Tuesday, 19 February 08, 10:54 PM
I decided to watch Roma vs. Real Madrid simply because both teams have a style of football that pleases me a lot. Even though Madrid played without Robinho I would have the
chance to see Robben, Sergio Ramos, Casillas. Raul, Van Nilsterooy and Julio Baptista and on the other side I really like the way Roma plays. Mancini, Totti, Pizzaro, Juan... I knew this would
be a great game.
.
The first half was not as good as it could be but Robben was the differential. At the 8th minute he started the play that ended with Raul putting the ball inside Doni's
net. Real was up by 1 and looked pretty comfortable in the game.
The problem is that "Los Merengues" miss Robinho very much. Mainly because he is the one able to cause defenses to collapse simply by moving without the ball. And when he
has it he is able to take defenders easily and create spaces for Raul and Van Nilsterooy. Without him Real Madrid was not able to transform its first half superiority into
goals.
***
So that at the minute 24th Pizarro scored Roma's equalizer confirming that if don't score when you have the chance you end up boosting your opponent's
morale.
Pizarro celebrating his goal .
***
And then came the second half. Roma came back a different team. Still the same players but with a different spirit. At minute 12 Mancini did what he does best. Coming on
the left side in an individual play he shoots and puts the home team on the lead..
After the goal, Roma became a little bit more cautious and Real Madrid still wasn't able to be really dangerous. Even though the (fanatical) "Diario Marca" states that the
result was unfair I honestly didn't think so.
In football you got to transform superiority into opportunities and those into goals. Real Madrid didn't but Roma did.
On FIFA Club World Cup 2008 - Manchester United, Pachuca, Waitakere and LDU, are already there