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Real Madrid's clash against Zaragoza on the weekend could be the last of the season, at least for the team from the capital, as it emerged that next Sunday's match may not go ahead. The relegation-bound Levante players have decided to go on strike, as they have not been paid for several months, thus potentially spoiling Real's planned end-of-season party. For their part, the Zaragoza players have bigger problems to worry about, as the 2-2 draw with Real Madrid leaves them in the relegation zone. Their destiny, however, is still in their own hands, as a win away to Mallorca would ensure survival.
Schuster decided to leave both Raúl and Casillas, who had not missed a league game all season, as well as Pepe, back in Madrid to give some of the less used players a run-out. With Dudek in his first league game of the season, and Metzelder back from injury for his first of the year, the Real coach opted for an offensive approach which yielded plenty of chances for either side.
The Zaragoza players' desperation was evident, however, as chance after chance went begging, many of them thwarted by Dudek's spectacular reflexes. The Pole may or may not see out his second year of contract, but he proved himself to be an able substitute for Casillas (although his positioning wasn't always ideal). It's just that, barring injury, there will be precious few chances for him to occupy the goalkeeping position. The omission of Casillas in this game (and probably next weekend as well) guarantees him the Zamora trophy for the best goalkeeper of the season. This is an accolade he has not won in 9 years of trying and which has not been won by a Real Madrid keeper since Paco Buyo won it in 1992, a legacy, perhaps, of Real Madrid's obsession with attacking football.
Zaragoza opened the scoring after 19 minutes, with Sergio García, easily their best man on the night (even with the dodgy pony-tail), making short work of Marcelo on the wing and crossing it for Oliveira's simple tap-in. It was not to last: although Higuaín had a rare start, he did not manage to maintain his four-game goalscoring streak; instead he threaded it through for Robinho, who was denied in his one-on-one with the keeper, only for Van Nistelrooy to pick up the rebound: a typical poacher's goal. Robinho himself put Real ahead with a well judged lob with just over 10 minutes to go, leaving Zaragoza to stare into the abyss of Segunda División.
Their desperation showing may have moved some of the Real players to pity them, at least if you believe the As match report. More likely it was the difference between a side playing for survival against a side with little to prove. As it was, Zaragoza's insistence eventually paid off and Sergio Fernández's clinical finish made it 2-2, matching the scoreline from last year's fixture, leaving them with a chance to save themselves next weekend.
Monday, 12 May 2008
Doubts about season finale as Zaragoza face the drop
Monday, 7 January 2008
St. Iker saves
...and Zaragoza did not score on the rebound. Casillas spared his side from a potentially embarrassing defeat by saving at least 10 shots on goal by Zaragoza. His providential reflexes (and the woodwork) kept Real in the game long enough to enable the clinical finishing of first Van Nistelrooy and second Robinho, to put paid to Zaragoza with two goals from the three chances Madrid had all night. This result keeps the Madrid side seven points clear at the top of the table.
Casillas also notched up his 300th league appearance for Real Madrid and beat his own record for keeping his goal intact in league games; this now stands at 378 minutes and includes 4 consecutive clean sheets.
Only 16 minutes into the game, Heinze suffered a strain on his left thigh (later confirmed to be a tear, sidelining him for 6-8 weeks). Schuster partially blamed his side's "loss of focus" on the injury to the left back, which supposedly allowed Zaragoza to dominate for large swathes of the match. As is ever the case with Bernd, he does not tend to criticise his players in public and comes up with ludicrous reasons/excuses for their performance. The former is a good thing; the latter is an insult to everyone else's intelligence. Schuster also had some words of praise for his keeper, calling him "the best in the world". This makes an interesting contrast to Capello, who always emphasised the team's performance rather than Casillas's, preferring to dwell on Real's defensive frailties instead.
Zaragoza's strike force of Oliveira, Sergio García (no, not the golfer) and Diego Milito terrorised Real's defence (Sergio Ramos moved from the right to partner Cannavaro in the centre of defence, and he did not look comfortable all game) but could not get past Casillas. Their lack of luck or effectiveness in front of goal was to cost them dear as Schuster brought on Guti for an ineffectual Sneijder. Twenty minutes later, Real were two up and the game was all but over.
Diarra had a poor game and probably had his mind on joining his national side in the African Cup of Nations competition in Ghana. The Mali captain will be away at least all of January, as the group stages finish on the 19th. If his side reaches the final, he could be off until February 10th. Given Real's January schedule, this could prove problematic, as neither Gago nor Guti fill the same role as Diarra.
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Surviving a slogan
Back in October 2001, Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque was in trouble. After 6 league games, the team had notched up a miserly 5 points and was languishing in 14th spot in the table. Early days yet, but this was Florentino's Real Madrid, who had just that summer signed the world's most expensive player, Zinedine Zidane, from Juventus for a mind-boggling 75 million euros. Athletic Bilbao were visiting the Bernabéu and a number of the top players - Roberto Carlos, Zidane, Makélélé (remember him?), Figo - were away on international duty.
Three players from the cantera, the youth team, made their debuts that day: Raúl Bravo started in Roberto Carlos's left wing, Valdo came on for Geremi just before half time, and Pavón substituted Bravo himself on 71 minutes. The final score was 2-0 to Real Madrid with goals from Raúl and Solari (remember him?). The youngsters impressed both the coach and the faithful so much that both they and a number of their colleagues (Borja, Rubén, Miñambres, Portillo) made several appearances for the club in that Champions League-winning season. Florentino Pérez then coined the now-infamous term Zidanes y Pavones to describe the club's transfer policy.
Del Bosque was uniquely placed to take advantage of the "Pavones"; after all, he had been involved with the youth teams at Real Madrid for a number of years and had seen a lot of the players grow up and develop. When his contract was not renewed after he won the league in 2003, none of the canteranos, other than Pavón himself, made any kind of lasting impression on the first team. Subsequent managers overlooked them in favour of new galáctico signings.
As an aside, the Zidanes y Pavones policy began to show its flaws at that point: it did not give the squad strength in depth because not enough players were being bought or coming up through the ranks to "do the dirty work" that the starry galacticos couldn't or, in some cases, wouldn't. In his Guardian blog, Rob Smyth traces it all to the departure of Claude Makélélé to Chelsea and "replacing" him with David Beckham. It is perhaps not the only reason for the team's decline, but it's a compelling one nonetheless.
For Pavón, however, the departure of Florentino also meant the end of his playing days at Real Madrid. He did not play a single minute in the whole of the 2005-2006 league championship under Capello, and had only a couple of run-outs in the Cup. Capello preferred to use Cannavaro, the rehabilitated Helguera, Sergio Ramos, Miguel Torres, and even Raúl Bravo as central defenders. While not necessarily prejudiced against cantera players (after all, Torres was a starter for nearly half of the games last season), Pavón just did not cut the mustard with Capello.
His contract expired on June 30th and yesterday, Real Zaragoza announced that he had decided to join them as a free agent for the next four seasons. He will pair up in the centre of defence with Zaragoza's other recent surprise signing, Roberto Ayala, who left Valencia to join Villareal, and, 16 days later, bought out his contract and signed for Zaragoza.
Real Madrid has now left that fateful Zidanes y Pavones slogan behind. Let's hope that its less illustrious component can do the same and make a new name for himself. Good luck, Paco
Monday, 15 January 2007
Capello's message to 'crisis'-mongers
The picture illustrates better than anything the frustration that Capello must have been feeling over the past few weeks and his relief at getting a positive result without having to rely on the usual suspects. The victory becomes doubly important when added to the fact that both Barcelona and Sevilla lost their games this weekend, pushing Real Madrid to within two points of the leaders and level with Barcelona (who have a game in hand).
The most effective piece in the new puzzle was the performance of both Gago and Diarra in midfield. If this is more than just a one-off, there is little prospect of Emerson making it back into the side, barring injuries. The Argentine midfielder completed 53 out of 57 passes and Diarra put behind his recent discomfiture at being left out of the side to cut out much of Zaragoza's midfield and even getting forward on occasion.
The makeshift back four included youngster Miguel Torres making his debut at right back and ostracised Raúl Bravo at left back, and both had a relatively uneventful game, at least until the final minutes. Reyes had probably his best game in a Real Madrid shirt, and Robinho took charge of the other wing after Raúl had to be substituted 12 minutes into the game. It looks like the captain will be out for 2 to 3 weeks, further depleting old guard involvement in upcoming games.
Up front van Nistelrooy clearly works better off Higuaín than Ronaldo, and the Dutchman only had to tap in Real's only goal after a pass from the other Argentine in the side. Given that Beckham won't play for Real again and Ronaldo looks to be on his way out, the make-up of the team is unlikely to change much in the next few games. Sergio Ramos (suspended) will replace Torres at right back, so Salgado is unlikely to get much of a look-in. Roberto Carlos will take up the left flank after he recovers (it's doubtful Bravo will make enough of an impression in the next four weeks to keep him out). Guti and Raúl will find it hard to displace Gago and Higuaín/Robinho, at least on a permanent basis, so I expect some rotations here.
 Highlights |  Match report |
