The Champions League Final

By El Maestro

The dream of winning the ‘la Decima’ may finally become a reality this Saturday in the Stadium of Light (Estádio da Luz) in Lisbon. After a season with numerous ups and downs, Real Madrid find themselves in the final against cross city rivals Atletico Madrid. By strength of squad and depth, Madrid is clearly the favorite, but that doesn’t mean it will be an easy win. In fact, it is because of that exact reason why I am more concerned about this game than the semifinal against Bayern. As the last three games and most of this season has shown, Madrid usually takes the favorite card way too seriously. Leading to shocking results, such as the 2-0 lose in Dortmund after winning the 1st leg 3-0. However, this is the opportunity to win the Champions League and I’m sure the players will be highly motivated, but Atletico is a worthy opponent and should be respected. Not to mention the final is 50 Derbis in one, which means the winner will have ultimate bragging rights. Atletico has no where near the team Madrid has, but they have two things that has allowed them to have this incredible season.

1. Diego Simeone

2. Heart of a Warrior

Never have I seen a team as limited as Atletico and accomplish so much. There is no major difference between Atletico and Valencia; yet ‘los Colchoneros’ have won the ‘la Liga’ while Valencia have not even qualified for the Europa League. Atletico is exactly a team of ‘little warriors’: a short squad that leaves their heart out in every game. Questions continue to surround whether Diego Costa and Arda Turan will play, but that won’t matter. Atletico will still be that aggressive, hard-nose side they’ve been all season. Regardless, Madrid just has to do one thing if they want to win: show up. No matter how much heart Atletico has or what ideas ‘Cholo’ has up his sleeves, Madrid is miles better and will beat them as long as they play to their full 100% potential. Real Madrid is more than capable of winning even with CR7 at less than 80% and without Xabi in midfield. Out of the four Derbis played this season, Madrid has only played the full 90 minutes in the Copa del Rey semifinal 1st leg: 3-0 victory. ‘La Decima’ is within reach and it will be touring the Bernabeu if Madrid respects Atletico, play the way they know and leave it all on the field.

¡Hala Madrid!

¡A por ‘la Decima’!

 

Arbeloa off ‘La Coja’

By El Maestro

Let me just make it clear that what I’m about to write is my personal opinion. On Tuesday, Del Bosque announced his 30 man provisional squad, which will be cut to the mandated 23 on May 25th. This list included a few new comers, such as Carvajal, Alberto Moreno,  Iturraspe and Koke. Regardless, the biggest surprise was someone who was left of the squad. After almost seven years of being a regular, Arbeloa’s name was not mentioned among the 30 selected. Already, many have come out to defend “El Marquez” saying Arbeloa’s two month injury and the competition for the right back position led to this decision being made. Ironically, the people who defend this theory are the same that keep saying Mourinho’s decision to bench Casillas was “personal”.

I do agree that Spain has more than two quality right backs and any of the options could have been selected. Azpilicueta has had an outstanding season this season at Chelsea (even though he played at left back) and is probably the best Spanish right back going into this World Cup. Atletico Madrid has made it to the Champions League Final with Juanfran as their right back and Carvajal has shown some promising signs for the future in his first season with Real Madrid. However, Juanfran and Carvajal are no better defenders than Arbeloa. The question many are asking is was Del Bosque’s decision to leave Arbeloa out purely a sporting decision?

My Opinion: Not one bit

In fact, he used the two month injury as the perfect excuse to finally leave him out. I don’t buy this injury explanation because  Thiago Alcântara has been out since late March and that didn’t stop Del Bosque from including him. Pique, Navas and Cazorla have also been struggling with injuries the last two months and they’re all on the list. Along with this, we shouldn’t forget Del Bosque publicly stated he would wait until the last minute to take Villa to the 2012 Euro after suffering a six month injury in December 2011. With that said, why is he willing to take all these players (despite their injury problems) and not take Arbeloa? Why was he willing to take wait for Villa in 2012? Why did he take Torres to the Euro when he wasn’t a starter or scoring goals for his club team? Why did he include Villa and Torres in the provisional squad when they haven’t produced this season? Why does he continue to take Reina when his form has completed dropped in the last two years? Why would he start Casillas in the Confederations Cup when he hadn’t played a game since January 2013?    

Simple, because all these players are part of ‘Del Bosque’s group’ and Arbeloa is seen as the radical who’s ruining the team chemistry in the dressing room. Since he doesn’t bouy down to everyone of Xavi’s commands and doesn’t apologize for mistakes he hasn’t committed, he’s seen as a radical who’s ruining the team chemistry in the Spanish dressing room. The only thing Arbeloa has been guilty of is being a great professional for both Real Madrid and Spain. If there is anyone at fault here, it is Del Bosque and his “group” for not knowing when to differentiate playing for your club and country. What do people expect when Real Madrid takes on Barcelona and Atletico Madrid (hugs, kisses and an easy going game)? Problems will always exist between players from both sides because they are rivalry games and each team really wants to win. Arbeloa is a true example of how to handle these situations because he’s always defended the side who pays his salary first, but puts all those confrontations during these heated fixtures aside to represent and do what’s best for Spain. Sadly, ‘Del Bosque’s group’ and ‘piperos’ don’t agree with this and Arbeloa will be watching the World Cup from a television set; unless a string of injuries occur at the right back position.

Despite this injustice, Arbeloa will continue to be a fantastic professional and all I can do is thank him for always putting Real Madrid as his number 1 footballing priority and for not allowing outside forces to change his way of thinking.

Arbeloa: Get fit this summer and enjoy your vacation.

¡ESPARTANO!

 

 

Bye Bye Liga

By El Maestro

In just 7 days, Real Madrid went from having serious possibilities of winning the treble to literally throwing away all chances of winning la Liga. At times I can’t believe this team hammered Bayern Munich in Germany after the horrific performances against Valencia, Valladolid and Celta. What’s worse is the league was almost presented to them on a silver platter and they just knocked it out without a care in the world. Madrid would have now been on top going into the last game of the season if they had won these three games and we wouldn’t have had to worry about the Barcelona v Atletico fixture on the final match day. Instead, they found new ways to sink and completely the league was closer than they thought.

Valencia: Barcelona drew the day before and Atletico lost two hours before. Real Madrid was the last to play and they had it all in their hands. A win would tie them on points with Barcelona and put them three behind Atletico going into the make up game against Valladolid. Two wins and Madrid would be tied with the ‘Colchoneros’ on the penultimate day of the season. They drew 2-2 and were now two and five points back of Barcelona and Atletico.

Valladolid: Despite this, it wasn’t done yet. Valencia is a good side and Diego Alves had the game of his life (once again in the Bernabeu). This was the game postponed because of the Copa de Rey final and a win would leave Madrid two points behind Atletico. Despite Cristiano’s injury, Real Madrid had a great squad on the field, they struck first and Casillas was in goal. The man many blamed for putting Madrid in the situation they were in was on the bench and “El Santo” was in. He did little for us, Madrid played terrible in the 2nd half and conceded Valladolid’s equalizer with less than 7 minutes remaining

Memo: I’m not blaming Iker for the draw, but just saying the press would have made a fuss of this if Diego had been in goal.

Celta: Regardless, Real Madrid still had a chance of winning. It was slim and we needed Barcelona and Atletico to drop points, but there was a possibility. They both drew and a win would put Madrid ahead of Barcelona and tied with Atletico. Best of all, it would put Barcelona in an awkward situation where they needed to win in order to be champions, but did not depend on themselves. Ramos and Xabi made two big mistakes and Madrid lost to a team coached by the future manager of Barcelona.

Reflection

Lets be honest, Madrid has not had the outstanding season the press has said they’ve had. They’ve only played the full 90 minutes five times this season (both games against Bayern,1st leg of the Copa versus Atletico and the two 1-6’s against Schalke and Galatasaray) and the only reason the ‘piperos’ are being more kind with us is to show everyone that Mourinho was the problem. Well Mou left in June and Madrid is still having the same problems they said would disappear. I don’t care that Madrid won the Cup and are in the Champions League Final for the first time since 2002 (when you make it to four straight semifinals, you’ll eventually get a crack at the final). Ancelotti did a great job in the semifinal, but the way he’s handled this league season has been terrible. They didn’t beat Atletico and Barcelona in any of the two league encounters and dropped points at Villarreal, Osasuna, Athletic, Sevilla, Valladolid and Celta (also barely sneaking through against Elche, Levante, Valencia [in Mestalla] and Espanyol). Not to mention they had the opportunity to virtually ice la Liga in March when they had a 3 and 4 point lead on Atletico and Barcelona going to the Calderon and playing el Clasico in the Bernabeu, and they blew it.

Personally, I am tired and fed up with seeing Madrid treat these low intense fixtures as cake walks where all they have to do is put on the shirt. When people use the expression “Madrid can win without getting off the bus”, it doesn’t literally mean that. It just simply means if they play to their full potential, Madrid will easily beat teams like Valladolid, Celta, Osasuna, Rayo, etc. Even a 90% effort is good enough to beat these sides. However, when Madrid doesn’t even play at 70% and the other team plays to their full 100% capabilities, things like this always happen. Of course I think Madrid can still win the Champions League, but that won’t change anything. La Liga is not just won by beating Barcelona and Atletico, but also by winning in Bilbao, Pamplona, Sevilla, San Sebastian, Valencia, Malaga, Getafe, etc. That’s where Madrid’s problem has been this season and that was exactly the reason why they lost last years league.

Madrid has spent millions to have the best squad in Spain, and yet they lost last season to the worst Barcelona side in five years because certain players didn’t want to listen to Mourinho. This year, we are about to lose it either to an even worse Barcelona team that gave up last week or to an Atletico Madrid of ‘little warriors’. Yes, I call them ‘little warriors’ because they are exactly that. They don’t have a deep and fierce squad like Madrid or Bayern, but they know what they play at, obey everything that comes out of Simeone’s mouth and leave every single drop of energy in each game. In fact, if Madrid did exactly that, the league would have been won before taking on Dortmund in the quarter final. I don’t care that Cristiano and Bale were injured, this team has enough to beat Valladolid and Celta with or without them. Even last years team that threw la Liga in November played with more intensity and heart. When I see this Real Madrid team, I see one of two things:

1. Ancelotti does not have the personality to motivate these players to play every game at 100%.

or

2. The players are enjoying the fact that they don’t have a dominant figure (like Mou) hovering and getting on their backs.

The only thing Madrid can do now is win ‘la Decima’, accomplish the domestic double and avoid further humiliation to Atletico Madrid. However, next season Ancelotti and the players have to get a grip on la liga and make sure they go all out in winning it next season from the beginning (as well as the CL and Copa) because Real Madrid is not a side that settles on one trophy, but seeks to win it all.

 

 

 

 

Auf Nach Lissabon (Off to Lisbon)

By El Maestro

Not many people know this, but after the lost in Dortmund, I started to think about winning ‘La Décima’………………….. in Berlin (next years host).

For some reason, I had a sneaky feeling (no conspiracy or anything) that Madrid would get Chelsea or Atletico, take them for granted (like against all inferior teams) and get eliminated for a fourth straight year in semis. However, when I saw Bayern come out of the draw, my hopes of winning the Champions League were rejuvenated. Surely they were not going to take an historic European rival (who also call themselves ‘La Bestia Negra’ and had already started to celebrate their qualification to the final with shirts that said “Auf Nach Lissabon”) for granted. At that moment, my concern was not the players motivation, but how would Ancelotti confront both matches; and he did not disappoint.

1st Leg:

The tactics used by both managers surprised me, but I was not totally in shocked by them. Real Madrid played with 11 men back, Bayern abused possession (the Guardiola way). The same style that Mourinho was highly criticized for in 2011 against Barcelona was used by Ancelotti and it worked to perfection. Despite having only 37% of possession, Madrid opened the scoring early through a great counter attacking play and could have finished the tie with another 2 or 3. Bayern created just one dangerous opportunity (Götze stopped by Casillas) and even Franz Beckenbauer was critical with the way his team played. In fact, to sum of Bayern’s performance: I didn’t know whether Madrid was playing Bayern or Barcelona.

2nd Leg:

In spite of the short lead, I was very happy with the result. They did not concede an away goal (always important) and a one goal difference meant Madrid had to play on their toes. I knew playing in Germany would be different (since Madrid had never won in Munich) and I believed they could get the result to go through, but not even in my wildest dream did I think they would put in the performance they did. After a tense opening 15 minutes, Madrid got that all important away goal after a brilliant corner from Modric was headed in by Ramos. The final looked even closer minutes later when Ramos beat Neuer again to make it 0-2 from another set play. From that point on, I thought the game would cool down and that Bayern maybe would have a chance to get back into the tie, but I was wrong again. In the 34th minute, another great counter attack allowed Bale to break free and pass to a wide open Ronaldo to score his 15th Champions League goal this season (breaking the previous CL record) and extend the lead to 0-3.

0-3 in the Allianz Arena after only 35 minutes. Not even Madrid’s number 1 fan would have joked about this being the final score, let alone in the 1st half.

The 2nd half did cool down as Bayern was psychologically destroyed, while Madrid counted down the minutes to officially seal their qualification to the final in Lisbon. Luckily, CR7 made sure to give us something to cheer about right at the end with a brilliant free kick to cap off this historic performance. 0-4 in Munich and 0-5 on aggregate, a match that will never be forgotten by madridistas everywhere.

Back to the Final

Finally, Real Madrid return to the Champions League Final 12 years later and only one team stands in the way of ‘La Décima’: Atletico Madrid. An historic final as it will see for the first time two teams from the same city taking on one another. I don’t know how Diego Simeone has done it, but he’s not just managed to keep Atletico afloat, they’ve not shown any signs of going down. Atletico has had an incredible season, but I thought (like everyone) their wheals would eventually come off due to their short squad and the excess amount of games. Well, it’s May and they are in the Champions League Final and two games away from winning la Liga. In Simeone’s first Champions League campaign as a coach, Atletico finished first in their group with 16 points, beat 4 former CL winners (Oporto, Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea), defeated Milan in the San Siro and destroyed them 4-1 in the Calderon, eliminated Barcelona and pulled off a stellar 1-3 victory in Stanford Bridge. Ironically, I actually dreamed about playing Atletico in the Champions League Final after losing last years Cup Final, but I thought it was highly unlikely; especially after selling Falcao last summer. Now, it’s a reality and both teams have three things on the line:

1. The trophy

2. Pride

3. Ultimate bragging rights

Can’t wait to see what the final has in store for us on May 24th in Lisbon.

!Hala Madrid! !A por La Décima!