest of sources: Sami Khedira. The German international grabbed the opportunity, from Puyol’s mistake while defending the corner, and shot the ball in with his left foot from 3 yards out.

Then Barca equalised via Alexis and a bit of luck as the ball ricocheted in the box and found its way to Alexis’ feet and then went into the box. It was more of a lucky goal for Barca. And a bit sad for Iker who made some amazing saves to keep Tello’s and Alexis’ first shot out.

But quickly after, Cristiano scored. His 4th goal in the last 5 Clasicos. It was a great finish assisted by a heavenly ball from Mesut Oezil.

Tactics

Barcelona 

Barcelona played a switching formation – 4-3-3 when Real had possession and 3-4-3 when Barca had the possession. Dani Alves played as a right winger in order to stretch Real’s back four.

Meanwhile, Puyol played in a right-back-come-center-back role, Mascherano at center-back and Adriano at left-back. The interesting thing was Busquets’ role. When Barca had possession, he went into his natural defensive midfield position and when Madrid had possession, he dropped deep at center back.

Busquets played his role exceptionally well. This is one of those roles which need an extremely defensively-aware player – and Busi has that awareness. When he dropped at center-back, Thiago took up his position at CDM.

What Barca tried to do with switching formation is clear: stretch Real Madrid with one out-and-out winger with Dani Alves, let Tello cut in from the left and also keep control of the midfield by outnumbering us by playing 4 players in there when in possession and 3 when without possession against our double pivot (though, Oezil dropped deep to make it a trivote when Barca had possession, making our formation a switching one as well).

This tactic was a great innovation from Pep; packed midfield, 2 wide players & a backline of 4 when Real had possession. However, they lacked just one thing: a pure striker who would make those runs inside the box when Messi dropped deep and created a hole in Real Madrid’s backline.

Tello was started to do exactly that from the left wing, and he did it pretty well, and could may as well have won the game for Barca had he finished those two great chances by scoring. Had David Villa not been injured and started instead of Tello, the game could have been tougher for us.

Alexis Sanchez was brought in the 69th minute for Xavi and the shape changed from a 3-4-3 (while in possession) to a 3-3-1-3 with Messi in the hole. The shape when without possession was more like a 4-2-1-3.

The problem now was clear: Iniesta was way too high up, and Messi was even higher. So, practically, it was like a 4-1-1-1-3 with Thiago the only one shielding the back 4 when Real had the possession and the second Real Madrid goal was a result of this – no-one helped Thiago with closing down the space hence Oezil had the space to execute his pass.

Then Cesc and Pedro came in for Tello and Adriano. The shape of Barca became too disfigured and, also, Barca players looked to have given up by then.

All in all, Pep would have been hailed as a genius tactician had Barca won this game. For me, he is already a genius tactician. His tactics were spot on, but chose to put a young and inexperienced Tello on the left and that, probably, cost him the game.

Real Madrid

Our system was rigid – exactly the contrary to Barca’s fluid system. This was a pure case of mathematics – a plus (+) is cut out by a minus (-) or vice versa. (This is just an analogy, NOT saying we played negatively, in case you thought otherwise.)

We started with our usual 4-2-3-1 which often changed to a 4-3-3 when we didn’t have the possession as Mesut Oezil dropped really deep in order to stop Barca outnumbering and over-running us in midfield.

Mou trusted Coentrao and gave him another chance to prove his worth after his horrendous performance against Bayern. He did well. Exceptionally well, in fact.

Both our full backs were asked to sit back and not make any forward runs. Sami Khedira and Xabi were also asked to stay very close to the back four and help them out with defending.

We defended really, really well as a unit. Sergio Ramos made two errors in judgment (once when Xavi was clean through on goal and the other when he came out of defense to dispossess a Barca player, but fouled him instead) and Pepe made one (that horrific pass to Sergio which Alves intercepted), but none of them cost us thanks to our saviour, San Iker.

We were happy to stand off Barca players until they came close to our box, where we pressed and sometimes hoofed the ball downfield (which was really painful to see) or tried to counter.

We didn’t do much other than this, tactically. We defended very well as a unit and took our chances, something which we didn’t do in most of our Clasicos.

Performance

Barcelona 

Busquets was, in my opinion, Barca’s best player last night. Busquets played his dual role of defensive-midfielder-come-center-back really well.

Also, Iniesta’s backheel to Tello in the build-up of Barca’s only goal was stunning. Other than that, Iniesta had a quiet evening.

Tello did everything he was asked to, but just couldn’t finish. His movements and pace were exceptionally good and gave Alvaro a tough time, but his finishing let him down and cost Barca the game.

Real Madrid

3 of our best performers

Individually, 4 players stood out: Iker, Cristiano, Oezil and Coentrao. Oezil, for me, was the man of the match. His work-rate was phenomenal, so was his pass to Cristiano for the goal.

“Take that!”, says Oezil

Cristiano scored and then celebrated in epic fashion. In his celebration, from my interpretation, he was probably trying to say: “Calm down, it’s me who’s scored it – that’s nothing new.” He has silenced all his critics who say he doesn’t perform in big games.

“Calm down, it’s me who’s scored it – that’s nothing new.”

In fact, Messi has now failed to score in the last 4 Clasicos, while Cristiano scored 4 goals in the last 5. So much for ‘Messi is a big-game player, but Cristiano isn’t’.

Coentrao was awesome. He totally shut down Dani Alves. His performance becomes even sweeter considering how horrid he was against Bayern. He totally shut his critics’ mouths with his performance last night.

About Iker Casillas’ performance, two words: San Iker. That is all.

The two captains

Conclusion

We played without fear. We overcame our psychological barrier against Barca – Real’s goal right after Barca scored was a testament to that given that we have crumbled against Barca in the past even after scoring first.

If Barca had won last night, they would have equalled Real’s win tally in the Clasicos – something that hasn’t happened in 81 years. Our players played their hearts out and saved that from happening.

With this win, we now need just 2 more wins to officially win the league. Also, we play Bayern with more confidence. Basically, this win sets up a step for us to go and win all that is for us to win in this season. And we hope we do that.

Fans celebrating

Hala Madrid!

I can hardly call myself a lucky person. I don’t usually win lotteries. If I have to take a guess in choosing between an empty box and a box with money, be sure the empty one is what I’ll choose. So when a Moscow club made it to the Round of 16 of the Champions League, I had never dreamt it’ll be Real Madrid who they would draw. Can I be that lucky? Really?

My colleagues had never before seen me scream so loud and jump like a kid in the office. I was following the draw on twitter, making sure no one notices as I was supposed to work, and couldn’t hide my emotions when I saw “CSKA Moscow – Real Madrid” on my screen. I’m surrounded by people who are not much into football, but when I screamed Real are coming to Moscow, even my colleagues knew something humungous was happening.

From that day on, time seemed to drag on unbearably slowly. First, February 6 seemed to be the D-day, when they’ll start to sell tickets. Then as soon as I had my precious tickets in my pocket, February 21 was all I could think of. There were so many talks about Moscow weather; you could every day read about the weather in Marca as if they were some meteorological site. I’d never seen so many Russian articles about Real Madrid, and also articles about CSKA Moscow in Spain reached a new level. It felt so good and Real Madrid seemed to be closer than they had ever been.

Then, the moment I saw Arbeloa’s check-in at the Sheremetievo airport, my heart started beating faster. Pity me, I couldn’t go to the airport or meet the team outside the hotel, as I was sick and sulking at home taking tons of medicines trying to stay alive for the dream game tomorrow.

I don’t know whether it is Madrid who bring luck to me or it is a coincidence, but a couple of days prior to the game, my friends inform ed me that there was a chance to watch the game from a box where it was warm and comfortable. So when the D-day finally arrived, I was at the stadium 2 hours before the kick-off in a warm room with a perfect view of the lush green but artificial grass field.

About 1 and half hours before the kick-off, 3 players in yellow entered the pitch. They started warming up with Silvinio Louro and I couldn’t take my eyes off them. Later on, other players from both the teams arrived on the field. I was so worried that I might miss out on some dream sights that I just kept pointing my finger at the players and screaming their names at the top of my vocal cord. Our blue training outfit looked so gorgeous! My friends must have been thinking that I have gone insane , which might be not far from the truth.

And as the warming up ended, the big screen at the stadium showed the players lining up in the tunnel and ready to enter the stadium and give peace to the eyes of the thousands & thousands of faithful followers. I couldn’t control the stupid kid like smile which had covered most of my face as I saw the teams stand in line. And then the Luzhniki stadium was left enchanted by the Champions League anthem which doesn’t give any one a chance to stay aloof. I don’t know what’s so special about that anthem, but it gives me goosebumps even when I watch games on the television set. Hearing it live in the stadium left me shivering with excitement and yes, Real Madrid players on the pitch added to the excitement.

What emotions I felt during the game are really difficult to describe. First I felt miserable on being so close yet so far from my team. Then I felt worried when I saw Benzema limping off the field and just wanted our players to finish the game without any more injuries. CSKA Moscow happens to be the only Russian club I like and if they had drawn any other club, I would have been at the stadium rooting for them with 100% support. My friends were divided into two groups, pro Madrid and contra, which made watching the game more fun.

You could really see that players did not show their best on the pitch. The talks on the artificial grass are not just mere talks. It is really slippery and harsh on the players. This grass feels totally different from natural grass where falling is not so painful, running fast is easy and incoming tackles don’t always comes along with an injury. You could feel Madrid felt uncomfortable on the pitch and looked comfortable with the 0-1 score.

By the 90th minute many people started leaving the stadium to get to their cars and escape the famous Moscow traffic. Most of them did not anticipate anything could change in 2 minutes of injury time. I really feel sorry for them as they missed out on the moment they were actually waiting for. What a shame to spend 2 hours in the cold praying for CSKA Moscow to score and then miss the moment and excitement when they actually managed to score.

As for me, it felt like we lost. When we went outside, CSKA fans were all over the place happy as if they won the 2012 UEFA Champions League. No one really thought CSKA could display such a decent game. It was their first official game of the season after the lengthy winter break. Most of the fans can’t even pronounce the name of Wernbloom, as he had been signed not long before the game. And here he was now, scoring an important goal against 9 time Champions League winner Real Madrid and making Russia believe not all is lost and making him an overnight Russian star.

Hearing our players being booed at the stadium and seeing the opponents’ fans so happy to score, I felt an urge to be at the Santiago Bernabeu. It felt as if I belonged there. Who knows, maybe if Madrid really does bring me luck, I’ll soon be watching them play at Bernabeu in comfortable weather conditions where no one will make Iker feel disappointed by a conceded goal.

- So that was the story of Anita who cheers for Madrid living in Russia

]]> http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/02/27/experience-of-a-madridista-in-russia/feed/ 0 01081 http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/02/20/know-your-rival-qa-with-a-cska-fan/ http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/02/20/know-your-rival-qa-with-a-cska-fan/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:05:20 +0000 rmadridinfo http://realmadridinfo.wordpress.com/?p=2089 ]]>

UEFA Champions League returns, Real Madrid face CSKA Moscow after the 4-0 win over Racing Santander. To learn about CSKA we invited  Sergei Epihin to have a Q&A with us. Sergei  is a student from Moscow who’s been supporting CSKA all his life, just like his father and grandfather.

How did you feel at the time when the results to the draw came out?

- It may seem strange, but I was happy. It’s not every day that you get a chance to see your favorite club compete with one of the best clubs in the world. CSKA are anxious for great victories, the path to which is through the games with such opponents as Real Madrid. It is a priceless experience for the team, you can’t get it in games against such teams as APOEL.

How would you describe the current form of CSKA Moskva?

- It’s quite a difficult question, no one may know the answer now, You have to understand that in fact the season for CSKA is only beginning now while Madrid’s season is in full swing, so it’s difficult to speculate on the physical form of our players. It should be mentioned that in the mid-season three new players joined CSKA, who still need to find their game. There are also ‘losses’ in the squad, Brazilian Vágner Love, who had spent almost 7 years in Russia and had been very important both on the pitch and in the locker room, left the club. Honda, Necid and Gonzalez have just recovered from injuries, Seydou Doumbia, the main scorer, is also missing due to the African Cup. As you can see the coaching staff has enough troubles, but I am sure the team will be ready to meet the challenge at their first official game of the season.

Looking at the supreme form of Real Madrid in the UCL this season, what do you think about your team’s chances?

-  This is football; until the moment the referee blows the whistle to start the game, chances are 50/50. CSKA have played against Spanish clubs before ; win over Sevilla last year and fabulous 2-3 win at the Camp Nou in 1992. So what’s the reason of going to the stadium if you don’t believe your team may win?

How do you think CSKA will line-up (i.e. the starting XI) and tactically how would they play?

- Keeping in mind that Champions League play-off stage consists of 2 games, I wouldn’t hope for  many goals at the first game. It’s suicidal to play head-on football against Real, so CSKA will try to counter-attack and to pressurize tightly in midfield, not allowing Madrid to start their attack.  The weather will also be important. It’s – 20 in Moscow, I don’t think Real players are used to it.

My starting line-up:

GK: Chepchugov

Defense: A. Berezutsky, V. Berezutsky, Iganshevich, Shennikov

Midfield: Honda, Aldonin, Wernbloom, Dzagoev

Forwards: Musa, Doumbia

Leaving tactics aside, as a football romantic, how would you like CSKA to play?

- Similar to the other blue and red team. I want our guys to enjoy the game. The team won’t be under pressure because of the result, even if they lose 3-0 no one will blame them. What I want to see on the pitch is passion and desire to fight till the end whoever is your opponent.

The round of 16 has generally been one of the biggest stumbling blocks to Real Madrid. Psychologically, do you think CSKA has any edge over Madrid?

- No, I think it’s not the case. Today’s Madrid is a highly motivated team where there are outstanding players led by one of the most successful coaches of our time. Watching Real Madrid games this season, I was astonished by how they won games losing the first HT 0-1 or 0-2 and it didn’t look  like great effort, but Madrid was confident and knew how to get what they wanted. Even Barcelona winning 0-2 at home at the last Clasico were close to losing. Such spirit of Madrid is fascinating.

For our followers who may not be aware, any particular players that you’d like to single out as danger men for Real Madrid?

- It’ll be a mistake if Real underestimate CSKA. Our team has young and talented players, many of which could strengthen any top European club. Here the main goalscorer should be mentioned, Seydou Doumbia, he has scored 5 goals in the CL and 24 goals in RPL. Another player I would pick out is Alan Dzagoev, who has already made it to the Russian NT and is capable of many things on the pitch. If he finds his game, it’ll be very difficult to stop him. I think you can ask Sevilla who Keisuke Honda is, his free kicks are not less dangerous than that of Cristiano’s.

/

Shock.

However, when Cules where in the land of desola10ess (sorry, but this is going to be the trend of this review), Madridistas were in absolute joy – so much that many of them starting making #A10 puns/jokes on Twitter even though Real were yet to play and ex10d the lead to 10.

The Real Madrid match kicked off. 4 minutes into the match. Free-kick for Levante. And we did what we do best: concede from another set-piece and concede before we score. And then Benzema’s goal was wrongly ruled out offside. It seemed to me like the #A10 jokes before the game have jinxed us; Real were going to lose 3 points.

But that, fortunately for us, didn’t happen.

Just before half-time, Iborra, who was on a yellow, was shown a second yellow when he handled the ball inside the penalty area. Cristiano stepped up to take the penalty and, as usual, scored. I hope that Messi doesn’t pay a10tion when Cristiano takes penalties – that way, Messi will keep missing penalties

Anyways, Cristiano then gave us the lead after an excellent cross from Higuain which was easily headed in by Cristiano. Only Higuain knows how he executed that cross from such an awkward position

Cristiano then doubled the lead and completed his hat-trick by scoring an orgasmic goal from around 27 yards out. The dip the ball got while hitting the net was just a definition of awesomeness.

Then Levante pulled one back in the 63rd minute from a Kone goal. But Real again doubled the lead when Benzema scored his first and Real’s 4th goal of the game.

We started with a fluid 4-2-3-1 with Benzema playing in the hole behind Higuain, Oezil on the right and Cristiano on the left. Oezil – who now looks really comfortable playing on the right – and Benzema constantly swapped position in attempt to drag out the Levante defenders out of their position, but Levante’s zonal marking before they got reduced to 10 was quite good.

Numerous times in the match, the right flank was completely free of Real players apart from Arbeloa. This was probably done for Arbeloa to produce width as Oezil went in the middle playing as a ‘free agent’.

Levante started with a 4-4-2/4-2-2-2 with 2 holding midfielders, 2 wide midfielders and Kone leading the line with Valdo just behind him as the support striker. Levante’s intentions were pretty clear: they didn’t come to Madrid for attacking – at least that was what they showed after scoring from the set-piece.

Levante almost always had 8 outfield players (2 lines containing 4 players each) behind the ball. Valdo was the only one pressing high-up the pitch and Kone was the only one who did little or no defensive duties – perhaps that’s how the Levante coach wanted it to be.

When Levante got the ball, Kone almost always drifted out to the left to stretch Ramos out of his position and succeeded in it a few times, too. Kone was the only Levante player who was threa10ing our defense from open play. His trickery caused our defenders a lot of problem. And he also scored giving Levante hope, but it just wasn’t enough as Levante were down to 10 men.

Real really benefited from Nabil el Zhar’s substitution at half-time. Nabil, who was playing as a right midfielder, did well in the first half with his defending. His defensive work on the right hand side of the pitch was important for Levante and I was a bit surprised to see him getting subbed off.

Since Zhar was subbed off, Cristiano became lethal. Pedro Lopez – right back who can play as a winger – came in for Zhar. But he really couldn’t keep up with the pace of Cristiano and was run ragged by him.

All in all, it was a great match. It started off with a Levante goal, which gave us Madridistas a lot of 10sion, and finished off with us winning 4-2, which ex10ded our lead from 7 to 10 points.

Now all we Madridistas should hope is for Real to be consis10t. I am sure that if we keep up our consis10cy and Barca keep up their inconsis10cy away from home, we may as well receive a pasilo from them in the next league Clasico.

Hala Madrid! #A10

 When the final whistle blew, this peach of a quote by Ian Holloway came right into my mind as the match was something like what Ian Holloway said. We went out looking for a win, and we did win, but it wasn’t in the usual sexy Real Madrid style of winning.

Rather, it was snoozefest.

The weather at Madrid yesterday was extremely low. This actually, in my opinion, was a blessing for us since Real are going to play in even colder conditions in Russia and this match was a good warm-up for that.

It was Getafe who started the match brightly and got their first – and best – chance just 3 minutes into the match when Diego Castro shot, from 5 yards out, blew over the bar.

In the 18th minute, Real Madrid took the lead via a superb header from Sergio Ramos. Oezil took the corner and Ramos perfectly timed his jump and placed the ball on the top left corner of the goal.

Other than that, Real Madrid did very little in the remainder of the game. Benzema missed two relatively easy, by his standards, chances. Late in the game, Higuain’s left footed shot was excellently saved by Miguel Moya.

Tactically, we played our usual 4-2-3-1 switching to a 4-3-3 with Kaka coming deep. Kaka, however, didn’t have a great game. Nonetheless, it was good to see him tracking back and drawing the Getafe holding midfielders out of their positions.

It was also rather interesting to see Cristiano staying within 5-8 yards of Fabio Coentrao. That meant that Cristiano was really far away from Getafe’s goal when he received the ball. The reason for this, I believe, was the excess closing down of him by Getafe players. In the early stages of the game, I could see 2-3 Getafe players closing down Cristiano whenever he got the ball. So he decided to go deep to get the space to work in.

Another reason for this could be Fabio Coentrao. He is an excellent left-back, no doubt about that, but he lacks that cutting edge while going forward which Marcelo has. Marcelo has the ability to squeeze his way out of the tightest of spaces, thanks to his excellent ball-control, and for Cristiano to work at his best; he needs the Marcelo-esque service – which he wasn’t getting from Coentrao because Coentrao was also getting closed down whenever he was going forward.

This, in turn, resulted both of them to stay close to each other so that they don’t get choked by excess pressure. It didn’t work as well as they’d have hoped for, but it did, nonetheless, give Cristiano the breathing space to do his free-style tricks which trolled the hell out of some Getafe players.

Getafe’s pressing was impressive, it has to be said. They pressed us high up the pitch which brought our forward-line very close to our backline. Credit here, for decreasing the congestion in the middle, has to be given to Arbeloa. He made a lot of forward runs, more than he usually does, which forced the Getafe midfielders to run at him – easing the pressure in the middle.

Our defense, apart from some occasion, looked solid. Our defense tends to go in the ‘sleep mode’ at least once in a match. They should work on that because one slip-up, especially in tight matches where we are leading by a goal only, and all the good work could be ruined.

All in all, it was a good win in difficult conditions against a team which beat Barcelona some weeks back. The clean-sheet was a perfect icing on the cake.

Also, we are still leading the La Liga table with and the team closest to us has 7 points less than us.

Hala Madrid!

My preferred Real Madrid XI:

Casillas
Arbeloa, Varane, Pepe, Marcelo
Lass, Alonso
Callejon, Kaka, Ronaldo
Benzema

Sergio Ramos won’t feature against Zaragoza due to suspension and Carvalho is not fully fit therefore, it makes sense for Varane to start.

Coentrao featured in two Clasicos and deserves a rest, Marcelo will definitely start. Ozil will most probably start instead of Kaka but I’d love to see Kaka start in a respectively, easy match.

Higuain didn’t have a great match at Camp Nou and Benzema will probably start instead of him. With Di Maria injured, Callejon’s the man to start.

Key stats ahead of the clash:

•    Real Zaragoza are without a win in 12 matches.
•    Real Zaragoza are six points behind 19th-placed Sporting Gijon with half the season played.
•    The last time Real Madrid and Real Zaragoza faced each other was on the opening match of the league this season, Madrid thrashed Zaragoza 6-0.
•    The last time Real Madrid and Real Zaragoza faced each other at the Bernabeu, the match ended 2-3 for Zaragoza.
•    Real Madrid have scored at least four goals on 10 of the 19 matches played so far this season.
•    Cristiano Ronaldo’s 23 goals leads the Pichichi race while Angel Di Maria and Mesut Ozil are first and second in the assist table at the season’s midway point.
•    With 13 assists, Angel Di Maria has only one fewer assist than the entire Zaragoza team has goals.
•    Luis Garcia and Helder Postiga are the only players who scored more than two goals for Real Zaragoza so far this season.
•    Real Zaragoza have conceded just seven goals in their last seven games.
•    Gonzalo Higuain has as many goals as the entire Real Zaragoza team.
•    The entire Real Zaragoza team has 14 goals in La Liga this season, Cristiano Ronaldo has 23.
•    Iker Casillas will play his 602 official match for Real Madrid against Real Zaragoza, equaling Gento’s record.
•    Real Madrid scored 67 goals in their first 19 league games, an all-time record in Spanish football.
•    Real Madrid and Real Zaragoza faced each other 57 times at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid won 47 times while Zaragoza managed to win just 4 times, match ended as a draw 6 times.

Real Madrid are going for a win after a fantastic performance at Camp Nou, they won’t disappoint their fans this time.

Prediction: Real Madrid 3-0 Real Zaragoza.

Real Madrid lost another Clasico a few days ago and they are looking to please their fans with a win against Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

Jose Mourinho confirmed that the injured Khedira and Di Maria will miss the clash, as well as Carvalho and Sahin. Pepe is included Real Madrid’s squad but he isn’t expected to feature against Los Leones.

Mourinho won’t play defensively as he did against Barcelona, he will definitely include a creative player this time. With Di Maria injured, he will probably start Kaka or Ozil.

Athletic Bilbao will be missing some players too. According to goal.com; Aitor Ocio, Carlos Gurpegi, Xabi Castillo, Igor Martinez, and Igor Gabilondo are all currently undergoing physiotherapy – and all are doubtful.

Iker Casillas, Real Madrid’s captain will play his 600th match for Real Madrid against Athletic Bilbao. He is the first goalkeeper in history of Real Madrid to play so many games with the team.

My preferred Real Madrid XI:

Casillas

Arbeloa, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo

Alonso, Lass

Callejon, Kaka, Ronaldo

Higuain

Some of you might wonder why I chose this lineup. Higuain should start instead of Benzema since Benzema will most likely start against Barcelona just a few days after the clash. Varane might start as a centre back partnering Ramos since Carvalho is not in the squad and Pepe might not feature. Kaka deserves a start to boost up his confidence and Callejon, a brilliant player – can and will take Di Maria’s place in the lineup.

Key stats ahead of the clash:

•    Fernando Llorente is Athletic Bilbao’s top goalscorer with seven goals, however, Benzema, Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo all scored more than him so far this season.

•    The entire Athletic Bilbao squad has scored 26 goals in La Liga this season; Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 21 goals.

•    Real Madrid conceded 5 headed goals in 2012

•    Athletic Bilbao have scored the most headed goals in La Liga this season with 9.

•    Athletic Bilbao haven’t beaten Real Madrid in 2 years.

•    Iker Casillas’ debut for Real Madrid was against Athletic Bilbao, he will also be playing his 600th match with Real Madrid against Athletic Bilbao.

•    The last time Athletic Bilbao faced Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu was on the 20th of December 2010, Real Madrid won the game 5-1.

•    Real Madrid came back to win a game after conceding the first goal 3 times this season, more than any other team in La Liga.

•    Athletic Bilbao haven’t lost their last 6 away games.

Real Madrid won’t accept losing 3 points at home; they’re looking for a big win that will boost them up just before El Clasico at Camp Nou.

Prediction: Real Madrid 4-1 Athletic Bilbao.

Marca are running with a story that talks about the argument between Sergio Ramos and Jose Mourinho feat. Iker Casillas, which happened after ‘another’ defeat against Barcelona.  As you can see in the image above, those quotes have been translated into English below.

Mourinho (talking to Ramos, in front of all the team, technicals & utility teams): “You killed me in the mixed zone”

Sergio Ramos: “No, Mister you’ve heard only what the press are saying not what we’re saying”

Mourinho: of course, because you Spanish were the champions of the world and your friends in the press protect you as well as the goalkeeper (Iker Casillas)”

Casillas (hears from far and shouts): “Mister, here we say things in the face, eh”

Mourinho (To Ramos): “Where were you in the first goal (scored by Puyol), Sergio?

Sergio Ramos: “Marking Pique”

Mourinho: “You should have marked Puyol!”

Sergio Ramos: “Yes, but I was watching Pique, and we decided to change positions”

Mourinho: “What happened are you planning to be a coach now?”

Sergio Ramos: “No but depending on the situations of the match, there are times where we need to change positions. And because you never wore shorts (Never played football)  you don’t know that these situations happen.”

Jose Mourinho brings out his kitchen sink tactics to grind out a crucial 2-1 victory at Iberostar Stadium, Mallorca.

Real Madrid made a couple of changes to the team that lavishly struck five past Granada last week:  Pepe returned at centre back with Raphaël Varane side-lined; a nasty ankle twist in the Copa del Rey win against Malaga meant that Sami Khedira would be missing; and Jose Callejon would be allowed to roam up top with Diarra and Alonso forming the rough double pivot and Özil acting as advanced playmaker. The usual Benzema /Higuain question was being asked prior to kick off – this week Madrid selected Karim up top after his brace against Granada and his Willy Caballero-assisted strike against Malaga.

Mallorca, coming off a 0-0 with over-achieving Levante last week, were there for the taking by the white and gold geniuses. Sitting in the lower half of the league, Mallorca haven’t ever got properly going this season, despite a relatively baffling Copa del Rey performance that saw them progress to the quarter finals of the competition with a 6-1 drubbing of Real Sociedad.

Maybe this was what gave the home side the confidence to play with a enthusiastic  ruthlessness in what could be described as a dull first half. Not that Mallorca would be complaining at the whistle.

Madrid didn’t begin with their usually charismatic flair, and although Alonso and Diarra kept it cozy in the middle of the park it was the home side creating chances, thriving off the counter attack and dead-ball set pieces. The Mallorca number ten Tomer Hemed, full of confidence after netting twice in the cup mid-week, went close with an effort before finally making the breakthrough five minutes before half time. A short corner, changing the angle of the subsequent cross, resulted in Madrid’s lacklustre marking been capitalised on, Hemed using every single muscle in his neck to execute an astute diving header past the Spanish number one. This wasn’t in the script, and Mourinho could be seen getting his pen out as the Mallorca players celebrated with a good old fashioned ‘pile on’.

Despite Sergio Ramos rattling the post with a header seconds before half time from another glorious Xabi Alonso AdiPure-booted delivery, Madrid went into the break behind; 1-0 Los Bermellones.

Cue the Mourinho tactic truck (it’s like that Andy Townsend ITV feature, but much, much better). Lass is pulled off to be replaced by ’14 goals but still don’t start’ Gonzalo Higuain. The change had an immediate impact with Madrid looking quicker and Ronaldo, Özil and Benzema starting to create more space for each other as the game began to open up. But the goals still weren’t coming and, with Mallorca playing off the counter attack, chances opened up for the home team with the ball ending up in the net, only for the linesman to rule it offside. Nevertheless, a nice finish from Victor, and he was offside.

As we approach the final twenty minutes you begin to remember flashes of the Barcelona v Getafe game, where Getafe managed to fight off Barca and hold on to a gritty 1-0. Was this match going to provide a life-line for the Catalan giants? A slip up by Los Blancos? A failure to hold the five point gap?

Turns out that twenty minutes can be a long time in football;  Mourinho, still not prepared to bring on a striker for one of the anchormen, replaces both full backs, Marcelo and Arbeloa (both of whom I believe to be below par), for Coentrao and Kaka. Madrid now have Benzema, Higuain, Ronaldo, Özil, Kaka, Callejon, Coentrao all on the pitch; now I know Alonso is good, but the phrase ‘gung ho’ springs to mind… I couldn’t even start to analyse the formation. Ok, it’s 3-3-4. Roughly.

Put yourself in a Mallorca defenders’ boots and I’m thinking this must be a bit like torture. Madrid have only failed to score once in their last ten games against Mallorca, and they are now playing with a million strikers on the pitch. It was inevitable: 72 minutes in and Higuain is played through by Özil, one on one on the keeper; any questions about what happened next? Yep, the Argentine finished with his trademark chip. It may have taken a slight deflection off Tissone, but it was still lovely technique and balance.

Not settling for a point, Madrid pressed on, first a Ronaldo strike from 30 yards finding the crossbar, then, finally, Jose Callejon grabbing the win for Madrid in the eighty forth minute. Higuain tried first and failed, Benzema followed up and failed; Callejon then struck the third attempt and certainly did not fail. As the ball bounced frustratingly around the edge of the box he struck it perfectly into the net to break the hearts of Mallorca players and supporters alike, as well as a few million in blue and red with ‘Qatar Foundation’ written across the front.  It was Callejon’s tenth goal for Real Madrid and he is fast becoming a figure of hate for Barcelona fans, as he previously played for the Catalan rivals Espagnol and now fierce rivals Real Madrid.

Madrid showed a strong self-belief in coming back and winning the game, but this performance was not one of their best this season. Özil and Ronaldo had good games, but the Madrid full backs looked slightly off the pace, with Marcelo again not answering critics who judge him as a poor defender. Sergio Ramos, playing centre half every week, is starting to look extremely comfortable and has a calming well controlled manner on the ball. Callejon impressed me a lot, and has done in every game since he appeared on the scene this year. He gave Madrid some width and created space to cut inside or cross the ball. That said, he is not Angel Di Maria who was missed.

A narrow win for Madrid then, but a win and three points nevertheless, guaranteeing them their five point gap at the top at the very least after Barcelona take on Real Betis. Madrid face tough opposition against Athletic Bilbao next week at the Santiago Bernabeu, with a little cup game in between…

Attendance: 20,000

Man of the Match – Jose Callejon

It was all set. All set for the grandest Club match of them all. Almost all Madridistas were filled with huge optimism – something which wasn’t the case in the previous Clasicos – and why not? 15 game winning streak, unbeaten at home this season, Barca’s dodgy away form …. every reason to be optimistic.

But come full-time whistle, the optimism turned into pain and misery as it was the same old story: Barca won 3-1, continuing Pep’s unbeaten streak at the Bernabeu.

Barca players celebrating after full-time

The match, however, started off brilliantly for us when Benzema scored in the 23rd second – the fastest goal in the history of the Clasico. The goal came after Valdes mispassed it straight to Di Maria, whose pass rebounded to Oezil and Oezil’s shot rebounded to Karim, who scored.

Then Messi slipped a pass in Alexis’ way, who out-muscled Pepe and struck it viciously, from outside the box, past Iker Casillas. That was one hell of a finish from Alexis – reminded me of Luiz Ronaldo.

After half-time, the match was even. But luck had to screw us up as Xavi’s shot took a huge deflection off Marcelo and the ball found its way to the net. Cesc completed the scoring after Coentrao failed to prevent Cesc from heading the ball into the net.

Tactics ….

Real Madrid

Karanka, in the pre-match press conference, told that we will play a 4-3-3. When the line ups were announced, it looked like what Karanka said was false – which wasn’t the case.

Indeed, we played a trivote which switched to a double pivot when we had the ball.

It was an inverted trivote consisting of Xabi and Lass as the holding mids, and Oezil on top of them. The tactics Mourinho used was to use a highline of defense and low line of attack when we didn’t have the ball – ie, Benzema, Ronaldo & Angel were far away from Barca’s goal & our back 4 were far away from our goal to keep it very congested in the middle.

This can be likened to our lungs’ movement: when we exhale (when Real didn’t have the ball), our lungs contract (the backline pushes up, the frontline drops deep); and when we inhale (when Real had the ball), our lungs blows up (our attackers burst out with the ball, the defense, however, don’t push back but stay where they are).

This was done to leave Barca with restricted space to move the ball around and it worked very well in the opening periods when Barca players were misplacing passes and couldn’t do much when they had the possession.

Benzema and Di Maria pressed really well and that resulted in Victor Valdes making an error which led to Real’s first goal. And we even had a chance to score a second from a quick break had Ronaldo not mistimed his shot to the orbit.

Pepe & Alexis fighting for the ball

However, this tactics had its negative affects.

When a team plays like the way Real Madrid did last night, you need a player on the opposition team who can take on defenders with ease to break free from the congestion and disrupt the whole setup – that is exactly what Lionel Messi did. He dribbled past Lass and slipped a pass in Alexis’ path and then Alexis scored.

The goal was better than the assist, Alexis did a wonderful job in taking Pepe out of the way. But it was Messi’s run which disrupted the setup and caused panic in our defenders’ minds.

When we were 3-1 down, Ronaldo shifted on the right, Benzema on the left and Kaka just behind Higuain. That is the time when Barca’s defense were looking a bit shaky as Ronaldo found himself up against a slow Abidal and that is when Ronaldo started pulling the strings. But alas, it was too late as the match was over by then. And for the last 10 mins or so, almost all our players stopped pressing.

Perhaps Mourinho should have started off with that (Ronaldo right, Benzema left and Higuain as lone striker) tactic.

Barcelona 

Barca played their usual 4-3-3. But something was unusual in the first half – Barca couldn’t keep possession for long periods in their opposition’s half, which they normally do. However, they didn’t allow Real to have the ball for long either.

Barca didn’t have possession for long periods as Real’s tactics, to keep the middle of the park congested, restricted them to do so. The congestion wasn’t letting Barca play their game and Pep knew it. So he made a very small – but hugely effective – tactical change at half-time.

He gave Dani Alves the permission to play like he usually does – a right-midfielder-come-full-back.

Dani Alves's (#2) positional change after half-time via Opta

This, alongside with a little bit of good luck, basically changed the whole scenario for Barca. With Ronaldo having a terrible time on the field, Dani grew more confident going forward.

With Dani moving forward – the formation was basically a 3-5-2 for Barca (which prickinthewall, in the preview, predicted would happen) – Barca players now had someone on the wings, unmarked, to pass the ball to. That is what happened and that stretched Real’s midfield (Dani on the right gave our players an extra man to take care of), giving space to the Barca midfielders to exploit.

Had Ronaldo kept Dani pinned in his own half, this might not have happened. But it would be wrong to completely blame Ronaldo as luck – the second Barca goal came from a huge deflection off Marcelo, which changed the game – also played its part and favoured Barca.

And then the rest is history, as they say. Barca players started moving and passing around with ease – which resulted in our defenders getting drawn out of their positions – creating chaos in our defense, but thanks to some last ditch tackles, and saves from Iker, that saved us from facing embarrassment.

Player Performance ….

Real Madrid

Iker had a good game and was very unlucky to concede the second goal. If it wasn’t for him, we’d have conceded 1 or 2 more goals. And the Madridistas who are blaming him and calling him over-rated: shut-up and watch the match again.

Lass played exceptionally well to keep Messi quiet for the whole first half – apart from the build up to Barca’s first goal. However, he needs to keep his calm and rhythm for the whole game rather than just some moments. Personally, I thought subbing him out for Sami was a waste of a sub and that, Lass getting subbed off, wouldn’t have happened had he kept his composure and not gone in recklessly at the 61st minute to see a yellow card.

Coentrao played at right-back to nullify the threat which came from the inside-left of Barca – which was Andres Iniesta. In the first half, Coentrao kept Iniesta in his pocket. But with Dani Alves moving forward in the second half, Iniesta found more space in the middle to exploit and gave Coentrao a very tough time. Coentrao was also at fault for the third goal.

Marcelo showed us that he CAN defend. His defending gets better against Barca, perhaps because he asked to defend more than attack. Pepe and Ramos had a decent game and honestly, only the first goal came directly from their mistake to give Sanchez the time on the ball, and space, to shoot.

Xabi had a decent game. His attacking game was limited due to the fact that he had to get his hands dirty by defending. Oezil was not even close to his best last night. It is hard to believe that he is the same guy who did magic for us last season.

Di Maria worked really, really hard. He was the only player in our team who caused panic in Barca’s defense with his dribbling. Whenever he had the ball, at least 3 Barca players were around him to get the ball off him – such great is his dribbling that even Barca need to put 3 players on him. Add to that the defensive work he does and his performance goes another level upwards. However, his final ball wasn’t as good as it was in his previous games.

Benzema had a terrific game. The passion and desire, to win, he showed last night was incredible. If you told me that Benzema would show the kind of determination and grit, which he did last night, last year at this time, I’d be laughing at you. He was the only player, with Di Maria, in the Real team who didn’t give up till the time he was on the pitch. He scored the fastest goal in the history of the Clasico by scoring on the 23rd second. He is also the only Real Madrid player since 2007 to score in 2 consecutive Clasicos.

Benzema scores the fastest goal in a Clasico

Cristiano Ronaldo … I actually don’t want to talk much about him, because that would just ruin my mood again. I will just sum up his performance in one word: disappointing.

Cristiano Ronaldo frustrated

The substituted players – Kaka, Sami and Higuain – didn’t have a say in the game as they didn’t have the time, and perhaps confidence, to do so.

Barcelona 

Victor Valdes gifted us our goal. He wasn’t tested much after that, though. He had a terrible game if you ask me. Whenever the ball was played at his feet, he gave us the feeling that he’d cock it up again and gift another goal to Real.

Dani Alves – love him or hate him, but you can’t deny the fact that he is one of the best attacking right-backs in the World and it was because of he moving forward that the Barca midfielders got the space to move and pass around freely.

Carles Puyol, take a bow. Even at the age of 33, his passion for the game and determination to win hasn’t gone down one little bit. He kept Ronaldo quiet for long parts of the game and kept on fighting. What a player.

Andres Iniesta was quiet in the first half, but completely took the game to Real in the second half. Iniesta’s movements, passes and dribbling were fantastic in the second half. Messi couldn’t do much, but his movements caused a lot of problems in the defense of Real.

Only few would have noticed Sergio Busquets in the whole game as he didn’t dive even once. Jokes aside, he is like an invisible wall – his defensive positioning was once again great and showed us that you don’t need to be a crunching tackler to be a good defensive midfielder.

Xavi was kept quiet in the first half – thanks to the congestion in the middle. But as he got space in the second half, he did well in spraying the ball around and it was his shot that led to the deflection to the second goal.

Xavi celebrates Barca's second

As irritating as his moaning was, Alexis played a great game. He scored a great goal from around 22 yards out and a tough angle. He was playing as a lone striker and did well in it.

Verdict ….

Not a great result, of course. A win would have taken us 6 points ahead of Barca with a game in hand. But that is not the case now and I hope that our boys pick themselves up from this and don’t let this loss affect the whole season.

P.S – My topic title isn’t a pun at Mourinho. It is taken from a song named ‘Good Mourning … Black Friday’ by Megadeth as I was mourning on this loss on a Sunday morning.

Hala Madrid!

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