La Liga BBVA, Matchday 14
Real Madrid (4th, 26pts) vs Sevilla (5th, 24pts)
Sunday, 7 December 2008, 2100 CET
Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
Real Madrid were 6 points behind Barcelona on Friday. Barcelona were due to play on Saturday against Valencia and Real Madrid (ofcourse) on Sunday. So the result of Barcelona vs Valcencia game mattered alot.
Bad news, Barcelona thumped Valencia 4-0 at Camp Now. Theirry Henry scored a hattrick. I saw his goals. Apart from the first goal , all were pretty average and were purely team goals and thdat is the thing that worries me the most. Team goals are more dangerous than individual goals.
3 were scored by Henry and the other one was scored by Daniel Alves (a right back). Which is even more bad news. Why I am telling you all this?
Well. That’s because next week (after the Sevilla game) we will face Barcelona at Camp nou (away from home which is always a struggle for Real Madrid, no matter which opponent we face).
Anyway, this is not a Barcelona vs Real Madrid Preview, this is Real Madrid vs Sevilla Preview and the first thing you should notice in that headline is that, this game will be played at the home of Real Madrid. Hurrah. So the home advantage will be with us instead of Sevilla.
Real Madrid should be able to get that added benefit of playing infront of home crowd.
So Barcelona’s victory means that Real Madrid are now 9 points behind the league leaders and a win. Yes, a win (not a draw) is a must. As anything less than a win would put Real Madrid 8 or at worst 9 points behind Barcelona.
And considering the opponents of our next 3 games, (Barcelona, Valencia, Villareal) I don’t think Real Madrid will be even near to Barcelona in the League if we loose or draw tonight.
In a worst case scenario, we could be 18 points behind Barcelona when the new year starts and I think that can happen if we don’t win against Sevilla tonight.
Real Madrid lost to the humble Getafe last weekend and Barcelona thrashed (surprise surprise) Sevilaa 0-3 at their own backyard. That, to me, says it all. Sevilla getting thrashed at home? when was the last time Real Madrid did that Sevilla?
Having said that. Real Madrid do have the tendancy to play better in games against big teams. Teams that do not come out against Real Madrid to get a draw. Teams that try to win against Real Madrid, most of the time end up in the wrong position.
Real Madrid in previous games (against minows) had more to loose than to gain. In the next few games it will be the exact opposite and sometimes, when you go into a match with that attitude, it can bring loads of reward.
The critics have been a bit quite in the past week (apart from the criticism on Real Madrid’s youth system) because of the signing of Klaas Jan Huntelaar. He will be able to play for us in 2009. I will discuss him in some other post. Right now, lets concentrate on Sevilla and their match against Real Madrid.
The team who looses this match, will have it’s title hopes severly dented. So I think it is going to be a tight game as none of the two can afford to drop points in this game.
FORM GUIDE
Real Madrid
Nov 29 Getafe 3-1 Real Madrid (LA LIGA)
Nov 25 BATE Borisov 0-1 Real Madrid (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE)
Nov 22 Real Madrid 1-0 Recreativo Huelva (LA LIGA)
Nov 15 Real Valladolid 1-0 Real Madrid (LA LIGA)
Nov 11 Real Madrid 4-3 Real Unión (COPA DEL REY)
Sevilla
Dec 03 Sevilla 3-0 FK Partizan (UEFA CUP)
Nov 29 Sevilla 0-3 Barcelona (LA LIGA)
Nov 22 Sevilla 0-0 Valencia (LA LIGA)
Nov 16 Getafe 0-2 Sevilla (LA LIGA)
Nov 13 Sevilla 4-0 SD Ponferradina (COPA DEL REY)
Real Madrid Team News
Fabio Cannavaro, Gonzalo Higuaín and Arjen Robben have all recovered from their respective ailments as they resumed training and I think, are ready to play in this match (well, atleast Schuster things so)
Wesley Sneijder, still nursing thigh muscle injury he picked up last weekend at Getafe, has also returned to the pitch for light exercises but he won’t be expected to be match-fit for another two weeks.
Pepe and Mahamadou Diarra become the latest to join the long term casualty list. Pepe is out for the rest of the year while Diarra will be sidelined for three months as he undergoes arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.
Gabriel Heinze, Miguel Torres, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ruben de la Red are the other injury absentees
Good news from Real Madrid point of view is that Sevilla will be missing Fabiano. I hate Luis Fabiano. He sucks but still, somehow manages to score goals (by the way, I hate C.Ronaldo too).
Anyway, Kanoute and Jesus Navas ( aka the diver) are also fit and will play against Real Madrid.
The danger man , Capel may also play. He is a real threat down the wings. His speed and directness can hurt anyside, never mind Real Maddrid, whose defence is poor amongst all European Elite teams (The G-14 so to say).
Squad List
Goalkeepers
Casillas, Dudek
Defenders
Cannavaro, Metzelder, Ramos, Salgado, Marcelo, Antón
Midfielders
Drenthe, Gago, Robben ,Guti, Van der Vaart, García
Forwards
Raúl, Saviola, Higuaín, Bueno
Brief Sevilla News
Sevilla are currently sixth on the table with 24 points. They lost 3-0 against Barcelona last weekend, but they defeated Partizan 3-0 in the UEFA Cup later in the week. Luis Fabiano was sent off against Barça and will miss tonight’s clash, but Frederic Kanouté, their top-scorer, will be at the Bernabéu.
Prediction
I am going to predict a win for Real Madrid. Cannot predict the score line. I only say that (real madrid will win) because Real Madrid will be playing at home. Real Madrid currently ahve too many players out injured (Sniejder the most vital one) so I think Sevilla will make it hard for Real Madrid, whose attacking instincts have gone dry.
Real Madrid do not have the attack to score goals and Sevilla has become a more of a defensive side, so this is going to be a rigid game rather than the free flowing clash we have become accustomed to watching between these two sides.
OK OK . I predict a 3-0 victory for Real Madrid (just to be different).
Here is the interview
Bernd Schuster talked to the press about the clash with Sevilla.
How is Marcelo feeling?
He’s fine. We’ve been lucky because he only had fever one day and was able to train today. He is fit to play tomorrow. We’ve also recovered three important players.
What do you think of the signing of Huntelaar?
It’s a good signing because it wasn’t done hastily. He was on our list. He’s proven to be a great striker at Ajax. That’s a good sign because other great strikers like Van Basten, Ruud, Ronaldo and Romario were amazing both in Holland and in Spain.
Does the match against Sevilla feel like a test?
I think the President won’t have any problems in tomorrow’s Assembly. The match will be harder.
What do you think of Sevilla?
I’m happy about the next few games. We had more to lose and less to gian in our previous clashes. Fixtures against Sevilla and Barcelona will do us good and we know there’s much for us to gain in the next four games.
People accuse you of ignoring the youth system, but Míchel said you are not to blame. He recently resigned. What do you think of that?
It’s a shame he has resigned. He must have had his reasons. He was the right man for such a difficult job. I would like to talk more about the youth system some other day in order to clarify many things; people talk very irresponsibly about what’s going on. The Club had a very solid bunch of players in the academy three years ago, good enough to play on the first team, but they coincided with the Galácticos. When Castilla were relegated to the Second Division B many stayed, but most left. We currently have kids that need to play in the Second Division B in order to gain experience. I think they are doing a great job.
Do you keep an eye on Barcelona?
Tomorrow’s clash with Sevilla is very important to us because they are a complicated team to beat. There are many yellow card bookings in games like this, but we’ll have to do our best to win.
Does Diarra’s injury mean the team will have to look for someone to cover his position?
I think Javi García is perfectly capable of doing that job and I also hope Wesley Sneijder helps out there. I don’t think we are hard pressed for someone.
Couldn’t players like Negredo, Soldado and De la Red have developed on the first team?
Competition here is much stronger than on other sides. I think the Club worked very well in De la Red’s case. They managed to allow him to grow somewhere else and the return here. There are Real Madrid players all over the championship. It is very hard for them to compete with people like Ruud and Raúl.
Are you relieved by the fact that Luis Fabiano won’t play?
I’m glad he won’t be here tomorrow because he is a great goal-scorer and he forms a deadly attacking front with Kanouté. But Renato is also having a great year. Luis Fabiano’s absence won’t make things much easier for us.
Please read our tiny Comment Policy by cliking here
Related posts:
