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Real Madrid 0-2 Juventus
This was the biggest game of match day four and boy was it a disappointing one, by no means was it a classic as it should have been.
Two weeks ago Juventus beat Real Madrid 2-1 at Turin, that took them to the top of the pool on seven points, one ahead of Real Madrid in second place.
A win tonight for either Real Madrid or Juventus,would all but see them qualify for the knockout stages.
Real Madrid, who had only won two of their last six matches in all competitions, almost had a full strength squad to choose from, although we did lose Pepe and Arjen Robben late in the day with injury.
Gabriel Henize partnered Fabio Cannavaro in defence. Royston Drenthe started on the left wing to form a forward trident with Raul and Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
Sorry for the late match report but I was just so pissed off by this defeat. Real Madrid lost by 2 goals to nill, AT HOME!!!!!.
That is very very rare. Well, I think from now on, Schuster’s future will be hanging in the balance, I think he will get the sack if he doesn’t make it to the Semi Finals of the Champions League and wins the LA LIGA, because I think, by now, Calderon and Mijatovic have come to understand that Schuster is not the right person to take Real Madrid back to the days of ULTIMATE GLORY, where Real Madrid would do doubles or atleast win La Liga or Champions League by playing in an entertaining way.
Anyway, coming back to the match which was again a disappointment on part of Real Madrid, I said it in the interview that Real Madrid had no form what so ever going into this game and if Real Madrid did not improve basic mistakes they made against Almeria then it is going to be a rough night.
And so was it proved. Real Madrid lost badly and on top of that, got a booing from its own crowd, who praised Juventus instead of the home side.
First Half
Real Madrid attacked right from the start, as expected, and had two long range efforts in the first 10 minutes. Guti forced Alex Manninger into a low save, while Mahamadou Diarra lashed the ball over the bar.
Juventus were playing a counter-attacking game, and it worked to perefection on 17 minutes as Juventus were allowed space by Real Madrid and Juventus took advantage to take the lead.
Del Piero profited from a stray Guti pass, before moving forward and curling a beautiful left-footed shot from 25 yards into the bottom corner past Iker Casillas. Though it has to be said that it was awful defending by Real Madrid defenders.
You do not allow Champion League players like Del Piero with so much space in the midfield and allow them to run at you. Sadly, Real Madrid did and Del Piero punished Real Madrid.
Del Piero was causing all kinds of problems when he got on the ball, and he then sparked another dangerous attack, but Marco Marchionni failed to pick out the unmarked Amauri, and the chance went begging.
Real Madrid tried to work their way back in the game, and on 23 minutes Sergio Ramos fired over when completely unmarked at the back post, although he was offside and so the goal wouldn’t have counted anyway.
Schuster’s team were looking extremely predictable, but on 35 minutes they showed a bit of spark as Van Nistelrooy found half a yard just inside the area before lashing the ball a couple of yards over.
Juventus seemed the more likely to score a second goal at this point, and perhaps should have done four minutes before the break as Amauri first saw his shot charged down by Cannavaro in a two-on-two situation, before he then over-hit a pass to Tiago, who was completely unmarked in the box.
However, Real Madrid then produced their best football of the half on 43 minutes as Drenthe was released in the left channel, but just as he wound up a shot inside the area, he was denied by a brilliant last-gasp tackle from Olof Mellberg and got hurt in the collision
Real Madrid tried to take advantage of the injury confusion, but Diarra headed wide from Drenthe’s left-wing cross, meaning that Juve went in a goal to the good at half time.
Second Half
Real Madrid came out of the blocks fast in the second period, and within 40 seconds they had another effort, as Drenthe lashed into the side-netting from an acute angle.
Drenthe ( I can’t believe I am writing something good about him) was switching wings, roasting Cristian Molinaro down the Juventus right, and his cross was centimetres too high for Raul in the middle.
Juventus were finding it difficult to get hold of the ball in the early stages of the second half, although Pavel Nedved charged forward on 54 minutes and tested Casillas from 30 yards.
This appeared to settle Juve down again, and Real Madrid started to become increasingly frustrated by their inability to break down the two lines of four in front of them. This prompted Schuster to mix things up, and on 64 minutes he introduced Gonzalo Higuain for Sneijder.
Two minutes later though, it was Ranieri, not Schuster, who was running onto the pitch and jumping for joy. Del Piero lined up a free kick 30 yards out, and curled a shot over (lets just say, by the wall )and into the corner past a stationary Casillas.
Seriously, the second goal sucked. The stupidest goal I have ever seen. There was no wall. What the hell was Casillas thinking when he instructed the wall to be placed in the middle of the goal (outside of the penalty box that is). Del Piero did nothing.
Just shot the ball by the wall. No defender in the way. Casillas couldn’t anticipate because the wall didnt protect him from any side, not left nor right.
Anyway, a shellshocked Real Madrid tried to react, and on 70 minutes Drenthe fizzed in a dangerous ball from the left for Higuain at the back post, but the Argentine was off-balance and made a poor connection.
The crowd now started to whistle at the Real Madrid players. They are always like that when Real Madrid start to loose. Van Nistelrooy’s shot struck the arm of Nicola Legrottaglie but the contact was involuntary, while Ramos hashed the ball horribly over. Down the other end, Marco Marchionni also fired off target.
On 78 minutes Juventus looked set to make it 3-0 as Marchionni charged through on goal, but the referee then penalised Juventus after Chiellini tangled with Drenthe as the two players chased the former Parma man.
Schuster now played his final cards, when he brought on Javier Saviola and Rafael van der Vaart in place of Van Nistelrooy and Heinze. Vincenzo Iaquinta entered the fray for Juve, with Amauri making way.
On 86 minutes Del Piero almost made his evening even more perfect as he latched onto Marchionni’s past, before turning and shooting centimetres wide of the far post.
Real Madrid had been under-par all evening, and Manninger wasn’t forced into a half-decent save until two minutes into injury time when he was at full stretch to grasp Diarra’s header.
It was interesting to note that Del Piero’s magical display was so good that, in scenes reminiscent to Ronaldinho and Barcelona a few years ago, he was granted a standing ovation by the whole Bernabeu when substituted for Paolo De Ceglie seconds before the final whistle.
I think the Bernabeu crowd only wanted to taunt Real Madrid (as they should) for such a poor performance by applauding opponent team’s player.
Post Match Comments
Del Piero became only the second player in recent memory from a rival team – after Ronaldinho (seriously, Ronaldinho did deserve the applause, I mean, the two goals Ronaldinho scored were absolute magic stuff from heaven – to be given a standing ovation by the often uncompromising Real Madrid fans at the Santiago Bernabéu.
“The Bernabéu has given me very memorable and unique experience,” he said after the match.
“It’s great to score both goals in such an important victory but to have a crowd like the one at this stadium cheer for me when I left the game… it has been fantastic.”
Finally, the Juve captain joked about Maradona’s presence in the stands: “If Maradona’s attendance in the crowd brought us luck to win this game, then I think he should come and watch all our games.
“But I wish him all the best with the Argentine national team,” he concluded.
Bernd Schuster
What’s your analysis of the match?
The score doesn’t reflect what we saw on the pitch. Juventus showed just how effective they are, and that’s exactly what we were missing.
You team showed grit and attitude.
I am satisfied with the team, but we weren’t rewarded when we deserved to be. The visitors’ first shot ended up in the back of the net. We had our chances, but the Champions League is unforgiving. We had more chances than I thought we would, which is why I cannot say anything to my team.
Luck wasn’t on your side.
Luck wasn’t on our side tonight, but this is just one Champions League match. We still have a good chance to make it through. Small details decided the match. They shot once and scored. We shot four or five times and came up empty handed. It just happens sometimes.
Could more have been done to win?
I think the team did enough to win. I thought the referee did a good job. I don’t want to exagerate or make any excuses. I pay more attention to what happens between the players, which is what caused us to lose.
Did Ranieri do a better job in the tactical department?
I don’t think the defeat was due to tactics. We created several chances against a team that defended with ten men. Not being able to score is a different story. They even play that way at home.
Did the absences of Robben and Pepe play a role?
We have won matches without them, but it’s in Champions League matches that we can ill afford to be without players like Pepe and Robben. Drenthe played well despite having only ten minutes to warm up.
Did you wait too long to make changes?
No we didn’t. They scored two goals on two tries. Their effectiveness is what hurt us.
It’s time to start thinking about the next two opponents.
We lay it on the line in Belarus and here at home against Zenit. We must win both matches.
Mijatovic
“When a team plays as well as Juve did tonight, it’s hard to have a good match. We tried every which way we could, but the Italian defense was a wall we just couldn’t bring down.”
“Tonight’s score is a setback on what is a difficult road in the Champions League. We have two more matches to make it into the next round and we depend solely on ourselves. We’ve seen yet again how challenging the Champions League is. We had the chance to steal a point from Turin, but luck just wasn’t on our side. We must be extremely focused when we travel to Belarus and host Zenit. We will qualify for the next round in the next two matches.”
“Of course I am not pleased with tonight’s result, but there are still matches to play and the team is going to improve and play hard. I am sure there are many good days to come.”
Guti (whos mislead pass lead Del Piero to score the first goal of the match)
“It’s a tough night. It tends to happen when we don’t win in the Santiago Bernabéu. We should have been as fit as our opponent. We are aware of the mistakes we made and we want to right the ship in order to end this streak. We want to put our best foot forward so that we start winning matches. We know what playing good football and what having a bad string of matches are about, and we want to improve. Real Madrid deserve that fans have faith in them being that they won the last two league titles.”
“The score really hurts. It was important to take over the top spot in teh group and to clinch home-field advantage in the next round. Real Madrid needs to play better football. We are all to blame, especially me. We have to really take a good look at what’s wrong. It wasn’t a good match to excel in considering the opponent, but we could have played better. Things are going to chance and we are going to start winning. I think we have a lot of room for improvement and that we’re only half way to where we can be.”
Casillas (whos form has dipped so much, he doesn’t perform like Casillas, though looks like him)
“I admit that conceding the goal was all my fault. I instinctively thought it would going to go over head, so I took a step forward and left the right flank unprotected. I am to blame and no one else. I would have saved it had I not taken that step.”
“Zenit have a tough match coming up. You still can’t say that we’re putting it all on the line in the Bernabéu. We want to lock up a spot in the next round as soon as possible, which is why we are going to Belarus to win. The weather won’t be great and it might snow, but we’ll do whatever it takes to win.”
Gabriel Heinze
“We are in a crap run of form because we do not know how to go into games,” Marca quote the Argentinian as saying.
Juve completed a double over Madrid thanks to two stunning strikes from Del Piero and Heinze was unhappy that the Italian outfit were able to create several chances.
“Whether it was on the break or some other way they were capable of creating an opportunity on goal.”
Here are the videos for the two goals. (better not see it, as both the goals are absolute crap. No disrespect to Del Piero, he took those opportunities, but my word, Real Madrid were so WEAK tactically.
