The Spanish season has just started, and to be honest, it couldn’t have started in a better way. What a high profile game…Real Madrid vs. Barcelona for the 1st leg of the Spanish Super Cup in Madrid. What a game. We had the opportunity to see the best players, in the best stadium, and joining the madness with the one of best set of fans in the world.
In today’s match, we had the chance to see the supposed best team in world shake, and that’s the lesson they will learn. They might be the Spanish title holders, but there is another team on the block that will make their lives a nightmare.
Real Madrid was outstanding! They played strong, well organized, and had a good pace which didn’t allow Barcelona to react. The score might say that it was a balanced game, but don’t get your hopes up, because the game was one sided until the 75th minute…and if any team today deserved to come off that pitch with a victory…it had to be Real Madrid.
The final result was 2-2, but Barcelona shot twice on goal in the 1st half, and scored 2 goals. Real Madrid had so many opportunities, but today, Valdes showed the world why he is the 3rd best goal keeper of the Furia Roja. He was sharp and very confident. We could easily criticize the Real Madrid strikers for missing so many opportunities, but we have to give the credit to the keeper as he was solid.
Ozil scored 1st for Real Madrid, but the Cules managed to equalize with Villa’s goal. A couple of minutes later Messi striked again and put them 1-2 at half time. Real Madrid entered strong for the 2nd half and equalized with Xabi Alonso’s goal, and following the goal, was a swarm of vicious attacks from Real with waves of opportunities, and some great saves by Valdes.
Valdes did commit a penalty close to the end of the match, and everyone saw it except the referee. I’m still a big fan of introducing TMO (Rugby video referee) in football, but apparently that’s never going to happen.
Now, as for the second leg, what can we expect from it? After today’s game I do believe in victory by Real Madrid. If they show up in Camp Nou playing the same way they did today, for sure they will score, and for sure they will win. If Mourinho show’s up with an attacking team and puts Barcelona to the test, even if Real lose, we will have a game in our hands and another opportunity to celebrate football at its finest.
We shouldn’t judge Barcelona’s line up with the introduction of Mascherano as central defender, and the starting of Thiago Alcantara in the lineup for 2 good reasons.
First, both Mascherano and Thiago could play on any team in Europe in the starting eleven, and secondly, their salaries combined would take some pressure of the Spanish economy.
Anyway, we are up for a treat in the 2nd leg. Any comments, or predictions on who will win?
To the viewers in Canada, just a heads up, TV providers across the country have Setanta Sports, free of charge, for the month of August. Yes, it’s just to tease us, but hopefully they will show the 2nd leg live. If not, there is plenty of football, so stay tuned, and I will post a preview of the game.
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