Barça 2 Real Madrid 0
Saturday, 13 December 08, 08:22 PM · Comments(46)
Barça suffered more than many people expected to overcome a Real Madrid team who came to defend but who might have taken more from the game had Drenthe or Palanca converted one of the two one-on-one chances that they had. Victor Valdés came to the rescue on both ocassions to deny Madrid the lead. Two late goals from Samuel Eto'o, who had earlier had a penalty saved, and Leo Messi gave Barça the victory which sees us now twelve points clear of Madrid which will be very difficult for them to recover.
For the first twenty minutes it looked as though Barça were going to completely dominate the game. Messi had the first chance in the 6th minute going past Ramos with ease and forcing a diving save from Casillas, then a couple of minutes later Cannavaro made a last ditch tackle to deny Messi after a one-two with Eto'o. Madrid sat back very deep and concentrated on keeping Barça out, Messi was fouled four times in the first 14 minutes and as the first half went on he came less into the game. Puyol and Toure were allowed to bring the ball forward on various ocassions but the ball was not getting near Eto'o.
Then in the 24th minute Madrid had their first chance when Sneijder hooked Drenthe's pass towards goal but Valdés tipped the ball over. Then two minutes later Raul played in Drenthe who got the better of Alves for the only time of the game, Valdés came out well to save the one-on-one. From the corner Higuian shot over the bar. Barça and the crowd seemed a bit shocked and Madrid were now looking to have their chances. Henry and Toure managed shots on goal but Casillas dealt with both efforts comfortably but Barça were now struggling to break through. The ref inexplicably blew for half time on 45 mins and 5 seconds despite Sneijder being subbed off and some subtle time wasting from Madrid.
The second half began with a powerful shot from Eto'o which Casillas parried but the chances were few and far between. Eto'o was playing more on the right where Metzelder followed him, and Messi tried but usually failed to get past the Madrid defence through the middle. Madrid, however, were playing deeper and deeper and it seemed that they might pay for it, in the 69th minute Busquets who'd come on for Gudjohnsen, played the ball square to Xavi and was blocked by Salgado and he looked for the return, the ref blew for a penalty which to be fair would have been ignored by many refs.
For some reason Eto'o stepped up to take the kick, Pep Guardiola said in the post match press conference that Messi and Eto'o will take turns to take them, but for me Messi is a much better penalty taker. Eto'o's kick was not difficult for a keeper of Casillas's quality and he palmed the ball out diving to his left. Eto'o nearly made up for it three minutes later but Casillas made another good save this time low to his right. Victor Valdés had had long periods without touching the ball but he was alert in the 78th minute to save superbly in another one-on-one with Palanca. A minute later the ref failed to see a handball in the area from Metzelder but it is perhaps a bit much to expect two penalties in a clasico.
It seemed as if we were going to end up disappointed but in the 83rd minute Xavi sent in a corner from the right and Carles Puyol made a fantastic leap above the defence to head the ball in towards Eto'o who scored with his knee from two yards out to send Camp Nou into ecstasy. Madrid were too tired now to come close to an equalizer and in injury time Hleb began a counter attack sending Henry away on the right, Henry played the ball into Messi who beat Casillas with a nifty little flick.
This was not the beautiful football that we have seen in other games this season, mainly due to Madrid defending well with man-to-man marking of Metzelder on Eto'o, Ramos on Messi and Gago on Xavi. However, teams that play this way against Barça almost inevitably tire as the game goes on. Like Sevilla two weeks ago, Madrid could not keep up the ferocity in the marking and eventually Barça's quality showed, however, things might have been very different if Victor Valdés had not stopped the two one-on-one chances.
Apart from Valdés there were also very good performances from Alves who Drenthe will not want to see again for a while. Alves's fitness is second to none and he never stopped getting up and down the right hand side. Toure was also very important breaking down many possible counter attacks. The forwards did not have their day but Eto'o and Messi were both rewarded for their effort with a goal-a-piece.
It's been a three year wait since we last beat Madrid, and although it wasn't the exhibition many were hoping for, it is still a fantastic win which leaves our greatest rival with very few options of retaining their title. Perhaps the fact that I don't feel as elated as I might just goes to show how high our expectations have become after the start to the season. This month was supposed to be extremely difficult, but we have now beaten Sevilla, Valencia and Madrid, scoring nine goals without conceding. If we can now beat Villarreal next week it is going to be a very happy christmas at Camp Nou this year.
Enjoy it folks!
Barça: Valdés 8; Alves 7.5, Marquez 7, Puyol 6.5, Abidal 6.5; Xavi 6.5 (Keita m90), Toure 7.5, Gudjohnsen 5.5 (Busquets m63, 7); Messi 6.5, Etoo 5.5 (Hleb m88), Henry 6.5.
Real Madrid: Casillas; Salgado, Metzelder, Cannavaro, Sergio Ramos; Gago, Guti (Javi Garcia m73), Sneijder (Palanca m36), Drenthe; Raúl, Higuaín (Van der Vaart m77).
Goals: m83 Eto'o, m91 Messi
Cards: m21 Metzelder, m28 S. Ramos, m40 Marquez, m41 Drenthe, m69 Salgado, m83 Eto'o, m90 Casillas, m92 Messi
Attendance: 96,059
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46 Comments · Add yours
Man,I knew we had problems defending and while opposite team counter attacks.Someone is going to punish us,Pep needs to find a solution for this...
I think in fairness Henry should have been a 7.0. He was better than either Eto'o or Messi today, even though they both came away with goals. I usually don't like his performances, but today I thought he was really good.
Also, Alves and Toure were amazing. I would also add Puyol to the list of great performances. He was so dominating in the air that it not only stopped some important chances for Real, but it also won us the game. Just watch the way he just hung in the air for our first goal.
And finally, for everyone who always hates on Valdes, you'd do well to remember this game before you berate him next time.
im surprised with a 6.5 for puyol! thought he was incredible tonight.
Not a teriffic barca-show as i expected, but a win! good patience from the whole team and everyone kept their head cold and focused.
and don't really agree on the puyol rating. i think he was kinda epic.
this game was no good for my nerves, but when the two goals were in, i jumped all around and cheered like never before (okay, count out the CL-win in '05)... now it's 12 points.
and once again it got christmas
Amazing game...THIS IS BEAUTIFUL!!!
NIC, LAYI, no more worries fellas...ETOOOoooooo.....MESSiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!
Amazing! I really love the spirit of the team. Getting back from the missed penalty was really strong. Valdes was fantastic today, as was Dani Alves, Puyol, Henry and Toure. Messi looked great in the beginning, but the foul play with no action from the ref seemed to take him out.
It was sad so see Madrid play today but they are effective closing down the other side.
And wow was I happy when Eto'o got revenge from his missed penalty (which I really don't want him to do again in a game like this...) and see Messi come back after all the fouls and show them how it should be done.
On Puyol, I thought we suffered through his lack of ideas coming forward. Madrid clearly played the tactic of not marking Puyol to make sure he brought the ball out. His leap though for the goal was fantastic.
i was on the verge of crying when it was 0-0 with so close to go, but thank god justice came through and we scored! i was also quite shocked hleb didnt come in earlier. i was really not happy about that. but worked out.
i agree with layibi (i think) and it really quite embrasshing how madrid came out and didnt even try to win or play. they had the better of the early chances but really it was not a game to remember being a madrid fan. for us, 12 pts off madrid, and i think another 3 or at least 1 in villarreal, we cannot be in a better position.
the game was far from a beauty, but really because madrid parked 2 busses. i thought alves, yaya, and abidal were in particular great, with xavi trying very hard to find the space. messi had easily his worst game of the season. his work rate was horrible, and something looked wrong, maybe a niggle from all the kicks he received early on. but give him the space and chance and he finishes, thats why u always keep ur stars on. etoo tried hard but just couldnt find space in that mess of defenders.
on to my favorite, well, getting more annoying than anything really, subject, HENRY. i cannot believe people can ever consider he had a decent game. i thought he was horrendous. he did absolutely nothing, besides give that assist that any decent football player (not even pro) could have done. my sister made the trip with me, and she is no football pro but not football stupid, but even she was saying how bad he was. i was swearing at him non stop, the people next to me were laughing. but really, that guy has no quality on his end product. and how can SALGADO have marked him and matched him for speed so easily. anyhow, we won so not gonna slander him more.
great win, happy we ended 3 yrs of non beating them. just need to get a good result next week and things could not be better.
by the way, i was far from impressed with the fans this time around. i know it was pouring rain, but the boixos chanted their asses off in full on rain and people in the stadium do not support them enough. in the sectoin i was sitting people just sit around and dont get into it. i give props to the boixos tonight.
NIC!!! U GAVE PUYOL 6.5!!, it wasnt his fault he couldn't create much when he ran forward with the ball thats why he's a defender, if we knew madrid were goin to be so negative, we could have well as played keita and busquets as our center backs
u also didnt put more light on the tackles on messi,that was really cowardly by madrid they were really tryin to break his ankles from the tv replays, i'm sure thats what got messi really disinterested in the game, but thats what messi also needs to learn, so far u are still on d field, u gats to preservere in the face of these kind of adversities though players like this obviously need more protection from the refs.
all in all, i'm so happy, i'm still in a bar browing on my itouch celebrating with ma friends. madrid have really mastered playin like a bottom club, even getafe were more impressive and held the ball better than them
abt d players,
valdes was fantastic(even casillas who was fantastic showed really negative sides of his game today, using time-wasting tactics in the 1ST HALF!!!) i tot both drenthe and palanca had scored already
d defence all played well, i dont believe any of the def midfielders in r10's era suited our game as much as toure, he is so immense!!!!!!. my praises cant be enough
expected more from eto,i know he has d capability to free himself from his marker but he just didnt, but at least he was at the right place,
@blaugranaboy, i tink henry tried given his limitations now as a player, he hustled hard though his age is becomin more of a hindrance as he fell down a lot but he was brilliant in some situations he just needs to work on looking up and delivering good final balls, this can be forgiven cos he dosent like the left wing a lot
i would also have preferred if guardiola brought hleb on earlier, he started the counter attack for the second goal, but pep showed tactical genius also by bringing on busquets who had a serious impact
hope this isnt too long
also, i would like to know the attendanc
@diatus
no more worries i guess....lol
i also like the way messi and eto were so happy together at the end and henry came to join them
Hey Blau...
Glad to hear from you.I am sure like all of us you almost "died" when there was so little time left. Look, I think we should just celebrate today.I think we played fantastic football, although Nic is right that Puyol lacked ideas coming forward.Overall, it was a great game. We maintained the ball (66% poss.), we were threatening the whole game, their strategy of rotating fouls on Messi didn't work and in the end we came out on top.what's not to like? Oh I forgot, your friend Henry...I think he was good today.Although, I have to admit that everytime he cut to the right, I thought about that particular criticism of yours about that.I think you're right on that fact but "man" he defended well, flowed forward well with the attack and could have been even deadly a couple timesd...I will take it!!!If God gives you lemons, you make lemonade.In Henry's case we have plenty of sugar in Messi,Xavi,Eto'o and Iniesta...I am still voting for the guy!!!
But in the end my friend we WON and congratulations to you and all of FCBNEWS barca fans! Now stop complaining and go out and enjoy Barcelona my friend!!!
FORCA BARCA!!!
Hello there Nic and all fellow BARSA supporters.. What a great day.....what a great victory.....Our players worked hard. Thumbs up to all!!!! However i would like to note that i got a feeling that the forward line looks pleasing with HLEB, HENRY and Messi instead of MESSI, HENRY and ETO......Eto is a great forward....but i personally felt a greater balance when Hleb Henry and Messi are playing together upfront......Henry in particular plays exceptionally better with the Presence of Hleb....I personally feel that Eto lays more balls to Messi rather than Henry......
Nic,
Nice write-up, thought you covered it very well. As we said before, at the end of the day we got the 3 points in a tough game. I'm giving Kudos to Madrid & especially Casiallas as I thought he was totally world class today.
It's going to be a fine Christmas this year.....enjoy it!
Layi,
I was a mess all day today and I am still on the computer because my household is half Barca and Half Merengues. So, I can't celebrate too much since the other half is mad as hell right now but hahaha (I am grining from ear to ear)...Wasn't that a well played game? I thought Valdes really really showed up today.I guess he really wants that Zamora this year.
Guys, link to highlights & goals.
LINK
Also...Valdes has been SUPERB for us the last month. People who were calling for his head last season should really stand up and take notice.
chris
so whats your point, eto should be on the bench???????????
diatus
just dont step on any of the madrid fans' toes in ur house
i'm just on my way home 3.00am
by the way so none of sevilla, valencia or real madrid could breach our defence(this includes the goalkeeper), that's lovely
i've been seeing in a lot of places now how valdes saved us today, valdes is part of our defence and did a lovely job, we did not complain when casillas literally won 2 championships for madrid all by himself, valdes confidence seems to keep rising with barca, his concentration levels have also improved seriously, i dont think i'll need petr cech on the next football manager game
also thinkin about next week, if villareal win tomorrow, the points diff will be 6 so i dont think we could afford to lose to them cos the diff could come down to 3 which is almost nothing but thats looking to far ahead for them. thats football it never stops, we already have another chaallenge.....lol
This match was tough on my nerves too, but I was sooooo happy when Eto'o scored. I was even happier when Messi scored, because it showed that no matter what they do to him, he will always come through!
btw, did anyone see what happened to Cannavaro when he tried to stop Messi's shot from going in?? LOL
I couldn't help but laugh when Cannavaro crashed into the post and hurt himself. I don't like to take pleasure in other people's miseries, but that was poetic justice for all of Madrid's hacking away at Messi's legs.
Speaking of lack of creativity going forward, Yaya was worse than Puyol in that respect! He always dribbles past three or four defenders, but there is never a final ball. He is SO FRUSTRATING to watch, in that respect! Quite a few errant passes today from deep in midfield as well. 7.5 is too much.
BLEED, MADRID. BLEED.
i beliv that when puyol and toure dribble pass 3 players, the forwards were as tightly marked as possible in all direction of their runs and the possible successful run to be made by the forward cannot be sighted by toure or puyol who are defensiv minded, its xavi n co that posess that talent.
but they were guilty once or 2ce when they had open teammates
Hey first and for most congrats on the win for the team and the fans.
We are immense this year, from valdes all the way to eto.
Henry was gd but not the best.
Some things that I noticed was that guardiola finally cheered.
Puyol was thegreat wall of china.
Do you guys know that militio is still out and thisguy and puyol are immense together.
I don't know why piqué was left out.
Hleb is turningout to be the player that we once saw at arsenal
N messi is jst indiscribable.
Alot of people are mad because we didn't give the guys a battering but this in my book is a battering itself. 66% possesion 19 shots were jst too goooood.
Nyways jsy enjoy yourselves and be happy of the team
MES QUE UN CLUB
Visca barca
Catalonia prevails, while Castilla stumbles, Haha
. 12 points ahead of Real 
Nic, It’s been a 3 year long wait to finally get one over R.M, and man does it feel good. Okay this match was the spectacle that everyone was expecting, no champagne football. But a hard fought victory and I’m sure the players are enjoying their efforts of hard work. They played till the last whistle and it was very much appreciated.
This was a tense and nerve-wrecking encounter; I was on the edge of my seat for the final 20 minutes. I was scared that we’d get caught on the counter, and nearly did. Lucky Valdes was brave enough to step up to the plate and deny R.M a few goal scoring opps – he was brilliant at the back, his saves were immense against Drenthe and Palanca !
R.M were good defensively but their tired old legs couldn’t last the high tempo encounter, and they paid for it in the final 10 minutes. I must say their form was unlike the last couple of weeks. The constant fouling on Messi was irritating; the ref should have dished out more yellow cards and protected Messi more!
Casillas was more improved; he just kept R.M in the game. I was pissed when the penalty was saved as I thought that was our last opportunity to score – at least I was wrong.
In the end Barca won the match and that’s all that mattered no matter the score. Enjoy basking in the glory of beating Madrid.
So far we’ve taken 9 points out of 9 from the ‘big boys’, scored 9 goals and conceded 0, purely magnificent, I’m sure Villareal are quaking in their boots
Barca have taken a giant leap towards the title and dented the confidence and title aspirations of our greatest rivals.
6.5 for Puyol, he deserved at least 7.5 IMO, he was great – as always, his jump to head the ball was the turning point as Barca were able to score and settle their nerves and control the game and kill it off.
When under pressure it seems the Madrid defence crumbled as was evident in the last 15 minutes when we relentlessly attacked their defence. That old back line couldn’t keep up with the pace and power of the forwards.
Casillas was super pissed when he conceded Eto’o’s goal – Eto’o got him back for his penalty save, he ws so frustrated he got involved in the challenge on Gago and got booked, haha, his not invincible anymore…
I loved it when Cannavaro scissor kick the ball into the roof of the net, good stuff! and whats more he hurt himself, haha...
R.M’s last 10 minutes was comedy.
BARCA CHAMPION!! R.M Go play Segunda División!!
Now i know why Barca keep Valdes as a goalkeeper!
eto'o was poor no doubt, henry played better
Barça will see more of the same defensive and dirty tactics that Madrid used when we face opponents in the next stages of the CL . Teams will try to put 8-9 men behind the ball and rely on counter attacks for scoring. Manchester United and Liverpool did it the last two years and it is NOT going to stop . If we face Inter Milan or Chelsea the same defensive strategy and dirty tactics that Madrid employed will be used by this year's CL opponents . Barça need to have a plan B in that situation which we don't really have. One way to break up defensive walls is to try to shoot the DAMN ball from outside , for a change !! A great win nontheless . All that matters at the end is that the club with the most points will win . Many clubs play UGLY football but they win championships . When was the last time Madrid won anything by playing attractive football ? Almost never !!
1 corect prediction yepeeee for me
Utalkin2me - while I agree with you regarding Barca needing the shoot the ball from outside 12+ yards (it would make a huge difference to how opponents play us) - you need to take in consideration the style & history of Barcelona.
As a club - the people demand we play a certain way. We have NEVER had an outside shooting game in the history of Barca (Toure/Alves is probably our best long range shot currently in the squad)
Our style is about passing and moving. Often our biggest hamstring is that we play the most sexiest football in the planet....often this comes above beating teams or converting our chances (catch 22). This has been the case and will always be the case. Pep would know this and will of course honor what the club stands for. Attractive, passing, gorgeous football. We don't nor will we have the nitty gritty grind out a result mentality that the EPL sides have. Nor will we ever have an outside shooting game.
Just to elaborate more - think of our past squads. We were created on superb players with amazing footwork & creativity. Luis Enrique, Maradonna, Stoickhov, Hagi, De Boer's, Nadal, Rivaldo, Romario, Cryuff, Guardiola, Kluivert, Figo, Laudrup, Del La Pena, Riquelme.
ALL these players are the reason why we never had nor will never have an outside game. Our game we play is often enough to do the job - however, I will agree it is frustrating at times how we always try to dribble the ball into the net - that's just the way we are & always have been.
Chris:
Do you really blame Messi for passing the ball to Eto'o rather than Henry ? Eto'o goal converging rate with Barça ( 68%) is far superior to that of Henry ( 46%) . Besides, although Henry has improved as of late , he squandered numerous easy scoring opportunities that Messi had to work hard for before passing the ball to Henry .
About Puyol:
I have to agree with nic on this. Puyol plays his heart out for the club but, technically, he is one of the least gifted players on the club . Having him moving on the attack is never a good situation . Not unlike Abidal, Marquez and Henry, I don't remember seeing him dribbling past any player .
ps: I don't consider Henry's routine actual dribbling !!
Hello Guys,
I do agree Madrid might have tightly marked our creative players. And many European sides will also attempt it. But remember Iniesta is coming back and it will take some doing for opposition to keep Xavi and Iniesta both quiet in the same match.
FCB-Darren:
I agree with you about your assessment of Barça's style of play . You also mentioned that we have some long range shooters . So why not try to shoot more often so not to be predictable ? However, I don't want to see an EPL style where matches turn into aimless long range shooting practce then hoping for the ball to go in through deflections or pure luck .
Chris:
My ideal Barça front line will be : Iniesta-Eto'o - Messi . Since Iniesta is out injured, my second option is: Hleb - Eto'o - Messi !!
UTalkin2me - couldn't agree more. This will be more apparent the further we go into the CL when teams just "park the bus" against us - then we will need some serious shots outside of 12 yards. I guess currently though this is hard to criticise as the results speak for themselves, especially in la liga.
FCB-Darren:
So far so good. Barring major injuries to Messi or Eto'o , this could be Barça's year . I mean La Copa, La Liga and the CL !!
Valdes 9
Alves 7.5
Marquez 8.5
Puyol 8.5
Abidal 8.5
Toure 8
Xavi 7.5
Guddy 5.5
Messi 8
Eto'o 7
Henry 8
Busquets 7.5
Keita -
Hleb -
I was so excited for this game, I had to see it in HD......so after the spliff heh, damn did I witness a tense and heart pumping el clasico! It was played in the rain, which made it ten times more dramatic!
The game was reminiscent of the hard fought 2-0 victory against Recreativo this season. Despite heavy defending from Madrid, we performed very well on attack and defence by ruthlessly dominating posession.
Henry had some shots, one nicely saved by casillas and him busting his lungs running after busquet's ball to the corner and keeping the ball in play despite resistance from Casillas really impressed me. Dont care what any one says, but Henry is beginning to earn respect from many blaugrana faithful including myself.
Eto'o didnt really have that bad of a game. His 1-2 plays with Messi didnt work but he did shoot the ball whenever he got the chance and made the most threatening attempts at goal compared to Messi and Henry.
Ramos was definitely trying to play a diamond midfield with Sneider on the right wing. Ofcourse Abidal is too good so that didnt work. Then he brought in Palanca who, like Drenthe is a proper winger not a makeshift one like Van der vaart or sneider. That worried me a bit because their counters became well balanced with two actual wingers. It was worse when our left was appearing to be weak in the second half thanks to Gudjohnsen.
Abidal did well to force Palanca outside, closer to the touchline than the goal. Palanca as a result was forced to run down the wing and cross the ball, upon which Captain Puyol just stepped in saying "pfft get that garbage out of here" and deflected pretty much any pass or cross that came from our left.
Man this may sound like a broken record.........but Puyol is my idol! He intercepted every pass whether it was in the air or on ground. He even read the ball perfectly during the corner and set up eto'o.
tupacbarca, i totally agree with your ratings
shahenshah, nice analysis also
for those sayin we need an alternative style, i wonder what u'll say if u were fans of other teams, right now, we are on fire with our style and u think we should create another style in case we meet teams like this again, thats up to guardiola
continuation:
thats up to guardiola to have a backup plan which we dont need to display neccessarily now when things are going well
Waht a game!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
) and I tell you the fans were terrific! When Barca scored the placing was ROCKING!! Jumping up and down, chanting so loud you cannot hear yourself speak, feeling like everything in the world just got nicer... thank you Camp Nou and thank you Barca ! 
blaugranaboy, you went to the biggest and best stadium in the world, you beat your arch rival, and you still find fault. Come on man be happy
I was one of a lucky few (well 96,000 of us
Valdes. Dam that gut is strange. What a game from him. TWO one v ones which would have changed the game immeasurably and made an already nervous Barca worse. I think he deserves MOTM for me 9.5. As a GK there is nothing more he could do right in such an important game.
The defense didnt really have too much to do. I was shocked that Madrid were so timid, they had nothing to lose so they should of gone for it but they were like scared little boys and they got punished for being such. Puyol played well especially going forward.
Mifeild was also disjointed. Xavi ran his ass off and Madrid tried to man mark him and it sort of worked but everytime he had the ball he passed, moved, passed, moved, he was everywhere imo and did his best. Toure Yaya is a beast. He ran, and ran, and ran. Tackled superbly, played great going forward and would be MOTM had Valdes not been so good.
Up front was strange aswell. Messi was hacked, stood on, tacked from behind and it did effect him unfortunately as Nic pointed out. It is a shame to see one of the suppodely biffest clubs in the world foul him with those tactics but hey he won, he scored, he is the best. Henry worked his ass off and did well as did Eto but I had a feeling the game would be settled by a corner and it was.
Madrid lost, Barca won. Barca are 12 points ahead. Guys, be happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am
barca for life! i feel sorry for Real because they had done well to keep out messi and in the 2nd half they fell over. oh well barca got revenge and won el clasico!
I totally agree with Titi86, guys please stop complaining, there is no way that team will play without any mistake.. the main thing is that they had WON this madrid fools!
I am sooooo happy, so just please let's just one time at least leave our team calm, they are heroes, because they had coped with this immense pressure from the media and people around, and brilliantly won this game!
VISCA BARCA!!!!
Hey Guys, Here's my perediction for RM's season in my La Liga preview.Check it out on my profile:
"Real Madrid will have to be miracle makers this season to win la Liga. The team neither strengthened nor consolidated. In fact, it has lost steam with the endless saga of Cristiano Ronaldo and the unintended consequence of really upsetting the unbelievable talent that is Robinho, who by the way saved their title ambitions last year with his 2 amazing goals against Recreativo Huelva. There was a failure of leadership at the Santiago Bernabeu during the summer and the consequences of this move will be thoroughly felt this season. We do not foresee Raul scoring 18 goals this year. Ruud Van Nistleroy will have to play the entire season for the team to even earn a spot in Europe. Rafael Van Der Vaart has been a great addition but their current formula has its limitations. Arjen Robben has yelled at enough referees and will be kept on a very short leash. As tested during the first leg of the Supercopa at the Mestalla in Valencia, this squad’s defense tottered under constant assault from Villa, Mata and Silva. Fabio Cannavaro’s absence is truly hurting this team’s ability to control the defensive conversation. Iker Casillas is still his usual amazing self but that will not be enough to save this squad from what at this point is unavoidable: a difficult campaign at home and an challenging European tour."
I got most teams right and some wrong but the season is still long. Happy reading!!!
Based on current form and injury situation, Madrid will be fortunate if they end the season in midtable. I don't see any prospect for them to win anything this year. No La Liga, Copa or CL : NADA !!