Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid, 27th Nov

El Derby Madrileno

By Shivashankar

Real took on Atletico in the Madrid Derby at the Santiago Bernabeu. Altletico have never won a game at the Bernabeu in the past 12 years, and the wait increased by yet another year as Real marched on to their 13^th consecutive victory.

Real Madrid Ultra's depicting a typical Real domination

The game which was supposed to be a classic clash between the rivals, turned out to be a rather one sided contest, with Real dominating with the goals and excellent play, and Atletico with outrageous tackles and fouls. Real score 3 more than Atletico with the final score being 4-1, Atletico poured in 3 times that of Real’s fouls, with the final fouls being 24-8 in Atletico’s favour!

Atletico or '(P)athetico?!'

Atletico's nightmare at the Bernabeu continues...

Atletico had Courtois and Godin sent off, one in each half as they were completely lucky to end with just two sending off’s. Perea, Alvaro Dominguez and Filipe Luis should consider themselves very very lucky to stay on the pitch for the entire duration. Lassana Diarra, Cristiano Ronaldo, Di Maria were dissected and torn out by the visiting team, as they tried to emulate WWE-esque moves and smacks! Any just referee would have sent them out and reduced Atletico to a mere half a dozen players!

Back as El Pichichi

Atletico started in an impressive fashion, stealing an opening goal, with Adrian Lopez shocking the Bernabeu in the 15^th minute.  Diego Ribas (remember?!) sent in a through ball for Adrian, who coolly slotted it home. For Real to be behind is not something new, and they did what they always do. Exhibit excellent one-touch football and they got one back through a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. And excellent play by Di Maria to send Benzema through inside the box and the Frenchman was brought down by Courtois.

Pipita celebrates his goal

Ronaldo turned provider in the 49^th, when he blasted from the flanks and sent in a cross, only for Maria to slot in at the back of the net. Real Madrid 2- Atletico 1. But it still wasn’t over yet. Amidst Atletico’s gruesome fouls, Real fired in a third, as Higuain took advantage of a serious error by Godin (who played an insane backpass to Asenjo) to improve his goal tally in the liga.

Diego Godin's a la Ric Flair tackle

Godin was yet again at fault, as he brought down Higuain inside the box in the 81^st, but this time, he was sent off as he tried to knock out Higuain’s legs (a typical WWE Ric Flair style!). Cristiano scored again from the spot. As it had happened last time around, Real had come from behind to beat Atletico.

Side Fact:

Jose Mourinho highlighted these insane fouls in the post match conference that, his men were saved due to the carbon fibre shin pads!!

Barcelona lost to Getafe, so Real have opened up a 6 point gap at the top!!

The Bernabeu Fortress

Borussia Dortmund vs Schalke 04, Nov 27th

The Ruhr Derby

By Shivashankar

Well the reason why I switched on to this derby was simple. Raul Gonzalez. To see that legend in action pleases not just me, but almost the entire footballing world.

It’s always said that the team which wins the midfield battle, wins the game. How true it turned out to be at the Signal Iduna Park! Schalke have an excellent duo up front in Raul an Klass jan Huntelaar. They’ve also found an exciting replacement for Manuel Neur in Lars Unnerstall.

Instead of just describing about the match, let me just give you all a review on the hugely talents players, who took the field at the derby.

Dortmund

Matt Hummels

This guy is one of the best young defenders in Germany. Graduated from Bayern Munich’s academy, he started out for Dortmund in 2008, in a loan move which was made permanent a year later. This lad had a good game and was instrumental in killing off attacks (and completely marked Huntelaar) and made sure that Dortmund had a clean sheet.

Sebastian Kehl

Not long ago, he was criticized for getting too slow and ineffective. He has proved his critics wrong, with an admirable season so far. Inspirational captain for Dortmund, demonstrated his prowess by orchestrating the midfield play.

Mario Gotze

What more can I say about this guy?! Although he had a bad night, without him, Dortmund appeared lost. Was lively at times, but never had that instinct to get the right man at the right time.

Robert Lewandowski

The polish attacker had a field day. Man of the match performance. Scored a neat header and caused all sorts of problems to Schalke’s defense. Has scored 13 goals so far this season for Schalke, and if he goes by such levels, a big move is on the cards!

 The Yellow Wall

This is not a nick name of a player, but the way the home fans support their team! German fans are perhaps the most vociferous in Europe. And in Dortmund, it is something more special. Around 80,000 fans in the Signal Iduna park, formerly Westfalenstadeon,  get behind their team and scare out the opposition! The same was witnessed in the derby against Schalke as the fans rooted for their home team and it was as if Schalke were trapped inside a cage!

Schalke

What went wrong?

Simple, defense and midfield were rubbish.

Schalke missed Howedes for the match, and I think it made a great deal of a difference as Raul and Huntelaar were mere spectators. It was a shame to see Jermaine Jones make some dangerous tackles and still get away with a single yellow card. Lewis Holtby, is a star in the making, but had a horrible night. They could have instead started with the experienced Juardo, who would have offered stability in the midfield.

Raul

Captained his team for the night. Being a talismanic striker, one should have expected more passes and assists to him, instead he was left alone on the left flank for most of the time. I’m totally bemused by the way in which neither Raul or Huntelaar didn’t even manage a decent effort on goal. Has Raul become slow? Yes, but he is one of the greatest club strikers ever. He may not be the quickest, but he is one of the best still. Schalke clearly failed to make full use of him.

Next is what?

Schalke hav a mid week clash in the Europa League. Perhaps a golden chance to regain their touch. May be its still early days to criticize managed Huub Stevens, but if he doesn’t make changes, chances are that a poor finish in the league can’t be avoided. Amidst the disappointing loss, the biggest find of the game was Unnerstall, who is definitely a big star in the making!

It'a Raulina for me, forever!..what about you?!
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Champions League Game – Gameweek 5 Review

English sides take hit, Spanish teams aside!

By Shivashankar

Gameweek 5 in the Champions League decided most of the qualifications for the knockout phase and thrilling in every aspect. English sides tumbled as Spanish and German sides made headlines and of course, displayed some scintillating play.

Group A

Manchester City came down to earth as Edison Cavani struck twice, one in wach half, to sink the citizens. Elsewhere, Bayern qualified as league toppers with a regulation victory over Villareal, as Ribery mesmerized the capacity crowd at the Allianz Arena, the destination for the 2012 UCL grand finale.

Player(s) of the Group: Riber and Cavani for simple reasons. They were unstoppable!

Best Game of the Group: Napoli vs Manchester City

Champions league is not a piece of cake. Citizens got a hard lesson at Italy.

Group B

Inter get respite, as they qualified for the knockouts after a 1-1 draw with Trabzonspor. A Eden Hazard inspired Lille won 2-0 at Moscow and also threw the group wide open, as all the three sides have a chance to qualify for the knockouts.

Player(s) of the Group: Eden hazard. He has a 50 million price tag, so soon. And he proved why.

Best Game of the Group: CSKA Moscow vs Lille

Even though the game was far below standards, Hazard was a treat to watch!

Group C

Yet another shock in England, as another Manchester club clung on to a 2-2 draw to Benfica. Man Utd, who travel away to Basel in GW6, have a very very tough task ahead to atleast get a draw against the swiss side. Meanwhile, Basel won 3-2 vs Otelul Galati. Frei, the man was unstoppable.

Player(s) of the Group: Alexander Frei. He made waves at Old Trafford, now he toyed with Otelul.

Best Game of the Group: Man Utd vs Benfica

Entertaining, thrilling and what not?!

Group D

This group is filled with history. Europe’s biggest and most successful club Real Madrid, Eredivise Champions Ajax, Croatian Champs Dinamo Zagreb and French power house Lyon.

Jose Mourinho’s ambition to win his 3^rd champions league may come true soon as his secong string side thrashed Dinamo 6-2 at the Santiago Bernabeu. Although Real Madrid had its clean sheet record blemished, they still deservedly hold the record for being the only side to win all the group games this season. Jose Callejon and Benzema made merry. With both Lyon and Ajax fighting for a qualification spot, they played out a dull draw at Stade Gerland.

Player(s) of the Group: Benzema and Callejon. Mourinho always gets the best of his players and these two are classic examples, yet again.

Best Game of the Group: Real Madrid vs Dinamo Zagreb

Champions league nights are always special and entertaining at the Bernabeu. This one was no different. Attacking football at its very best.

Group E

Yet another English shock. Ex-Chelsea man Michel Ballack inspired Leverkusen to a 2-1 victory over Chelsea at the Bay Arena. Not many would have predicted Leverkusen to qualify to the knockouts. Schalke 04 demonstrated the German resilience last season, perhaps Leverkusen following in their glory path. Chelsea has never failed to qualify for the knockouts in the Roman Abrahamovic era. Andre Villas-Boas will know that very well as well as the numerous ‘sacks’!

Valencia dismantled Genk 7-0 at the Mestella (as Sahil and I concurred, the Vampire symbol in their logo was personified in the team!)

Player(s) of the Group: Roberto Soldado. Scored a majestic hat-trick that destroyed Genk.

Best Game of the Group: Bayern Leverkusen vs Chelsea

A thrilling game. It was great to see Ballack marshalling his troops to a emphatic victory.

Group F

Arsenal became the only English team to qualify, as van Persie’s tremendous form continued as he scored a brace to virtually kick out Borussia Dortmund out of the competition. Olympiacos shocked Marseille at France to a keep them alive in the competition.

Player(s) of the Group: Robin van Persie. The Gunner’s skipper produced yet another splendid performance and led from the ‘front’!

Best Game of the Group: Bayern Leverkusen vs Chelsea

Group G

Apoel Nicosia announced the entry of Cyprus into the footballing map, as the qualified for the knockouts. They continued their dream run in the competition with a draw against Zenit. Porto, last year’s Europa league winners, won 2-0 against Shakhtar Donetsk as they claimed crucial points in a must win game for them.

Player(s) of the Group: Hulk. Had an impressive game and is probably finding his feet again.

Best Game of the Group: FC Porto vs Shakhtar Donetsk

Porto had a must win game, and they responded well.

Group H

The highly anticipated clash between the giants, AC Milan and Barcelona , produced yet another classic at the San Siro. Barca edged out Milan, as both the teams qualified for the knockouts. Boateng scored a beauty of a goal for Milan. Ex-Barca players, Van Bommel and Ibrahimovic made their presence in the score sheet (btw, I meant an own goal when I mentioned van Bommel as a scorer!). Bate Borsisov and lost of Viktoria Plzen as, Plzen have great opportunity to qualify for the Europa league.

Player(s) of the Group: Boateng, for his wonder goal and solid performance.

Best Game of the Group: AC Milan vs FC Barcelona

What are your reactions? How do you sum up the Game Week?

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A Mourinho Special!

By Shivashankar

Real Madrid thrashed a hapless Dinamo Zagreb 6-2, to earn top spot in their group and maintain their record as the only club to win all their group games in this year’s Champions League.

With a truck load of injuries, and the El Classico looming ahead, Jose Mourinho chose to give his starting XI a much needed break, and opted to start with a second string side which gave a demonstration of the bench power present at the ‘White House’.

The talented young duo of Callejon and Nuri Sahin started and demonstrated what they are really good at, i.e. to torment the opposition! Callejon, on whom Mourinho had piggy-backed after Cristiano scored against Valencia, went on to have one his best outings in the Bernabeu.

We were treated to a flurry of goals inside the first 10 minutes. Benzema scored the opener in the 2^nd minute, courtesy a neat 1-2 with Ozil, and the Frenchmen coolly slotted it in the right corner. All this happened inside 85 seconds from the start! 4 minutes later, Ozil’s found Callejon with a delightful pass, Callejon played a 1-2 with Benzema, and scored. This time, in the left corner! This was certainly a well deserved goal for Callejon, who has been waiting long for this starting role. 3 more minutes later, Lass (playing as a RB) played a through ball to Higuain, who made a dummy move and scored a wonderful goal with his left foot. The clock read 9 minutes, with 3 goals scored. Attacking football at its very best!

Zagreb didn’t attack much, or rather they were unable to do so. They were defending in numbers for most part of the game, which probably would have made Adan to think if he was really in the starting XI or a spectator! The next goal for Real, was scored by Ozil. Yes, the man with the plan. He has not been in great form lately, with the main reason for his dip in form being his position in the wings. In this game, he played a more central role, drifting on to the wings only marginally and he dictated play in his own way. He was very much involved in couple of earlier goals, and this time he scored one from a rebound after Higuain’s shot got deflected off by Zagreb’s keeper Kelava. His celebration after the goal spoke a story!

After a couple of half chances from Real, it was Half time and Dinamo were lucky to concede just 4 goals! Real had dominated the half with almost 70% possession. Mourinho made a couple of changes during the interval. He took off Xabi Alonso (finally this workhorse got a deserved break), Ozil and Ramos (who played much like a midfielder than a defender!) Granero, Altintop and Raul Albiol were introduced as replacements. These changes did little to affect the momentum created by Real. Varane, who was solid at defense through the game, found Callejon with a brilliant long ball and Callejon finished off in style (or I could say, it was much like a traditional Cristiano styled finish!). He passionately kissed the club’s crest, sending out a message that the kid from Real Madrid Castilla, has grown very big!

The usual suspects, Benzema, Higuan, Callejon put together several attacks, as Sahin had an decent performance by dictating play deep from the half line. This was the first he played the full 90 minutes since April. Coentrao, was at his very best, as he ran riot and owned the left side of the field. Lassana Diarra as RB also worked out well as he was adept both in attacks and defense. An excellent link up play between Higuain and Benzema resulted in the 6^th, as Benzema scored to complete half a dozen of goals for Real for the night. In the final few minutes, Dinamo did what the others haven’t been able to do this season, score against Real Madrid! Their first one came from a cross, coolly headed in by Fatos. The second one was a goal mouth scramble, which resulted in Tomacek firing it in. Adan was merely a spectator in both these goals, as he was not in faulty and was unlucky to not keep a clean sheet. Full time score, Real Madrid - 6 and Dinamo Zagreb - 2.

Apart from the goal, there were two excellent plays, one each by Callejon and Benzema, which truly deserved to be goals. Callejon was in space inside the box and tried a wonderful lob (a la Raul, to be precise). It would have been an excellent goal to bring up his hat-trick. But Kelava somehow, did something to just nudge it away! It was pure brilliance from Callejon.

Benzema, did the unthinkable. A Scissor kick. We do remember how Wayne Rooney scored a beauty in ‘that’ Manchester derby. But, this would have been epitome of greatness, had Benzema’s effort gone in, instead of rattle the bar. He took a touch to get away from the defenders, swirled and hit an excellent scissor kick, only for me and other football lovers to look in disbelief as the ball rattle the bar! Mourinho has re-invented Benzema!

Later in the post match conference, Zagreb’s manager Krunoslav Jurcic admitted that Real played too fast and magnificent. For Mourinho, this was one delightful after a hard fought victory over Valencia in the Liga. In the post match conference, he said that his team was hungry to win. That said it all!

Barclays Premier League Roundup, 19th and 20th Nov 2011

By Raghavan,

All eyes were on Sunday's match while building up to the week. Fernando Torres and Raul Mereiles to host their former club. A fixture that has rarely ceased to be full of surprises and at times controversies too. Stamford Bridge welcomed the reds of Liverpool on Sunday for our match of the week. The foremost thing on Chelsea's mind was to rebuild their home fortress after being cannoned down by the gunners last time. Liverpool too have come under some criticism after failing to win against promoted sides like Swansea and Norwich City. Liverpool did the double against their rivals last season, had the double done on them the season before that, and all that put together built up to a much awaited fixture. And the team news carried some surprise as well. King Kenny sprang the biggest surprise when he started an almost forgotten Maxi Rodriguez on the left flank, and detained Andy Carroll on the bench, preferring the energy of Craig Bellamy instead. Andre Villas-Boas's only measure to address defensive leaks, it appears, is his continuance to keep Jose Bosingwa away while still starting with 'the 10 year old on a PlayStation' in the heart of defence. Neither former Liverpool men started as Didier Drogba returned after his ban and John Obi Mikel kept out Raul Mereiles. Second top scorer Daniel Sturridge sat on the bench while Florent Malouda started on Juan Mata's opposite flank. The first chance fell to the home side in the form of a free kick 25 yard-ish. Didier Drogba and the crowd were half celebrating as the ball seemed to have flown past a stranded Pepe Reina. But the ball had, infact, just missed the outside of the post and deflected itself to behind the net. Later it was Mikel's sudden situation of cluelessness that helped the visitors draw first blood. Petr Cech opted to roll down the ball to Mikel to start a build up from scratch. Mikel however wasn't able to find a pass target as quickly as he needed (  the full backs were by then behind his back, and Mikel failed to locate any midfielder), and before he could make up his mind, he was closed down by an alert Charlie Adam, and the loose ball was gathered by Craig Bellamy who found Luis Suarez waiting inside the box, who returned it back to Bellamy before Bellamy played the ball past Suarez to find Maxi Rodriguez who helped himself to his first goal with his first start.  The alarm bell clearly rung as AvB had no qualms in recalling Mikel at half time and thrusting in Daniel Sturridge. It helped. Chelsea started on the ascendancy in the second half and around 55 mins, Malouda was allowed too much room to run into the box, and whipped a diagonal ball to the right post which was gobbled up by Sturridge to even the scores. But Liverpool weathered the storm and decided to wait for their chance. It was as late as in the 87th minute that Stuart Downing got the ball from a crowded position near the left out-line and prodded it towards Adam waiting at the center. Super vision from Adam, his long lofted ball found Glen Johnson's free run down the right. The latter did brilliantly, with his pace, to cut inside and took it on his own to create a dramatic winning goal. David Luiz arrived late, and Malouda didn't do enough to nudge Johnson before the shot was just taken, the fear of conceding a penalty perhaps. Torres and Mereiles were brought on at 85 mins but that was frankly too late. So its 3 losses in 4 games and 2 in 2 at home. Stamford Bridge is falling down. On this note , do visit: http://hasandrevillasboasbeensackedyet.com/

The weekend's action kicked off with Arsenal visiting Norwich. Team news: Laurent Koscielny starts on the right. Per Mertesacker partners Tomas Vermaelan. Other than van Persie tapping in Arsenal's equaliser from Walcott's cross-goal pass, it was Norwich central defender Martin everywhere. Three goal saving clearences in the first half, one very lucky, when he kneed it away behind from dangerously close to the post, that it could have gone into his own net. Also RvP's equaliser was to cancel Morison's goal who was dealt with very softly by Per Mertesacker without asserting himself when Morison took charge of Tierney's long pass, before Morison made the ball limp past Wojziech Sczensny into the Arsenal net. What went around came around in the second half as an arsenal player was sent through on goal after Alexander Song won the ball in the middle of the field, and the player applied a cool chip over the bent over Ruddy. I don't think I need to mention the player's name. Anthony Pilkington spurned a chance to earn his side a draw as he failed to properly connect a pacy low cross sent in by Bennett, which ended up drifting wide of goal. Arsenal thus continued resurgence.

The other big talking point into the week was how long Newcastle's dream run would last. It faced it's first critical test as it faced off against table toppers Manchester City. Injured Chiok Tiote remained unavailable and Danny Guthrie started. Sammy Ameobi  also started in place of Gabriel Obertan. For the Citizens, David Silva, Edin Dzeko, Gareth Barry and Aleksandr Kolarov were left out. Samir Nasri, 'Super' Mario Balotelli, Nigel de Jong and Gael Clichy got a start. It was City dominating possession. But Demba Ba wasted Newcastle's biggest chance when he broke free of his marker inside the box, but shot horribly wide from a good angle. Just before 45, Yaya Toure's shot from near the penalty spot was handled by Ryan Taylor, resulting in a penalty kick. Super Mario applied the coolest finish, and his coolest of glances afterward gave something for the cameramen (you got to see both the kick and the glance!!). Minutes later, Sergio Aguero tried to find Micah Richards who was rapidly running in from the right into the box, Taylor almost got a foot to it, but Micah stole the ball from him, broke free and slotted it to his near corner. A 2-0 half time lead was made 3-0 by Aguero's penalty after Richards was bundled over by Taylor. Aguero taking the kick since Balotelli had given way for David Silva. Newcastle made it 3-1 through Dan Gosling late on. But the match brought an end to the magpies' dream run. 

Manchester United however got off to a blazing start, opening the scoring in 11 minutes through the little pea, who was  fed a regulation finish from Ryan Giggs who started in place of Ashley Young/Ji Sung Park. Swansea blew their biggest chance as Scott Sinclair completely missed his kick that would have sent the square ball from an impressive Nathan Dyer into a virtually empty goal. Swansea exerted more pressure in the second half, Graham had a header straight to De Gea's grasp. A chance from the edge of the box for substitute Joe Allen too had gasps coming from the visitors. But United stayed in pace with City with their third straight 1-0 win. Grinding the results as they say.

A thrilling 3-3 draw was played out between Blackburn rovers and Wigan Athletic at the DW. The 2nd minute saw the Nigerian Ayegbeni Yakubu break clear and chip one over Al-Habsi that was just able to bounce inside before the hurrying defenders could clear. Jordi Gomez unleashed a left foot scorcher from outside the box to level scores. Gary Caldwell headed in a corner to go into half time with the lead. Junior Hoilett levelled terms around the hour mark when Wigan had an extended spell of being pegged back inside their own box as Pedersen's floated cross found him. Crusat found the bottom left corner just before full time and Wigan had almost won. So near yet so far, as Blackburn earned a penalty in the 93rd minute that Yakubu put away. A thrilling game that wasn't telecast live.

Stoke's depreciation continued as they were beaten at home by an impressive Queens Park Rangers in another thriller. Jonathan Walters was picked out by Peter Crouch to his left and Stoke had an early lead. Armand Traore's cross found Heidar Helguson who headed in the equaliser and Luke Young got his first goal for QPR before half time to take QPR in with the lead. Helguson slotted in Joey Barton's cross from a badly defended corner to give some breathing space for QPR. But Ryan Shawcross got his first goal of the season from Mathew Etherington's corner to raise hopes around the hour mark. Stoke had a penalty appeal turned down late on, and QPR managed to hold on and become the second team after Newcastle to ruin the Brittannia fortress this season.

Sunderland and Fulham played out a goalless draw. Chris Baird started in place of Jon Arne Riise. Moussa Dembele had a couple of chances in the second half, especially when he found himself in space from Clint Dempsey's overhead pass. But Kieron Westwood arrived in time to gather it. However Sunderland may feel they were unlucky as Jack Colback thudded Damien Duff's failed clearance against the post. Kieron Richardson's header from Sessegnon's cross left Mark Schwarzer a mere spectator, but that too found the framework.

West Bromwich Albion inflicted further misery on Owen Coyle's Bolton who just last time thrashed Stoke City 5-0 raising some hopes of a turn in fortunes. Jerome Thomas nicely rounded Jaaskelainen and slid home the first goal for WBA. He also later conceded the penalty that Bolton's top scorer Ivan Klasnic buried dutifully. Returning from injury, Shane Long headed in the winner from Nicky Shorey's cross to give WBA 3 valuable points.

Everton earned 3 valuable points at Goodison against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Stephen Hunt's penalty helped Wolves to lead but Phil Jagielka headed in Leon Osman's corner before half time to draw level. Leighton Baines scored a late penalty to seal the victory.

Monday's game saw Aston Villa visit Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. Spurs were looking to go third in the table after Chelsea lost on Sunday. The match also saw manager Harry Redknapp return from surgery. Emmanuel Adebayor's spectacle to open the scoring did no good to Harry's heart. Rafael van der Vaart's corner was met by Gareth Bale, but his effort was blocked and went vertical. Emmanuel Adebayor sized up the falling ball and executed a picture perfect overhead kick to earn his 4th of the season. Before half time, Shay Given failed to grasp Gareth Bale's low cross, that fell right at Adebayor's feet. The Togolese gleefully accepted his and Spurs' second goal of the night. The game finished at 2-0 and Spurs now occupy third in the table, 4 points behind 2nd, but with a game in hand.

Winners: Manchester City-Handed Newcastle their first defeat, and they did it without David Silva; Manchester United- Still just scraping wins, but they now seem proficient and comfortable at it. In any case its 3 wins in 3 games; Arsenal (rather Robin van Persie) - They continue to climb and continue to win, winning all matches since their loss at White Hart Lane . Also they came from behind to win; QPR- A good win at Stoke means they are making sure they are getting good results in the tough games involving mid table teams. Always important those; Liverpool - Silencing criticism after dropping points vs new teams, the win at Chelsea means they are in good contention for the top 3; Spurs - A no drama, no nonsense performance vs a tricky team like Aston Villa, moving into third with a game in hand. Good Job!; WBA& Everton- Any win for bottom half teams should be counted a good result.

Losers: Chelsea - of course! 2 losses in 2 games at home. Period!; Stoke City- 5-0 loss last time, now a loss at home to a promoted side. Where has the rugged attitude and toughness at home that held United and Chelsea to draws gone?; Wolves- Everton are not at their best by any means, a draw was necessary for Wolves being just 2 points off the drop zone,though early days; Wigan & Blackburn - the game won in terms of entertainment value, but being at the absolute bottom, both teams should have found a way to win though you can argue with a 3-3 scoreline that that was exactly what both did but ended upwith a draw; 

Valencia vs Real Madrid - 19th Nov 2011

Real Madrid and Jose Mourniho earn a hard fought victory

By Shivashankar

Real Madrid tamed Roberto Soldado and his bullies in a classic game at Mestella, Valencia. Real preserved their three point lead over Barcelona, thanks to the hard fought victory.

Real Madrid visited Valencia, for the matchday 12 in the Spanish La Liga. This game marked Jose Mourinho’s 50^th game in the liga, as Real’s manager. He extended his excellent winning record, by one more at Mestella.

Real missed Kaka, Angel di Maria (their leading provider of assists), Coentrao and Carvalho. Marcelo returned to the starting X1, after recovering from his injury. Contrary to reports that Jose will start with both Benzema and Higuain, he opted for a packed midfield with Xabi, Khedira and Lass, which left the media (and ofcourse, the viewers baffled!). Real started in their bright red jerseys as their away kit, used for the first time in the liga. (This included some technical strategy by Mou as well!)

The first few minutes of the game was so much of a surprise, as Valencia poured in all its best in attacking Real. But as always, Real started a bit slow, but gradually gained momentum and created good number of scoring opportunities. Khedira and Benzema could have scored a brace each had the converted their chances. Khedira, is a player, who in reality has near zero vision, very limited passing range and nearly dumb in front of goal. But what really makes his presence in the XI vital are his runs and his calming presence. He finally managed to find the back of the net, was adjudged offside!!

Benzema, after missing a couple of chances, made up for his earlier misses, by scoring a beautiful goal in the 20^th minute. A quick piece, brilliantly executed by the midfield maestro Xabi Alonso, a long ball played to Benzema, was a lesson in one touch football. He took a touch to land the ball, and two, bang. Goal! Real Madird’s “Run and Gun” approach, which has been enhanced to the core in Jose version 2.0, is quite amazing. His team has become much less dependent on Cristiano, and it is more of letting the ball travel, instead of running along with the ball.

For Valencia, former Madridistas, Dani Parejo and Robeto Soldado, were the workhorses. Every attack of Valencia initiated through them. Their best and only decent play came from those two players, correctly adjudged offside. (Even though it was ruled offside, Iker made a great stop to deny Parejo even a measure of his goal!) The first half ended with Cristiano coming close to open his account in the 42^nd and a flurry of half hearted attacks by Real.

Second half was almost similar to the first, with Valencia dominating possession and showing more intent on scoring the equalizer. They almost equalized through Soldado, as he just missed Mathieu’s cross. Real were left out of the game big time, but some trickery by Cristiano earned them a corner. Ozil swung in a beauty, Ramos completed the formalities. Real led 0-2. The story of the match was, Real’s packed midfield lacked a creative intent in the decisive third. Lass was impressive, as his made good runs and was decent in defense as well.

The fightback

Valencia got one back, through Soldado, who scored from a goal mouth scramble. Real, gave one back to the Los Che, as Cristiano made a great run, foxed the keeper, and scored past him. Jose Mourinho erupted off in celebrations as he jumped onto Callejon, to express his delight!

For Valencia, their substitutes, Joanathan and Pablo Hernandez pulled the strings adeptly and Pablo assisted Valencia’s 2^nd. The ball seemed to be head away for a goal kick, a lazy Marcelo just let it run off, but a spirited Pablo ran and floated in a ball, Soldado headed home. Remember Morientes gifting Real with a nightmare, with Monaco, in the UCL?! This seemed to be a sequel!

The Dog wars

It was absolutely insane to see a few Valencia players, still on the field, as they were very very lucky to stay on the pitch after some ridiculous challenges. Tino Costa was perhaps the luckiest one, even after several of his voracious tackles it was a miracle that he got only on yellow. Jordi Alba put up some of his theatricals on display as he licked the green of the grass almost every 5 minutes! Albelda should have been sent off twice or thrice. Soldado led these kinds of attacks as well. Bullying and Fouling. It was outrageous when he was not punished after grabbing Xabi’s throat, pushing Ramos from behind, and having an altercation with the almost the entire team of Real.

Instead, Ozil Xabi, Cristiano, Ramos were booked for reasons outside the scope of a sane referee. A total of 7 Real players were booked for the evening. Even Mourinho started to laugh when Xabi was booked, for the insane decision! The biggest theatrical display by Valencia came in the injury time, through a goal mouth scramble, resulted in the ball parrying off Higuain’s shoulder. (He was brought down by a pack of Valencia players and laid on the ground when the ball had hit his shoulder). The entire Valencia team surrounded the referee and demanded a penalty. Perhaps the only sane decision given out by the referee was to correctly judge that the ball was nowhere near Higuain’s hand. This happened to be the last action of the match.

Mourinho was pelted with loads of objects when he was walking off after the match. Heights of atrociousness. Hard fought victory and also a clear message to Soldado and his bullies, “Come back to the Bernabeu, and we’ll repay in kind”!!

Crank Spot

Pablo Hernandez was an impact after coming on as a substitute. He also had a lunatic moment, which was by the far one of the most stupid acts you’ll ever witness! When Miguel was running with the ball, inside Real’s box, he ran outside the area and collided with Ramos, and it resulted in a goal kick being awarded. When Ramos and Miguel were having a word with the referee near the box, Pablo came running from somewhere, and took a freekick in between. What was he trying to do? Converted a goal kick into a freekick?! He was not even warned for this idiocracy. Ridiculous.  

TOP OF THE MATCH

Sergio Ramos – Solid performance. Scored a beautiful goal and kept the Valencia attacks at bay. If not for a gross error by Marcelo, Ramos and Real, could have made the score line emphatic.

FLOP OF THE MATCH

Marcelo – It was quite evident that he had just returned from an injury. Was very slow, lacked attacking prowess and his usual coordination with Cristiano down the flanks. Worse defending throughout the game, lucky as it went unexploited by Valencia except for once.