Real Madrid 2-3 AC Milan | My debut in the Santiago Bernabeu
Friday, 23 October 09, 07:06 AM · Comments (25)
Real Madrid Vs AC Milan marked my debut as a growing journalist and was the first game I had ever seen in the Bernabeu.
The stadium was nearly, if not totally full. It was cold, but I felt some heat coming from somewhere. I was sitting besides someone that I knew I had seen before but couldn't remember the name. The voice was familiar -- as well was the face. It was Martin Ainstein, a journalist working for ESPN and appears regularly on Real Madrid TV -- ah I remember now, he is one of the people I follow in this sport.
Myself and Martin after the game
Back to the heat and where it came from, Martin asked me to look up, and said welcome to the Bernabeu. The stadium has a heating technology, so you my dear Madridista don't feel cold, isn't that awesome?
They handed us the lineups and it was weird not to see Higuain. It turned out he got injured while warming up and was supposed to be starting with Raul. Other than that, I don't think that Pellegrini could have come up with a better line up -- especially in regards to our midfield and attack areas -- whereas you could debate he could have tweaked the defense a little bit.
Real seemed eager from the start. Benzema was tackled in the penalty box but the referee decided it was a goal kick for Milan. I think it was a wrong call as Zambrotta clearly send him to the turf. That penalty could have changed the game because it was too early.
Real missed Ronaldo on the flank. That's a fact -- he would create tremendous danger on the left area and keep the opposing defenders busy. That's not to say Real without him are incapable of winning, he just adds more weight to the team.
I was happy to see Raul score the way he used to do. Along with Inzaghi, Raul is a ball thief. Stay attent. Dida failed to grab the ball and Raul was there to take it and send it to the back of the net.
Real Madrid 1 - AC Milan 0. 20 minutes after the kick-off.
Los Blancos were clearly the dominant team. Lass and Ramos managed to stop Ronaldinho in the first half but Pato caused us some problems along the left-back area. It is crystal clear that Real lacks a quality left-back. It has been discussed a million times, but there are many, probably including Pellegrini, who think that Marcelo and Drenthe are good enough to be in the starting lineup. Another reason could be the club hasn't found a good candidate during the summer, but my guess is they see those two as the guys for the job.
As we all know, they are pretty similar -- and are better attackers than they are defenders -- but If they can't defend well, then what's the point? The ability of a left-back to attack is just a bonus (think of Alves) so before he is able to attack well, he should be able to defend well, because that's his primary role.
The first half ended, and Martin took me to the press room where journalists and football personalities where having a snack. I spotted Michael Laudrup but couldn't catch him to get a photo, though I shot him talking to an Italian journalist.
Back to the game, everything seemed different in the second half. Diarra, Drenthe and Van der vaart started to warm up. Milan also started to warm up for turning things around.
First, Pirlo received the ball from a throw-in 35 yards out, and without thinking he fires it to the right-hand post of Casillas' goal. The UltraSur are shocked and silent -- the Italians start singing.
Real Madrid 1 AC Milan 1
At that time, I was disappointed because Real hadn't scored a second. Looking at the bench and the starting lineup, I couldn't find somebody who could turn thins around -- in fact there was already Raul, Kaka, Alonso and Benzema -- but the last three in particular were having one of their bad games.
Kaka was expected to be the key player in this game. He was not. I don't think it was because we were facing AC Milan, it was obvious he is not in form, and more clearly, there was no concord between the players. Kaka and Marcelo would run in the same direction on the left wing confusing each other.
Alonso and Benzema sucked in pure terms. Xabi failed to get the ball to the strikers around him and was overwhelmed. Had Gattuso played, Alonso wouldn't have touched the ball with this performance, If you asked me.
Benzema continues to perform poorly. He lacked solutions. All of his plays and tricks were plain obvious and he clearly missed Ronaldo with whom he used to create chances and set up goals.
So what happens next? Milan scores a goal that reminded me of the one Eto'o scored against us in the Camp Nou with Roberto Carlos and Casillas failing to communicate and Eto'o being sneaky enough to steal the ball and send it in.
You remember that?
Pato scored a smiliar one. Casillas and Albiol responsible -- lack of communication -- period.
The Bernabeu is in TOTAL shock. AC Milan fans have been revived.
Real Madrid 1 AC Milan 2
Pellegrini sends in Drenthe who starts to create tremendous dangers on the left. Real win a corner, nobody cares to take it (talk about spirit!) and only -- only Raul shows the spirit. That's nothing strange. The captain takes the corner and sends a clever ball to Drenthe who was on the edge of the area and hammers the ball to the back of the net.
This time, the Bernabeu is revived. Drenthe goes crazy and so do I. I was SCREAMING. I bet Martin freaked out.
Real Madrid 2 AC Milan 2
Real are known of heroic comebacks so I was kindaa confident we would win, but the team failed to capitalize on the second goal.
Strangely enough, Pellegrini didn't replace any of his under performing players after the success of Drenthe. Van der vaart and Diarra got bored of warming up and Rafael in particular seemed frustrated. I know how it feels -- it happened to me when I played for a local club -- the coach would just tell you to warm up, you get excited -- and then he would tell you you were not needed anymore.
Jackass.
Anyway, Milan were more motivated and more importantly effective. They started gaining ball possession and capitalizing on counter attacks.
Seedorf starts to roam around. He makes a clever pass to Pato who volleyed home his second of the game to make it 3-2 to the Italians.
Real Madrid 2 AC Milan 3
Adam is frustrated, so are the fans behind him. I met an old lady in the metro afterward who was still thinking about the game and was about to burst in tears. It took me an hour or so to get to the hotel because there were literally thousands of fans in the metro. All silent, all refuse to talk about the game and all sad. A few were arguing, a few were smiling (stupid Barca, Atletico and Milan fans) but when I saw the look on the Madridistats, I realized that Perez, Pellegrini and all the players have a heck of a job. They have a hard job and I realize that. They control the emotions of millions of people around the world, including yours truly.
It was painful.
You could blame anybody you want, but it was clear that the team lacked effectiveness and concord. It is not individual, it is collective. Pellegrini shares a great share of the blame due to his failure on working on the organization and communication problems between the defenders. First with set-pieces, and now with silly goals like Pirlo's and Pato's (I call Andrea's goal silly because he shouldn't have been able to shoot let alone score from that range).
We travel to Gijon this evening. I was sad to leave Madrid because I was addicted to the Madridisimo culture and wanted to camp outside of the Santiago Bernabeu. Though, I will be back, maybe very soon and maybe forever.
Hala Madrid!
P.S: Guti, Gago and Metzelder will travel with the squad to Gijon, while Benzema and Higuain will stay in Madrid due to being niggled. Lass is France.
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25 Madridistas have commented on "Real Madrid 2-3 AC Milan | My debut in the Santiago Bernabeu" · Add yours
W00t? Howcome no one has said that Raúl cost our loss????
Anyways, I have to say that I did like how the game was going at the later parts of 1st half. The second was horrible tho.
it was zambrotta who fouled ben in the box, not seedorf..I wish madrid would have won your first game there
Real Madrid dominated the first half, but Raul's goal was a silly goal, and Pirlo's goal was outstanding (or at least not as silly as Drenthe's).
Both teams were denied goals by the referee (a penalty for Madrid and an offensive foul called against Milan).
Adam, Change the title of this thread. Its Madrid 2 - Milan 3.
Reply to IndianGalactico:
How much I wanted it to be 3-2. Thanks for spotting it, you should never multi-task while writing.
Reply to asdf:
Rauls goal was a silly in the sense of how it was scored, but it is a smart one. If it had been another striker, he wouldn't have probably been roaming around Dida. Credit to Raul for his focus and instinct.
Reply to Adambader:
Yeah, sigh! If only Casillas had shown more composure...if only marcelo had marked pato well instead of trudging along with pepe...if only the ref had awarded the penalty. Alright, we shall light up the San Siro then. We've never won there.. so time now to change that!
As many of U know, Atletico have changed their coach! I was thinking maybe it's time for us to do the same! Michael Laudrup & Luciano Spalletti were among those being linked with Atleti. What do U guys think about these 2 men for RM? Also what was the name of former Inter coach? Mancini?
What about him?
I am fed up with Pelle, his stinking tactics and lame excuses!
Reply to fed up with Pelle:
u r fed up with pelle's stinkin tactics, well my case is entirely different as i am fed up with those real madrid fans who wants style over wins...i for one would welcome mourinho with open arms atleast with him on the bench wins are granteed provided we have ronaldo , benz and kaka available in every match
I want the coach to be prepared to follow his gut instincts. I want the coach to be prepared to make hard decisions - if they are the right ones. I want a coach who doesn't allow the newspapers to make the lineup for him. I want the coach to instill honour and pride in his team.
For me the problem is that I don't see that Pellegrini is the boss in this dressing room. I don't believe the players have learned to respect him they way the would respect Arsene Wenger, Capello, Benitez, Ferguson, etc...
It is highly dangerous for the coach to become too attached to the players. You have to command respect in that dressing room. And I have always felt that that is what is missing.
As long as this continues we will continue to sink.
Well the match might have not ended the way you desired but I am sure it was a great experience. Hey where is my press pass as co-founder of the RMT Podcast?
btw, I mentioned your grief in a segment on the most recent Minute+10 podcast on serieaweekly.com see - LINK where Dov and myself cover the AC Milan perpective.
ciao
Kevin
Reply to Caracoleo:
caracoleo dont u think what took barcelona more than 15 years to install a style to their game ,real madrid trying to do over night and maybe this is the reason why the team is not clicking and perhaps this is reason why pellegrini is unable to deal with defensive issues cause u cant get everything right at one time???
Reply to trooper:
See, normally, I would agree with you. It takes time to play as a team but when Florentino decided to dish out 250m on transfers, he didn't want to build a team for the future, he wanted immediate results. It's tough to create a team overnight but that's what he set-out to do. Spending such huge amounts is no joke, plus, the pressure is immense after we created the Neo Galacticos. We don't have much time, nor does Pellegrini.
Saw the replay of the game again . If the referee had given Benezema penalty- the game would have been different. I know people will come back and say one penalty = one goal disallowed, but going into 2nd half 2-0 up would have been a differnt story ..
Read a story about Ronaldo being fit for the return leg at San Siro.. that is fabulous news..
LINK
rumour has it raul isnt helping benzema settle in...and against ac milan they only had less then 10 passes between them! what the hell! raul knows benzema is there for hes place thats why he doesnt want him to shine...acoarding to AS
For 2marrows game Raul is going to be the only striker so we will be playing like 4-6-0 since Raul loves to drop back so much to be a play maker. Pellegrini needs to tell Raul to stay up top right next to the last defender we already have Kaka to play that free role i can already see Raul bumping into Kaka. I hate to say it but Raul needs to play like inzaghi 2marrow and let Kaka work his magic.
Reply to alex:
the youngsta Javier Acuna is avaible too, have high hope on him!! hope that he can get some minutes.
Reply to anayth:
Yep very true; but then again we didn't lose because AC Milan was a stronger team, we lost because AC Milan had more experience. They new exactly when to use their weapons; they sensed the fear of our players.
We don't have a player to guide the team at the back, it use to be Cannavaro before, and this is a serious issue people haven't talked about yet.
Casillas tries though but he he's gonna lose his voice from all the screaming.
Reply to Madrid4Life:
it's all about mentality. we started screwing around and played with no aggressiveness with the 1 goal lead. we had pretty much everything under control b4 pirlo scored but our players seemed to struggle how to react after that. unlike some weak or inexperience side, AC Milan took it patiently and they didn't make things in rush even though conceding a silly goal, that's sth we are lacking. and this is sth Pelle needs to work on it. we have quality players but we failed to blend them togeter as a unit.
Reply to TheAngelOfMadrid:
Of course it takes time.
Of course we can't expect the Champions League this season.
Of course, we can't expect the team to play like Barcelona from day 1.
But we must see some SIGNS OF PROGRESS.
How can we be expected to just suspend all judgement until June?
Reply to Caracoleo:
Progress........
I see a lot of progress in our team, guys like drenthe who would be booed are cheered........!!!
and as far as the team is concerned we are going hung-ho......... brilliant in attack..... and with all our injured players back we would be lethal, we are highest scoring team in europe & in spain...
We lost against two big teams....!!
big deal!!!
u wanted to loose against some small team like how man u lost to burnley....!!!!!!
people expect that we win all the matches & play brilliantly./....!!!! (not going to happen)
U say we cant expect to win champions league this season....!!!
Let me put it this way... we are focusing too much on results and too little on the process, wether we win champions league or not is not important..... what is importnant is that can we consistently compete for it for the next five years...!!!!(which we havent been able to do in the last 5 year...!!!)
In diarra & alonso i see a fantastic distributor and ball winner........(the midfield sucked for the last 4-5 years) both lass & alonso are complete midfielders.
Pelle staying us for 2-3 years, we will bring style in our game...!!
plus arbeloa is the obvious short term solution in the lb position once he is fit, he is not very good attacking, but he does know how to defend....!!!
Reply to Shre7:
LINK
????
Gerrard for madrid????
Reply to Caracoleo:
That's what i'm saying.
Great 4 Milan