Imperfect Ten

Real Madrid recorded their tenth consecutive league victory on an away trip to Espanyol. This result, combined with Barcelona's inability to hold onto a two-goal lead at Atlético Madrid the following evening, puts Real four points behind the leaders. It's hard to believe that this difference was twelve points a mere three weeks ago.

And yet, while much credit has to be given to Juande for turning the team around defensively (3 goals conceded in the last 11 matches), there is still much work to do to make Real Madrid the well-oiled machine in attack that the individual quality of its players would suggest.

The first half saw both sides "abuse" the midfield to the exclusion of both areas. Sneijder, who hasn't had the best of seasons, did not really perform well as playmaker, wasting innumerable passes to his colleagues up front, with Huntelaar looking especially isolated. Fortunately for the visitors, Lass swept up most of Espanyol's attacks, turning in another impressive display.

What Lass could not mop up, Pepe and Cannavaro did, with Casillas making the odd miraculous save that no longer gets headlines (he was much criticised early in the season for a few uncharacteristic mistakes).

Juande changed tack in the second half, bringing Guti in for the ineffectual Sneijder and Marcelo in for Higuaín to try to give the squad some balance and some width. Raúl tracked back to help out in midfield and the changes injected a little more urgency to Real's play.

Nevertheless, it was a whole 67 minutes before the deadlock was finally broken, as Guti was brought down outside the Espanyol area. The veteran Real Madrid midfielder, who recently announced he will leave the club in 2011 at the latest, slotted a perfect free kick into the top left hand corner of Espanyol's goal.

Five minutes later, Raúl effectively finished off the game as he timed his run perfectly to latch onto a half-mishit Marcelo cross and put the ball beyond goalkeeper Kameni.

As in midweek, the team who made the least number of errors won the game. Unlike then, this time that team was Real Madrid.

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Workmanlike win

The Bernabéu "faithful" were treated to another night of tedium as Real Madrid edged Deportivo la Coruña by a single goal. What was remarkable was that they could not get worked up about the mediocre fare on offer when the average seat price is around €100.

On the other hand, they decided to greet the substitution of Raúl for Drenthe with audible booing for the young Dutch player. Drenthe later said that the reception made him "depressed" and it showed in his level of confidence on the pitch, where one of his attempts at running past Deportivo players ended with him slipping and falling.

Drenthe, as well as Marcelo, have recently been singled out for this sort of treatment by the piperos at the Bernabéu, so named for the copious amounts of sunflower seeds (pipas) they consume during home matches.

If this sort of behaviour is aimed at sending a message to the management to invest more in the youth teams, then it is poorly directed. The last thing these youngsters need (wherever it is they come from) is to bear the brunt of questionable strategic decisions by the club.

Towards the end of the reasonably entertaining first half, Raúl barely deflected a cross from Lass with the side of his head, but this was enough to fool the Deportivo goalkeeper. As the Madrid press are so fond of reminding us, this was the captain's 306th goal for the club, putting him just one behind the total scored by the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano.

The second half, however, must have convinced Barcelona that there really is no way they can lose the league now, even with another 18 games yet to play. How can Real Madrid be clear in second place in the league standings yet play so poorly on their own turf?

Juande Ramos decided to make the game safe and wait for the counter. With Gago and Lass making almost superhuman efforts in their defensive midfield tasks, the back four absorbing most pf the pressure, and Casillas stopping anything else that got through, it became clear how dependent Real Madrid is on Arjen Robben.

Any attack with any venom in it came from him. No wonder rumours still abound about Juande Ramos pleading for a winger before the end of the January transfer window. Real are still playing the price for the appallingly bad way that transfers were managed last summer.

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Three in a row

It's back to some semblance of order at Real Madrid: the best run of consecutive wins since September, the first away win since October, the best run of consecutive clean sheets since April. This is what Juande Ramos has achieved since he arrived almost exactly one month ago.

Following a widely anticipated loss at Barcelona which was nevertheless tempered by improved, if somewhat over-aggressive, defending, the former Tottenham boss has managed to extract six points from direct competitors (Valencia, Villareal) and win convincingly away from home for the first time in months.

Before getting too excited about the magnitude of that win, it is important to note that Mallorca are a team on the brink. Already in the relegation zone, they did nothing to suggest that they may be able to dig themselves out of that hole come the summer. Nonetheless, after some of the trouble Real Madrid has had this season to subdue allegedly weaker sides, there is no doubt that improvements have been made on Schuster's tactics and team selections.

Real were seemingly not hampered by being unable to train properly on the last day before flying out to Mallorca following the largest snowfall in Madrid for 30 years. Admittedly, scoring a goal after just two minutes does help, and it is Real's man of the moment, Arjen Robben, who grabbed the initiative, latching onto a quick counter-attacking move and squeezing the ball between the Mallorca 'keeper's legs.

Mallorca had set out five men in the defensive line, but, for all they did on the opener, they may as well have still been thinking about Christmas dinner. And they did not get better as, on the quarter hour, Higuaín jinked past several to lay it off for Raúl to cleverly backheel it into the net.

The Real Madrid captain was also celebrating his 500th league appearance, the sixth man ever to do so, and his goal (his 212th) effectively finished off the locals. It's staggering to think that, in his 15 seasons, Raúl has scored 20% of his side's total goal tally.

Nonetheless, that Casillas had so little work to do means that everyone else did their job properly. Lass looks like he has adjusted to his role and position admirably in just two games and ably assisted Gago in the holding midfielder roles.

Their positioning (why was it so difficult for Schuster to get this right?) meant that Pepe and Cannavaro could do their job in central defence, and even meant that the other two defenders, Heinze and Sergio Ramos, could get forward, adding width to the attack.

It was Sergio Ramos who scored Real's third in an offside position and made Juande Ramos comfortable enough with the eventual outcome, that he could afford to rest Robben and Raúl to give some minutes to Huntelaar (who could have scored a fourth) and youngster Palanca.

The result puts Real Madrid up to second in the standings, still twelve points behind runaway leader Barcelona, ahead of a seemingly simply home tie against last-placed Osasuna next Sunday.

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Irún puts Real Madrid in intensive care

The word crisis, whispered in the last few weeks, has now reached a crescendo at the Bernabéu, as Real Madrid were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by a third division side. A repeat of the 4-3 weekend scoreline was not enough to subdue a Real Unión de Irún squad that ran rampant for large stretches of the game, as if the venue or their opponents were of no consequence. Not even a hat-trick from captain Raúl was enough to bring his half-dead team back to life.

The first half was symptomatic of everything that ails Real Madrid at the moment. This is a side split in half to such an extent that they seemed at times to have completely abandoned the midfield to the opposition. It's not just that the defenders are sometimes slow to react and badly positioned, there is just no support from most of their team-mates.

But the lack of players tracking back to defend was also in evidence when the team had the ball. It's not in Real's genetic make-up to play long-ball football, but that is exactly what the local crowd were treated to for most of the first forty-five minutes.

Raúl, the busiest player by far on the night, acted as link-up man, even though he was nominally one of the two strikers, the other being Saviola. This seemed to change in the second half as Sneijder dropped back more often, but just exactly what are Schuster's tactical instructions at the beginning of the game? Asking Metzelder to make runs on the left wing was a first, and what Real gained in attack they more than lost on defence.

The visitors went ahead through Abasolo after 13 minutes, after Salgado failed to deal with a cross on his wing and left Dudek with little chance of making the save. It took a mistake from Eduard, the Irún goalkeeper, to allow Real to equalise, with Raúl easily heading the ball over the advancing goalie after a cross from Marcelo.

Saviola could then have put his side ahead but his goal was disallowed on the stroke of half-time when he was clearly on-side. That was the linesman's fault, but someone needs to take the referee aside and explain to him how to apply the advantage rule, though his failures in this respect affected both sides equally.

Schuster swapped Cannavaro for Javi García during the break for no apparent reason, other than the Italy captain was not having a very good night - but then, neither were any of his colleagues in the back four. Three minutes in, García and Metzelder were not fast enough to catch Salcedo,though it must be said, they had precious little support from any of the midfield players, who were all far too far upfield.

Fortunately for Real, Irún's lead lasted just over a minute, as Raúl got his second after Saviola's pass had found him free in the area.

With the game at 2-2 fifteen minutes into the second half, Schuster brought Alberto Bueno on for Drenthe. The player from the Castilla reserve side only had two minutes on his debut in the first leg in Irún. The promising youngster impressed with his energy and talent and went on to score the goal of the night to put his side ahead and even the tie.

Raúl then thought he had put his side through five minutes from time with his third of the night from a free kick intended as a cross which none of the other players got a touch on. It was the first time all night that the home side was mathematically in the last 16 round of the Copa del Rey.

In a heart-stopping finish to the game, Real Unión took advantage of yet another defensive blunder to score their third in the 89th minute and put Real out of the competition on away goals.

Real Madrid have shown all season that they have the talent up front and the self-belief to enable them to claw their way out of adverse scorelines. However, this is a side so unbalanced on the pitch that any team with a modicum of tactical nous can control the game at their leisure. We haven't seen Bernd Schuster do anything to remedy this over the last few weeks and, as he admitted in the post-match press conference, it's now looking like he doesn't know how to.

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Off the pace

Real Madrid put paid to a lacklustre last few games with a draw at Primera División newcomers Almería (this is only their second season ever in the top flight). This leaves them still lying in third place in the league standings, two points behind leaders Barcelona, who have had a particularly impressive run of form recently, scoring fifteen goals (including five against Almería) in their last four encounters. Almería's late equaliser left Real feeling like they'd "let two points escape", as Bernd Schuster put it.

It was a particularly tedious first half, with no shots on goal from the local team, and not much more from the visitors. The only bright spot was Raúl's goal, which came from a great bit of skill from Higuaín on the wing, crossing the ball for the captain to deflect it past the keeper in a diving header. It was Raúl's first goal away from the Bernabéu since the one he scored against Racing Santander last April and his fifth in the league so far.

If anything, the second half was even more depressing from a Real Madrid standpoint, as the players (and coach) obviously had their minds on the clash with Juventus on Wednesday and decided to "secure" the win. Inevitably, this led to a lack of depth (to add to the general lack of width in the side), with lots of losses of possession. Almería grew in confidence and self-belief as the half wore on, and it was only a matter of time before they scored.

Sergio Ramos, who had otherwise had an acceptable game, gave the ball away with a header into no-man's land. A lightning-quick move from Almería caught him and the other defenders napping and gave Casillas no chance. Almería even had the chance to walk away with all three points, and it would not necessarily have been an unfair result.

To add insult to injury (or should that be injury to insult?), Pepe limped off three minutes into the second half and is doubtful for Wednesday's Champions League game. Another player certain of not being selected is Rubén de la Red, who fainted in Real's midweek Copa del Rey clash and who is out for an indefinite period until the doctors can determine what caused his loss of consciousness.

All in all, this game is best forgotten. One hopes that Real has plenty more up their sleeve against a Juventus finding their form, otherwise their chances of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages (not to say anything about getting further in the competition) may be in jeopardy.

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Raúl brace not enough to beat Espanyol

Espanyol put paid to Real Madrid's run of six consecutive victories in September and stole a point from the Bernabéu. The Barcelona club won the battle in midfield and frustrated most Real Madrid attacks with solid defensive work.

For their part, the Real Madrid back four did not have their best night. Heinze's clumsy challenge on Espanyol captain Raúl Tamudo resulted in a penalty, which Tamudo then expertly put away for Espanyol's first.

The lack of width in the Real Madrid midfield probably persuaded Sergio Ramos to join in the attack. His beautifully weighted cross was met by Raúl as he broke away from his marker. The captain has clearly benefited from being rested in midweek and is clearly most comfortable playing at home.

The equaliser did not seem to give Real Madrid any additional impetus. Poor defending from Heinze allowed Román Martínez to get the ball across Casillas' goal for Luis Garcia to put the Catalans ahead once more.

Deep in injury time in the first half, Raúl came once again to the rescue. The Real Madrid captain showed a clever bit of skill, taking advantage of a muddle in the Espanyol area to shift the ball quickly between his feet and put the ball beyond keeper Kameni. This makes a total of 16 goals that Raúl has scored against Espanyol in the Spanish league. Together with Valencia, Espanyol is the club that Raúl has scored most goals against.

The second half gave us more of the same, and, although Schuster brought Robben on for Van der Vaart to give his side some much needed width, the Dutchman only lasted 20 minutes before limping off with a pulled hamstring (though on Monday it was reported to be unlikely to be serious). Wesley Sneijder returned briefly from his preseason injury, but is clearly not yet fully match fit.

There were possible penalties at either end, and Van Nistelrooy could have grabbed a winner, but Kameni's reflexes saved his side. Diarra has been getting progressively better and was probably Real's best player in midfield. On the other hand, the Real Madrid forwards, other than Raúl, showed none of the accuracy which has been characterising the side in recent games. Higuaín was especially selfish, shooting several times from outside the box with little danger.

With the draw, Real Madrid drops to fifth in the table, just behind Barcelona on goal difference, who clearly stated their intentions this season with a thumping 6-1 demolition of Liga hopefuls Atlético Madrid (Real's next opponents on October 18th).

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Lucky Seven

Poor Sporting de Gijón. Ten years out of the top division and on your return you have to face Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villareal one after the other in your first five weeks. On Sunday, Barcelona put 6 past them and on Wednesday night Real Madrid went one better, making them the worst defensive side in La Liga in over 50 years.

Given the packed nature of Real's fixture list in September (they face Betis on Saturday and then Zenit on Tuesday in the Champions League), Bernd Schuster decided to give Ramos, Heinze and Van Nistelrooy a rest. With Guti injured, De la Red and Van der Vaart took over the offensive midfield, and the Dutchman took his chance with gusto.

After a tentative first quarter of an hour, Van der Vaart latched onto a delicate header from Raúl to put the first goal past the hapless Sergio Sánchez. He followed this up fifteen minutes later with a spectacular backheel as De la Red's pass had ended up too far behind him. He completed his hat-trick two minutes into the second half, with Raúl once again providing the assist, and is now the league's leading goalscorer with four.

In between these goals, Higuaín notched up his second goal of the season, courtesy of a great cross from Robben. The Dutch winger got Real's fifth of the night himself and then had his shot off the bar picked up by Raúl for a simple tap-in for the sixth.

The captain celebrated his first goal in official competition since last May by scoring another, this time with a beautiful lob while running full-tilt at the keeper. It was noticeable that in both his goal celebrations he kissed his wedding ring, as he used to do before last season, when he decided to point to his shirt number (7). Given that this did him no favours in getting picked for the Spanish national team in the summer, perhaps he's wisely decided to go back to a more subdued type of celebration.

The 1,500 Sporting supporters in the Bernabéu did not cease to support their side all the way to the final whistle. They certainly get a '10' and must be lauded as an example to the vast majority of the football fans in Spain, most of whom never travel to see their side play.

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The Myth of Raúl

Few, if any, players in Spain excite as many contradictory opinions as the Real Madrid (and formerly Spain) captain, Raúl González Blanco. Many idolise him as one of the greatest Spanish players of all time, publicly berating Luis Aragonés (then national coach) for not including him in the Euro 2008 squad. Just as many criticise him for his seemingly unfailing inclusion in the starting line-up regardless of fitness or form. This is not unusual or even unexpected in a player who has achieved so much, but is inexorably nearing the end of his career. What is uncommon are the rumours, insinuations and even allegations of the power he wields over pretty much all aspects of the running of the club.

Even the lack of any direct evidence seems to give weight to the allegations (they must all be scared of him if nobody says anything, right?). Here is just a sampler:

Raúl effectively works as the sporting director from the shadows. He approves all the important decisions taken by the management. He is the man who talks most often with Calderón and Mijatovic. As there's nobody with more influence, he will discuss possible signings, prevents the medical team from publishing reports about his fitness or decides that team training sessions should be closed to both fans and then press.

Diego Torres, El País, 12 September 2008

Raúl never wanted my son to play for Real Madrid, ever. He didn't like Portillo because he could make him look bad.

Javier García Portillo's father, 14 September 2004

Raúl does not approve of Real Madrid signing David Villa. Together with Guti and Míchel Salgado, they cannot forgive Villa the way he has appropriated the number 7 jersey with the national side. In addition, Raúl sees Villa as serious competition in the starting line-up.

La Nueva España, 8 August 2008

And there's plenty more where that came from. I have purposely not included any articles from the traditionally anti-Madrid press (i.e Sport and Mundo Deportivo)) to highlight that this is not just an exercise in muck-raking for its own sake.

Despite a pretty good last season, Raúl has been a shadow of his former self over the last 4 years or so. Nevertheless, I find it very hard to believe that a single player can have that much say within such a huge football club in successive administrations. It just does not compute. Sure, he's the club captain and has been there longer than any other player. That means he has influence and an important opinion that should be taken into account, but to suggest that he has to play just does not make sense to me. Furthermore, to even suggest that he can have the power of veto in whether a player gets signed or not just sounds crazy.

If any of this were true I would expect to see a long list of disgruntled former players, club employees, etc. laying into the Real Madrid captain. Other than Portillo's father, there's nothing. And in that case, time has shown that he really was just not good enough to make it in Real Madrid, irrespective of how good he was in the youth teams.

When Fabio Capello left the club, he said nothing about Raúl, but he had plenty to say about Mijatovic and Calderón.

Raúl himself has finally given his version of events in an interview on Tuesday night with Radio Marca. He admits that he would like to see out his contract (which has another three years left to run) but that he expects to spend increasing amounts of time on the bench. He rejects any notion of his having any say in who leaves or who stays, and that he would have loved to play with David Villa. He concedes that playing his way back into the national side will be tough, but that he'll keep on trying.

I'm sure the man is no saint; we all have an ego to feed, but, personally, I find his side of the story much more plausible than some overarching conspiracy with Raúl's influence extending everywhere. What do you think?

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Capello would be proud

You have to feel some sympathy for Bernd Schuster. That's a strange statement to make about a man in charge of one of the most prestigious football clubs, and the current Spanish championship title holders. However, he faces a long and difficult season with a squad clearly split in half.

The defence, now back to full strength following the return of Ramos and Cannavaro, shows signs of being as confident and solid as in the latter part of last season and has just notched up its second clean sheet in a row. Schuster's attacking options, now that's another matter altogether.

Looking at Sunday night's 2-0 win over Racing Santander you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. After a tedious first half, De la Red put the visitors ahead eight minutes after the break following a swift counterattack by Gonzalo Higuaín. Van Nistelrooy made the game safe seventeen minutes from time with a typical clinical finish.

And yet, the prospects for the aforementioned long season don't look that rosy. The loss of Robinho has left Real Madrid with a distinct lack of options on the wing. Robben is very much in form, but his propensity to get injured may have prompted Schuster to decide to use him sparingly, bringing him on in the second half to overwhelm tired defences with his speed. The fact that De la Red is starting to click with this team is a welcome sight, but his game is distribution, like Guti, and the latter's injury may result in more playing time and pressure for the youngster.

Up front, you cannot fault 'Van the Man' for effectiveness, and Higuaín is coming out of his shell to contribute speed and a desire to run at defenders. But that is where the options start and end.

Raúl is unrecognisable from the man who scored 16 goals last season; he's the invisible man in the squad. It's no longer a question of whether he should be selected for the Spanish national side; rather, questions are beginning to be asked about whether he should be in Real Madrid's starting eleven. Saviola, for whatever reason, just does not feature in Schuster's plans, which leaves nothing in reserve.

So, as per the title of this entry, why would Capello be proud? Well, Schuster has clearly eschewed any pretensions to elegant, free-flowing football for an approach purely designed to get results. If, in his own words, nobody listens to his requests for reinforcements and he has to work with what he's given, he's doing exactly that. The questions is whether this will last out the season. Mijatovic may claim the club has no intentions of scouring the transfer market in January, but, if results don't go Real's way, he may have to spend some of the millions from the sale of Robinho.

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At a canter

The 60,000 fans at the Santiago Bernabéu, expecting a sackful of goals last night, went home disappointed after Real Madrid only managed to put two goals past their opponents. BATE Borisov, making their debut in the Champions League, are Real's first Belarussian opposition and showed why they're likely to be the whipping boys of Group H.

The game showed promise after the early first goal (11'), born of a cleverly executed set play. Van der Vaart's corner kick was picked up and swept across to the right by Guti, for Sergio Ramos to calmly side-foot it into the net. However, what followed was a catalogue of missed chances as the pace of the game dropped to a saunter.

It felt more like a training session or a preseason match than a competitive game. Given Real's effectiveness in front of goal against Numancia at the weekend, the best explanation for the lack of accuracy (2 goals out of 22 shots, 10 of which were on target) must be the lack of tension - and it is the job of the coach to instil this into the players.

Compounding Real Madrid's misery, Fernando Gago picked up a hamstring injury after 35 minutes and had to be replaced by Diarra. He could be out for up to four weeks, according to the club's medical services. Cannavaro, returning from injury, managed to get through the 90 minutes without incident.

The second goal arrived 10 minutes into the second half. Raúl's shot on goal was parried by the BATE keeper, Veremko, and the defender's attempted clearance merely founds its way to Van Nistelrooy, who only had to tap it in. The Dutchman added to his tally of 53 Champions League goals, bringing him one closer to team mate Raúl's record of 61 strikes in the competition.

A few minutes later, BATE found themselves one man down, after Anri Khagush was sent off for a second bookable offence. Still, Real Madrid could not find a way through, though Higuaín came closest.

Schuster seemed content with the three points and only expressed mild disappointment in the post-match press conference: "I’m a bit unhappy about having scored only two goals. We deserved more. I did not put the brakes on the game, the players did." Contrast this with Phil Scolari's words on Tuesday, showing his disappointment with his Chelsea players, even after a thumping 4-0 defeat of Bordeaux.

Real Madrid travel to St. Petersburg in two weeks' time to meet current UEFA champions Zenit (of Arshavin fame). They made life difficult for their hosts in their away tie to Juventus, but finally succumbed to a Del Piero free kick 14 minutes from time and will prove a much sterner test for Real.

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Robinho Voted Player of the Year

The readers of All In White have voted, and their verdict is that Robinho has been this season's most valuable Real Madrid player. The results, based on the total votes collected throughout the season on a month by month basis, show that Robinho received 65 out of a total of 394 votes cast, or about 1 in 6. Despite this, recent reports have linked Robinho with a move to either Chelsea or Manchester United, the latter as a possible player exchange for Cristiano Ronaldo.

The top three Real Madrid players were:

• Robinho - 65 votes
  
• Casillas - 62 votes
  
• Raúl - 53 votes

Robinho was also the only player in the whole squad to receive at least one vote every month between September 2007 and May 2008, showing that he is consistently well regarded by voters, even though his form dipped in the run up to the end of the season. Robinho also won the monthly accolade twice during the season: in November and March. The Player of the Month awards are listed below:

• September 2007 - Sneijder
  
• October 2007 - Raúl
  
• November 2007 - Robinho
  
• December 2007 - Van Nistelrooy
  
• January 2008 - Casillas
  
• February 2008 - Guti
  
• March 2008 - Robinho
  
• April 2008 - Raúl
  
• May 2008 - Higuaín

Of the 25 players in the squad, only three received no votes: Salgado (no surprise there), Codina (who only played one game all season) and Balboa (whose chances were more restricted in the second half of the season, when more votes were cast). The results for the whole squad were:

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The party continues

What some madridistas feared did not come to pass: Real Madrid came out to meet Barcelona with their minds fully on the task at hand and there was no indication that there was any residual hangover from the league celebrations on Sunday night. In fact, if anything, it was their rivals who looked a little lost at sea, though they had, in theory, more to play for. With Villareal's earlier win away to Recreativo, they needed at least a draw to have an outside chance at the runner-up spot.

Schuster lined up a strong midfield, with both Gago and Diarra on defensive duties, and Guti, Sneijder and Robben providing width and creativity up front, leaving Raúl as the lone striker. At the back, the reprieved Heinze (his booking was overturned on appeal) replaced the suspended Cannavaro in the centre with Pepe, and Ramos and Marcelo as right and left backs.

Rijkaard, with the threat of being sacked hanging over him all week, could not comply with Laporta's request of a 0-5 result that would see him "win a bet with a friend". Even that would probably not have been enough to save him; the days of a season being rescued by beating the 'auld enemy' convincingly are long gone. Worse still, the Barcelona manager must have realised his tactical line-up was leaking water everywhere and replaced Gudjohnssen with Giovani after a mere 23 minutes.

By this time, Real were already 2-0; the first through one player who loves the big occasion: Raúl, and the second from another Robben header, who seems to be making a habit of it recently. Though there was a foul by Guti on Márquez in the lead up to the first goal which the referee did not see, and a doubtful free kick award which resulted in the second, there is little doubt about the validity of the final result. Having said that, the referee was appalling and if Barcelona had been anywhere near Real's equal on the pitch, they'd be talking about his performance for years to come.

Higuaín came on in the second half for Robben and scored his fourth goal in as many games barely two minutes after coming on; the lad seems intent on answering his critics after being accused of having trouble putting it away. There was a nice return from injury too for Ruud van Nistelrooy who stepped up to take a penalty kick in the last quarter of an hour just after coming on for Raúl and put Real four up. The much vaunted "humiliation" of the pasillo before the start of the game paled into insignificance when faced with the real humiliation of a team on its last legs.

Henry's late consolation goal was more than enough reward for Barcelona's efforts on the night, marred by Xavi's sending-off in injury time. They are a team who've lost their way and will need to find it again before next season. The parallels with Real's galáctico decline (remember the Fantastic Four, anyone?), exemplified by a Ronaldinho-led 3-0 rout at the Bernabéu in November 2005, are obvious and a root-and-branch reform is needed. Twenty-five years have passed since the last time Real Madrid beat Barcelona at both home and away league ties. One wonders whether Laporta will survive the cull.

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Within striking distance

The best Racing side in living memory went into their clash with Real Madrid on Sunday knowing that a win would lift them up to fourth in the table and into Champions League territory. Atlético's surprise defeat at home to Betis on Saturday motivated the Cantabrian side to come out all guns blazing, much like one of those Atlantic gales that regularly hit Santander. Real, on the other hand, knew that Barcelona had failed to subdue Espanyol the previous day, and that Villareal had just beaten Valladolid 2-0, leaving their pursuers 8 and 7 points behind respectively before they'd kicked a ball.

Despite Racing's initial onslaught, it was Real who would score first when Raúl got the merest of touches on a goal-bound Robinho cross. The captain, who is almost certain to get a break from international duties this summer despite being the second-highest Spanish goalscorer in the league, increased his personal tally against Racing to thirteen goals, making it his second-favourite team to score against, after Valladolid.

The other element of Real's success on the night was the excellent work from the back four, in particular Heinze, who is giving Sneijder a run for his money as Real's most valuable signing of the season. The Argentine was not only exemplary in his defensive duties but also linked up well with Sneijder to relieve the pressure when most needed. Added to the back four, the excellent performances of Gago and Diarra meant that Racing could only reach Casillas's area with aerial balls from set plays.

The only fly in the ointment was that, despite Raúl's early goal, the forward line was not as effective as it could have been, and a couple of clear chances, one each from Robinho and Robben, went begging. The Brazilian is not showing the sparkling form of earlier in the season (is it fitness, or is it confidence?) and was substituted by Higuaín in the second half. Robben, while showing an excellent level of fitness, also struggled to make an impact, and Schuster decided to bring Balboa on for a few minutes at the end of the game.

The youngster played his part in Higuaín's goal, which, coming as it did in the third minute of injury time against an exhausted Racing side, was probably too much reward for Real's efforts. However, this now means that Real Madrid can mathematically win their thirty-first league title next week at home to Athletic Bilbao if both Barcelona and Villareal fail to win.

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Learning to park the bus

Former Spain coach Javier Clemente made his intentions clear prior to Murcia's visit to the Bernabéu on Sunday: they were going to "park the bus" in front of their goal and hope this was enough to keep Real out. While few would argue that second from bottom Murcia did not truly expect to win in Madrid, it is perhaps not the best strategy for a team facing relegation. Clemente set out his stall with what looked like a 7-2-1 formation at times and did not change it even when Torres was sent off for a terrifying challenge on Aquino which left Real with 10 men for the best part of 70 minutes.

Refereeing blunders aside (apart from the sending-off, Iturralde González did not cover himself in glory, waving away several possible penalty decisions for either side), Real with 10 were better than Murcia with 11, but it still took about 40 minutes for the first shot on goal. Raúl is not the best choice for centre-forward, especially with the opponent's area as crowded as it was.

After the sending off, Schuster decided not to replace him with another defender to try to maintain an attacking formation. Though proved right, it was clearly not Robinho's day: he looked uninspired and even occasionally drifted from his wing to the centre, where he just got in the way. Guti, who earlier in the week joined the other 'lifers' in the squad, provided some class in the midfield, ably assisted by a much better performance from Sneijder, who not only raced back to prevent a rare Murcia shot on goal, but also took advantage of a defensive error to coolly put away the winner. At this point Schuster took off the ineffectual Robinho and brought Salgado on to assure the final result.

Real knew in advance that Barcelona had stuttered on their visit to Recreativo (with their minds more likely focused on the Champions League than the championship), and the win increased their lead to nine points. Following Villareal's loss away to Almería, this points difference remains and it will take a disaster of epic proportions for the league title to be won by anyone else.

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Back on top

The Madrid press was all abuzz with excitement following yesterday's 3-1 defeat of Sevilla. What with Barcelona throwing away a 2-0 lead at Betis the day before, they are now touting second-placed Villareal as the ones to watch in the run-in to the title. Without taking away from what was a much improved performance, it is still far too early to clay claim to the title, especially given how irregular Real has been in 2008 (won 9, lost 9).

Although much is being made of Higuaín scoring at last, he only managed to put away one of at least three clear-cut chances, and his team-mates seemed to be losing confidence in him. Another much-mentioned anecdote is Raúl scoring his 290th goal for the club, putting him neck-and-neck with 70s and 80s legend Santillana and second only to the great Di Stefano (307). Howerver, the keys to yesterday's triumph lie in the great display from the back four (especially Cannavaro, who's come in for a lot of criticism in recent days) and the return of creativity in midfield from the likes of Guti and (yes, it's true) Sneijder.

Real had to start without Pepe through injury, but they barely missed him, and his replacement, Gabriel Heinze, not only ably supported Cannavaro in the rear, but also opened the scoring for Real with a header off a Sneijder free kick. The Dutchman added a second assist when he found Raúl in the area. The captain controlled the ball, jinked around two defenders and blasted it far from the hands of Sevilla keeper Palop. This came barely two minutes after Kanouté, in a rare attack for Sevilla in the first half, hit a beautiful volley to put the scores level.

On past performances, a one-goal lead wasn't going to be enough, even if it didn't look like it was going to be Sevilla's night. Half-way through the second half Sneijder found Guti, who played it back Higuaín, who finally managed to put the ball, and the game, away.

Real's 6-point lead over Villareal means the boys from the "Yellow Submarine" will need to accumulate at least 7 points more than the men in white, given the head-to-head results between both teams.

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See-saw

Is it lack of confidence? Is it bad luck? Is it Mijatovic wasting over a hundred million on signings that are not pulling their weight in the squad? Is it fair to call this a crisis when Real Madrid are still four points ahead in the league while in England, Manchester United are five ahead and Alex Ferguson is trying to dampen the euphoria?

The reasons for the slump are probably many and inter-related: there is a lack of confidence in the side, the "bad" luck in this half of the season merely balances out the good fortune in the first half, and the less said about Brylcreem boy, the better. But, all in all, while "crisis" may be overstating the case a smidgeon, the situation is drawing dangerous parallels with last season's run-in, except the other way around. The famous "cagómetro" (lit. shit-meter) is making a reappearance, as Real are facing their own brown-trouser time. One can't help but see the looming spectre of the 3rd last game of the season, the Clásico at the Bernabéu, which, due to the ridiculously tight Spanish fixture calendar will be played in mid-week instead of at the week-end.

Back in Sunday's game, it was interesting to note that when Raúl had scored his second of the night (and 15th of the season) and put Real ahead, the Bernabéu was echoing to the cries of "Raúl, selección". But Luis Aragonés has made his bed and will likely lie in it: his last squad selection before the European championships (for a friendly against Italy on Wednesday) did not include the former captain. It did include, however, the other brace-taker on the night, David Villa, who is preferred because "there are better players than Raúl".

Villa's league tally? 10.

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Depressing

After a two-week hiatus (don't ask) I come back to this blog with the distinct feeling that I'm not going to enjoy what remains of the season. It may seem strange, with the team top of the League and with a seven-point cushion, but the feeling remains nevertheless. Some of this ennui may be attributed to Real's ignominious, though deserved elimination from the Champions League by Roma a couple of weeks ago. Enough time has passed that I can safely say it's not just the temporary disappointment of getting dumped out of Europe's premier competition, at the last-16 stage, for the umpteenth year running. The malaise runs deeper than that.

It's just that we're now left with 10 games in a competition, that, frankly, nobody seems to want to win. At Riazor, a venue that Real has not managed to crack in the last seventeen years, the visitors were undone by an own goal by Pepe. Ironically, this was Real's only shot on goal in the whole game; it's just a shame it was the wrong end. The previous week's effort, at home to Espanyol, was barely any more watchable, and victory was once again partly due to a dodgy penalty that Raúl put away for his 200th league goal.

So what's wrong? After all, this time last season Real was in the same situation vis-a-vis the Chmapions League and the Cup and with 14 fewer points in the league. I think the fault lies partly with unreasonable expectations, partly with Bernd Schuster's high-handed approach with the media which draws unneccesary contempt from many quarters and the pair of jokers running the club who don't seem to have the first inkling of a medium-term strategy.

By unreasonable expectatinoons I mean my own. We have become used in recent seasons to Real doing well, especially in Europe. And even when the play was irregular (as it was throughout the galáctico era), the team were almost invariable exciting to watch. All football goes in cycles, and Real is not exempt from this rule. In fact, I am convinced the period over the last 8-9 years of Spanish domination in European competition is well and truly over (UEFA coefficients notwithstanding), if it wasn't already the case last year, and England's Premiership has not only taken the lead, but is streets ahead of the rest. So maybe I should just grin and bear a few fallow years and wait our turn.

But the problems with the manager and the club "leadership" give little cause for optimism. Granted, this could have been sold as a "transitional" year, and the club's early domination in the league may have worked against that to some extent. However, the lack of any clear vision, of any style of play, does not bode well. If Schuster cannot be bothered to tell us what he's playing at and how he intends to lead this squad over the next couple of seasons, why should we be bothered to listen to him?

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The Robinho Show

Robinho returned to the Real Madrid side in triumphant fashion as he rescued his team from a tricky situation in Huelva by scoring two goals in his 18 minutes on the pitch. The trip to the Colombino was no picnic, and Recreativo had the better of the play at times, belying their 18th place in the standings. In fact, they went ahead on 16 minutes through central defender Cáceres from yet another set play. It is a worrying trend, as the number of goals conceded by Real Madrid from this type of play in recent weeks seems to be on the increase.

Schuster played Baptista up front, just behind lone striker Raúl, given Van Nistelrooy's ankle injury, sidelining Soldado yet again, with Gago in Guti's usual role. While it's generally acknowledged that the absence of these two players is a blow to Real Madrid (last night saw far fewer shots on goal than recently) it is a fact that this season, Real has won every game where one or both of them have been absent. Until Raúl's offside goal on the half hour, Real barely showed any signs of getting into the match. The offside position was marginal, but it was only the start of referee Iturralde González's protagonism in this game.

To Beto's expulsion after 51 minutes for striking out at Heinze (though he was provoked by the Argentinian), the referee added that of Sergio Ramos 4 minutes later. Recreativo found themselves a man down after 68 minutes when Quique Álvarez hacked down Robben, putting him out of commission for about a month. While it's hard to argue with any of the sendings off per se, the heated atmosphere during most of the game owes much to the referee's general attitude and, dare I say it, incompetence. A referee commands respect from the players not because he has a pair of coloured cards in his shirt pocket, but because he controls the game from the very beginning and sets very clear expectations of the behaviour he expects. Erratic decisions are always seen as 'unfair', no matter who they benefit.

Thus it was, with Real's 10 against Recreativo's, that Robinho came on for Cannavaro (!) and he changed the tenor of the game from his first touch. His first came from a terrific finish after picking up a loose ball on the edge of the area. His second was a neat lob over the keeper after Gago found him unmarked with a pass Guti would have been proud of, right on the edge of normal time. Real still had time to sweat, as Martins pulled one back 2 minutes later with a curling free kick (yet another set play!) which beat Casillas, but it was too little too late. Barcelona's 4-2 defeat against Atlético in a match that was being played at the same time, puts Real's lead once again, at five points, but the alarms have been sounded, and this is by no means definitive, merely a slightly more comfortable cushion. Pepe returned in the final few minutes and finished unscathed, so he will likely start against Roma on Wednesday.

Schuster still had time to grab headlines for himself after walking out of the post-match press conference, annoyed at being repeatedly asked to comment on the referee's performance. Given that he's not been backward in coming forward when he perceives the referee has damaged his side's interests, many accusations of hypocrisy are being levelled at Bernd over this latest 'outburst'. I'd rather he shut up about the refs completely, but I suspect he will pipe up again when he feels like it.

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Fateful February

The numbers for the month of February speak for themselves: Played 5, Won 1, Lost 4. The situation has deteriorated so much that even the previously impregnable Santiago Bernabéu stadium no longer guarantees victory. Jarek Berga, over at American Madridistas, argues that this is a case of luck evening out over the course of a season. In other words, the first half of the championship has seen Real Madrid grind out wins where perhaps they did not "deserve" them; where their effectiveness in front of goal meant that they could be outplayed for most of the game and still come away with the three points. There is an element of truth in this, of course, but, from a statistical perspective, four losses in five games is somewhat of an aberration; we should be able to identify more immediate reasons for the slump.

Talk of "crisis" has begun to feature prominently in the media, particularly following the comical way in which Getafe scored against Real last weekend. With the greater part of the squad celebrating a "goal" by Robben by the corner flag, only Guti and Heinze noticed the linesman's outstretched arm signalling for offside. A quick counter by Getafe saw these two, plus Casillas, facing four players from the visiting side. the outcome was never in doubt, and Uche coolly slotted the winner home. Real never looked like equalising, much less winning the game, so what's happened?

A slew of injuries to Real Madrid defenders over the past couple of months have been discussed on this blog on a number of occassions. To some extent, this has been the case all season, with Schuster rarely using the same back four three games running. Also, Casillas is no longer playing the saviour role since his unbeaten run was broken. A potential piece of good news on this front is the likely return from injury of Pepe against Recreativo next Saturday, assuming he can regain the form that helped to shore up the centre of defence earlier in the season.

Another player likely to return from injury is the much-missed Robinho. Some have pointed to his absence as a factor in Real's misfortunes, but I think that, from a technical perspective, this is largely not the case. The loss of Robinho has coincided with the return of Arjen Robben, who has given Real much needed width and pace in attack. In fact, during February, Real has managed an average of sixteen shots on goal per game, rather more than in the earlier part of the season.

And so, it seems, a lot of Real's troubles must therefore stem from an inability to put those chances away. I think this is more than simple statistics or luck evening out and is likely to have a psychological component. All strikers suffer from periods of plenty and periods of drought and both Raúl and especially Van Nistelrooy seem to be in the middle of one. Nobody else is picking up the slack, and this is where I think Robinho could bring some much needed inspiration.

The other psychological element is that affecting the whole team. It's hard to bring yourselves out of a losing dynamic, particularly when you think you're doing all the right things and nothing seems to work. Bernd Schuster must put his psychologist's hat on and turn things around. I believe the next two games are crucial: beating Recreativo away and getting past Roma in the Champions League could be the tonic to put this campaign back on the rails.

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No Roman holiday

A familiar pattern: early lead from Real, who had the best of the possession, squandered as the home team soak up the pressure and make the most of their few chances to edge the game 2-1. Like the Betis game, Bernd Schuster failed to take any of the blame for the result, focusing only on how his team "deserved more" for their efforts.

There is a certain amount of consensus in the Spanish press that Real Madrid did indeed play well (better than at the weekend in Sevilla) and possibly deserved to take more from the Stadio Olimpico in Rome than the away goal. Some Roma fans experienced a certain degree of anxiety as the clock wound down, fearing a second goal from Real that never came. The numbers show that he visitors had around 60% of possession and the same number of chances on goal as Roma. But numbers don't tell the whole story.

Aside from Raúl's early goal and a Van Nistelrooy shot hitting the woodwork, Real showed a frightening lack of effectiveness up front, with up to 10 shots going wide (well wide on some occassions) and are now suffering a fate similar to the one they were inflicting on opponents earlier in the season. Schuster does not seem to want to experiment too much with his strikers, so Saviola and Soldado and even Higuaín are unlikely to get much playing time barring injuries. Brightest up front was once again Robben, who raced past former Real player Panucci time and again.

Uncharacteristically, the back four were all pretty effective last night: Heinze played the full 90 minutes and although he must take some blame for the 2nd Roma goal, he was pretty solid all evening. Unfortunately, Sergio Ramos picked up a booking and will miss the return leg (please, don't replace him with Salgado!). The midfield, on the other hand, was a bit of a dog's dinner. Playing more horizontally than vertically is a good way to keep possession, but not a good way to threaten the opposition's goal. More bizarrely, the sight of Diarra in Guti's position and viceversa must have had some wondering if Schuster had lost the plot. Bringing on Drenthe and Baptista gave Real some more speed and danger, but why did he have to wait until 10 minutes from time?

Real Madrid have now lost their unbeaten record at the Olimpico, and run the risk of getting knocked out at the last 16 stage for the 4th year running. February has been a disappointing month so far with 3 away defeats punctuated by that 7-0 home win. However, a 2-1 result is by no means insurmountable, and with Real's record at home this season, there is some room for optimism, but the squad have to regain the killer instinct they seem to have mislaid if they want to progress any further.

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