Tags
Related Posts
Share This
Real Madrid 4-3 Numancia
Real Madrid 4-3 Numancia
Guti with his second goal of the season
El Mundo De Real Madrid. Yeah, I have learned some spanish and that particular phrase means (I think) “Welcome to the world of Real Madrid” and yeah, if you watched last night’s match against Numancia, you already have experience the world of Real Madrid.
Like I said. That was the old Real Madrid. Attack attack attack. Real Madrid resemble Brazil so much now (except that we only have one Brazillian in the whole squad who is a 20 year old) both in their mentality and style of play. Real Madrid’s played with so much enthusiasm, it wasn’t hard to see why Real Madrid have been the Champions of Spain for the past two seasons.
I mean, Real Madrid rarely kept the ball in the middle of the field which most teams do until they break down the opposition, e.g Chelsea. Real Madrid either had the ball in the opposition’s box or in their own as is evident from the scoreline.
Numancia defeated Barcelona on Matchday 1 and were the Whites’ opponent for the first league clash at the Bernabéu this year. Real Madrid definitely these 3 points badly to get on the board of La Liga as Barcelona had drawn their home game against Racing on Saturday but Numancia wanted to do a “Barcelona” and wanted to beat Real Madrid.
Schuster again did an experiment with the starting line up, new faces included Salgado, Higuain and Van der Vaart who had an exceptional game tonight and was instrumental in giving Real Madrid some coshion going into the second half . On the other hand.
Numancia lacked strikers Goiría, Guayre and Platero, but managed to score three goals nevertheless. Hehe, funny is’nt it, well that only tells you how poorly Real Madrid defended tonight and I am telling you “awful” is an understatement.
The first strike of the evening came immediately after kick-off, when Moreno headed in a corner-kick served by Barkero (6′). One of the worst cases of defending you will see this season. I mean, he literally headed the ball close to the 6 yard box with no one within sight to unsettle him with a challenge or something, it was’nt a free header, it was a FREE HEADER!!!!.
Real Madrid tried to keep it simple but effective, there was no messing about from Real Madrid tonight, Real Madrid was either trying to score goals or defending for their lives to save the match and that is why it was one of the most entertaining match I have seen so far this season in the whole of Europe.
Robben took a shot on target right outside the box (14′), followed by Van Nistelrooy’s (16′), who truned on his feet inside the box. Both chances were brilliantly saved by Juan Pablo.
Guti was the mainstay of Real Madrid’s attack this evening and made some brilliant passes
A few minutes later, Guti received a pass from Van Nistelrooy and scored a great goal (which was a deflection actually from the defender which put off the keeper, but to see Guti trying from that far out was enough to brand that goal as great) from from 8 feet outside the box on the 19-minute mark. Guti’s strike is the team’s No. 5,000 in La Liga.
The Bernabeu crowd didn’t know at this point that they were in for a treat and by God, were they treated with one.
Numancia fought back and pleased their 1,500 fans at the stadium with a phenomenal goal by Barkero; that guy and the ball came out of his foot smokin’, I mean, if you remember the goal that Scholes’s goal which he scored against Barcelona in Champions League Semi Final 2007-2008 then you don’t need me telling you how good it was, anyway, he took a shot half-way accross Madrid’s half of the pitch and sent the ball through the top-left corner of the goal (22′)
Kresic’s men then made the fatal mistake which most teams (if not all) make at the Bernabeu and that was to play with 10 men behind the ball which obviously allowing the Whites to move around with the ball as they pleased. The Madridistas’ second goal was slated to be scored in no time.
Again, Van Nistelrooy passed the ball to Higuaín in a quick series of short passes near Numancia’s penalty box among Real Madrid players, who controlled it, positioned himself perfectly infront of goal and scored showcasing great skill with his left foot (25′).
Eight minutes later (33′), Van der Vaart scored his first league goal with an incredibly powerful shot that grazed the inside of the near post and I say this seriously, that had the goalkeeper touched that ball with his hand, he along with his hand (and the ball ofcourse) would have ended up in the back of the net. But there was more to come; six minutes before half-time, Guti served a corner-kick that became a strike when Cisma headed a ball deflected by Pepe’s header it into his goal (39′).
Numancia’s defensive line was more advanced in the second half and helped them orchestrate a possible comeback. Their hard work paid off when Pepe who was really poor in this match as for some strange reason, he always tried to get ahead of the striker when running for a common ball or when defending an air ball, tackled Brit right outside the box and a free-kick was awarded. Moreno shot on target and scored after Casillas reached the ball but failed to push it out of the goal.
The Defensive wall which Casillas had setup did not jump which cost Real Madrid.
Real Madrid basically slowed down the tempo in the second half as though Real Madrid scored four goals in the first half, Schuster was not happy with the way Real Madrid defenders defended.
I mean there were many instances where they was so much lack of communication that Real Madrid’s defenders often bumped into teammates while defending air balls as they did not know whose call was it. One case was when Diarra smacked his head into Metzelder’s while trying to win an air ball and we all know who would have got the better out of it.
Metzelder was cut in the head but continued playing after some medical attention.
As minutes passed, both teams had several chances as Real Madrid played a very very attacking and aggressive game leaving gaps in their defence due to the absence of Cannavaro and Sergio Ramos at the back, but they weren’t as dangerous as those in the first part; it was impossible to keep up the same pace. Raúl and De la Red came on for Van Nistelrooy and Van der Vaart twenty minutes before the end.
Neither side gave up and chances and shots on goal continued till the very end, infact, in the 3rd minute of stoppage time, Numancia had a wonderful opportunity to eqaulise but could not and had that ball gone in , we would’nt be talking about Goals Galore over here today , but the Whites fought hard for their first league victory at the Bernabéu this year and earned it.
The highlight of the match was Van Der Vaart’s goal which was I think superb given that he scored it from such a tight angle and was surrounded by Numancia’s defenders.
The best player of the match by far was Marcelo (I just wish he had a shot similar to Roberto Carlos’s as that would come in real handy against teams that defend deep in their own half or should I say, in their own penalty box.
Marcelo joined almost every attack that Real Madrid made and defended well too, his position is excellent for 20 year old but needs to work on his pace if he really wants to succeed Roberto Carlos.
Lineups
| Real Madrid | |
|---|---|
| Casillas | |
| Míchel Salgado | |
| Pepe | |
| Metzelder | |
| Marcelo | |
| Diarra | |
| Guti | Goal 19′ |
| Robben | |
| Van der Vaart | Goal 33′ |
| De la Red 70′ | |
| Higuaín | Goal 26′ |
| Drenthe 84′ | |
| Van Nistelrooy | |
| Raúl 70′ |
| Numancia | |
|---|---|
| Juan Pablo | |
| Juanra | |
| Boris | |
| Cisma | |
| Palacios | |
| Nagore | |
| Moreno | Goal 7′, 58′ |
| Barkero | Goal 22′ |
| Álvaro Antón 67′ | |
| Mario | |
| Del Pino 61′ | |
| Bellvis | |
| Quero 81′ | |
| Brit |
