Champions League Semis: Real Madrid vs Barcelona Recap (2nd Leg)

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Real Madrid vs Barcelona (2^nd Leg)

Barcelona advances to the finals.  Recap of the el clasico series, there have been two draws and a win for both teams:

el clasico I – La Liga (Apr 16): Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid

el clasico II – Copa del Rey (Apr 20): Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid

el clasico III – Champions League Semis leg 1 (Apr 27): Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona

el clasico VI – Champions League Semis leg 2 (May 4): Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid

Real started strong in the match and was more alive, offensively speaking, compared to their 1^st leg performance.  However, Barca found their footing and began to dominate the 1^st half having a lot of spectacular attempts, putting Casillas to work.  During the 2nd half, again, RM started strong with a few attempts but was handled quite well by Barca defense.  And then Barca scores the 1^st goal when a through-ball from Andres Iniesta was received by Pedro who then beat Iker Casillas in a one-on-one situation and found the back of the net.  Real equalizes when a shot from Angel Di Maria hits the post, the ball bouncing back to him and he crosses it to Marcelo who had a clear shot to the goal.  

The end part of the match was a bit disappointing as it seemed to fall into the pattern of fouls, time-wasting and some injury feigning.  But fortunately, there were no ugly scenes of bad tempers and fighting like the 1st leg match.  Although, Real Madrid are protesting Gonzalo Higuain's disallowed goal due to a foul by CRonaldo on Javier Mascherano (I guess preventing Mascherano from defending Higuain) prior to Higuain’s attempt.  The replay happened so fast so I’ll try to look for the vid.  I wonder what Pierluigi Collina would say about this referee decision.

But, overall, it was Barca’s night as they dominated with 69% possession and had 11 shots (5 on target) and most are probably are Messi’s or had some assist from him.  On the other hand, Real Madrid only had 3 shots (1 on target) and still playing a more physically aggressive game as they committed 31 fouls compared to Barcelona’s 10.  At least this time, no one from Real Madrid was sent off in this match.

photo courtesy of Reuters

poor Messi
photo courtesy of skysports.com

Throughout the match, Leo Messi was a threat to Real Madrid’s defense, making close attempts or providing assists for his teammates.  But he got pretty banged up in this game.  I guess if you’re a prolific scorer like Messi, you would be a well-marked man. He was tackled a lot, I’d say around 12 times in the match.  At one point in the 1^st half he was sandwiched by 3 Real players who were tackling him at the same time.  In the 2^nd half he was sent flying off from Marcelo’s tackle, then his head was pushed down by (was it) Diarra? and seconds later Adebayor pulls him down.  I worry about this coz you can pick up scary injuries from this (remember Ronaldo?).  I wonder how many times he gets tackled in a game?  Pique also had quite a good game, making great calls in tackles, suppressing any attempts from Real and dispossessing the ball from RM.

Abidal got a touching reception from teammates and fans on his return to the pitch
photo courtesy of Getty Images

Of course, one of the special moments in the match was when Eric Abidal comes in for Carles Puyol during the 90^th minute.  Both players got cheers from the fans.  I’m glad Abidal has recovered from the removal of the cancer in his liver, he's a very crucial part of Barca’s defense. As the match ended, Barca teammates playfully tossed him in the air a couple of times

Karanka, Real Madrid's assistant coach.  I wouldn't mind seeing him instead of Mourinho :P
photo courtesy of Real Madrid

Jose Mourinho, of course, missed the match due to a touchline ban he earned during the 1^st leg .  He opted to watch the game from the hotel.  Aitor Karanka, his assistant who took charge of the match, is quite the hottie. :P 

hhhmmmm….why is his hand cupping Morientes’ butt?? :P
photo courtesy of connect.in.com

Apparently he used to play for Real Madrid as a central defender during the pre-galacticos era, alongside Fernando Hierro, Roberto Carlos, Fernando Morientes, Raul, etc.

rain, rain go away… a very wet pitch.  photo courtesy of uefa.com

Other match observations: The pitch was quite slippery as there was a thunderstorm prior to the match and it continued to rain until 2^nd half.  Also, a fan managed to go inside the pitch before the 2^nd half was about to kick off, there was a bit of chasing before they caught him.

Sighting: what’s that pink thing on CRonaldo’s right hamstring? Wish I could find a photo of it.

I’m grateful that Balls Channel has aired live telecasts of the Champions League matches but where is the half-time and post match commentary?  I know there usually is one…And I know UEFA usually flashes the 1^st half stats before going to commercial break.  Did Balls cut to commercial way too soon?  Would’ve loved to see the 1^st half stats.  The only 1^st half stat I saw that flashed was Barca having 7 attempts and Real Madrid had 0.

Champions League Semis: Real Madrid vs Barcelona Recap (1st Leg)

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Real Madrid vs Barcelona

Barcelona was back with a vengeance scoring two away goals in the 1^st leg of the Champions League Semifinals.  So here’s the update on the el clasico series (click here for recap, stats, etc on the 1^st two el clasico matches):

el clasico I – La Liga (Apr 16): Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid

el clasico II – Copa del Rey (Apr 20): Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid

el clasico III – Champions League Semis leg 1 (Apr 27): Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona

All the CRonaldo vs Messi debates? Well, Messi shows them who’s boss as he scores the two goals of the match (scoring 11 goals in 11 Champions League matches and scoring on each of his last four visits to the Bernabeu).   “Another Messi master class,” according to the commentator.  His 1^st goal breaks the 67 minutes of deadlock when he converted a brilliant cross from Ibrahim Afellay.  His 2^nd goal was from a 20-30(?)-yard run, eluding four Real Madrid players then beating Iker Casillas with a right-footed shot to score.  As the commentator said, it was “Delightful!”  Can I just say that Messi is well marked man?  Whenever he has the ball 2-4 Real Madrid players flock to him. 

cute cartoon showing who won the Messi-CRonaldo debate in this match
from goal.com

Messi master class
photo from eufa.com

It was another enjoyable tiki-taka football from Barca with them ending the match with a 72% ball possession and 482 passes completed while Real Madrid only had 127.   All the passing frustrated CRonaldo during the 1^st half, as he ran around in a circle trying to dispossess the ball from Barca, eventually throwing his hands up in defeat.

tempers flare in this very intense match
photo courtesy of ibtimes.com

The game was full of the tension and you can feel the pressure as tempers flared causing the game to stall twice in the 1^st half as a brawl was about to erupt between the two teams on the field.  Then during half-time, both teams went at it again as they made their way to their locker rooms.  I couldn’t tell how it started as the camera only started to capture it when there was already a lot of pushing and shoving but apparently it started from a confrontation between Seydou Keita and Alvaro Arbeloa they left the field, Barca's substitute keeper Jose Pinto ended up with red card from the scuffle.  During the 2^nd half, things started to get ugly again when Pepe got sent off from challenging Dani Alves.  This makes it the 4^th consecutive time a Real player gets a red card in a game against Barca, I guess Real kept their “practice” of ending a match with 10 men.  Jose Mourinho got so heated up about this and Carles Puyol was seen trying to calm him down.  But Mourinho ultimately sent off to the stands after he sarcastically clapped and showed a thumbs up to the fourth official.  The look on his face when he was made to sit on the stands… priceless! Btw, they that challenge on Dani Alves looked like it hurt like hell, he was stretcher off the field.  I hope he doesn’t end up with an injury from this match, he got battered in this game, taking a lot of knocks.

the look on Mourinho face
photo courtesy of Getty Images

Mourinho sent off to the stands
photo courtesy of totalfootballmadness.com

Real Madrid played a very aggressive game (in the physical sense), there was Marcelo stepping (or was it more of a stomp?) on the leg of Pedro, Adebayor hitting Busquets on the face, hard tackles and challenges, etc.

Pepe sent off

Trivia: Pep Guardiola never lost a match at the Santiago Bernabeu, amazing right?

Jersey Watch: nobody asked for Messi’s jersey after the game.  I’d ask for it if I was there :P

After the match: sighting, Puyol walking around with a ball on his belly, inside his jersey.  He had an outstanding performance in this match. He seemed to be playing across the whole defence, helping out whenever his colleagues at the back made a mess of things.  I’m glad he was fit enough to play, Barca really needed his presence in this game.

Champions League Semis: Schalke vs Manchester United Recap (1st Leg)

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Schalke vs Manchester United

I guess I could be right when I said that Manuel Neuer could be the next Van der Sar (also, I didn’t realize he was the captain).  He made a lot of awesome saves, denying Man U’s dangerous scoring attempts from Rooney, Giggs, etal.  He’s probably the main reason the score was still 0-0 by half-time.

for me, Manuel Neuer was the man of the match
photo courtesy of uefa.com

But after 67 minutes of deadlock, Man U finally beat Neuer when Ryan Giggs found the back of the net from a set up by Wayne Rooney.  And two minutes later, Rooney scored another one, this time from a set up from Javier Hernandez.  Well, Neuer held it off for as long as he could.  Schalke’s defense just exposed their keeper one too many times in this match.  I’m surprised that Man U didn’t score more than two.

I was hoping for Schalke to pull off another 5-2 kind of win against the Red Devils.  But Man U’s defense was just pretty solid, neutralizing any attempts from Schalke. 

Jersey swap watch: Saw Raul swap jerseys with Giggs after the match.  Raul had hoped to swap jerseys with Giggs and actually said so prior to the match.  Neuer approached Giggs afterwards, I think he may have asked for a jersey too, but I’m only just guessing, hehe.  This is one of my favourite parts of the game, the minutes after the final whistle blows when players take off their shirts, swap jerseys… I wish the camera/coverage would be a bit longer during this part.

Christoph Metzelder wearing a face mask

On an unrelated note… I’ve been wondering why Christoph Metzelder was wearing a mask when I saw their previous games.   Apparently he broke his nose… for the 4^th time.  Too bad, though, coz without the mask, he’s kinda hot J

Metzelder without the mask.  Isn't he a cutie?

El Clasico

I’m back.  After posting at least one entry per day for two months, I took a little bit of break from blogging.  This entry was supposed to come out last April 15 but I got too busy preparing for my Holy Week vacation and by Holy Week, I got too lazy.

sorry, but this post is 10 days late...  Will just update it a bit.  So here goes…

In football, I’ve heard of the term derby, where in the domestic leagues there are two teams that have a strong rivalry with each other (I guess in local school sports, it’s like an Ateneo vs La Salle game).  Being not that interested in domestic leagues, the only teams I knew who had this was AC Milan and Inter Milan.  So I only recently found out that in Spain, they have what they call the el clasico.  The el clasico is any match between Real Madrid and Barcelona.  It’s apparently one of the world's great sporting rivalries.  The last el clasico was last November 2010 where Barca slaughtered Real Madrid with the final score of 5-0 (I wish I saw this match, click here and here for the match recap). 

So to the madridistas who want to see the Los Blancos avenge their 5-0 defeat from Barca, they have four opportunities to do so within 18 days. These are:

April 16: La Liga

April 20: Copa Del Rey Final

April 27: Champions League Semifinals 1^st Leg

May 3: Champions League Semifinals 2^nd Leg

If you were like me who hoped to see the two Spanish giants face off in the Champions League, now you have an overdose of Barca vs Real Madrid matches.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I have been worried for Barca in the upcoming matches against Real Madrid.  Being strong offensively may be enough against some teams but facing a strong opponent like Real Madrid, they need to fix their defense.  With the absence of Carles Puyol’s solid presence at the back and Eric Abidal still recovering from his surgery, Pep Guardiola has to figure out a way to make his back line impenetrable.  Gerard Pique is there but, I dunno, I feel like he sometimes gets distracted and needs Puyol at his side to keep him focused.  I hope Puyol will be fit in time for these matches, I originally thought his knee injury was a minor thing, but he’s been out for like two months already.

So here are the updates so far..

Champions League QF: Inter Milan vs Schalke Recap (2nd Leg)

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Inter Milan vs Schalke

Raul scores the 1st goal
photo from uefa.com

Raul proves that he still got it, scoring the 1^st goal of the match.  With brilliant ball control, he beat the goalkeeper and netted in his 71^st Champions League goal.  Throughout the match, he posed quite a threat to Inter’s defense and goalie.  He was either making shots or setting them up. 

Inter equalized with a goal from Thiago Motta
photo from uefa.com

Inter's Lucio tried to convert with a header the corner kick from Sneijder.  But the ball deflected onto a Schalke player (sorry, couldn't tell who it was) and Thiago Motta was just in the right place to give the ball a tap to score the equalizer.

Raul sets up Schalke's 2nd goal.  He definitely is still an attacking force to reckon with.
photo from uefa.com

But then Schalke ended any of Inter’s hope of even just trying to salvage some pride from a 5-2 defeat in the 1^st leg when Raul, executed a clever move of chipping the ball forward, giving  Howedes the chance to break away and score their 2^nd goal.

Schalke moves to next round and faces Manchester United.  Speaking of Man U, Sir Alex Ferguson was seen watching the Inter Milan-Schalke game at the stands.  I guess he we sizing up his next opponent.

Champions League QF: Real Madrid vs Tottenham Recap (2nd Leg)

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Real Madrid vs Tottenham

It was very fast-paced match with both teams making quick counter attacks.  Tottenham actually had a lot of pretty close chances, giving Casillas quite a work out.  They even actually looked like the stronger team.  But in the end, what counts is not the “almost-made-it” shots or being the stronger team, what counts is who scored the most goals.

CRonaldo scoring the only goal of the match
photo from eufa.com

The only goal in the match was from CRonaldo’s longe range shot which goalie Heurelho Gomes blocked but couldn’t hold on to the ball.  Real now advances to the semis with final aggregate score of 6-0.  And yes, CRonaldo’s teammates do celebrate with him after all.  Good to know.



is he trying to start a fad of the Jose Rizal hair?
photo from eufa.com

On an unrelated note… What was up with CRonaldo’s hair??

Champions League QF: Barcelona vs Shakhtar Recap (1st Leg)

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Barcelona vs Shakhtar

Barca seemed to have a bit of a slow start, finding their footing around 15 minutes into the game.  It was during this time that Shakhtar really pushed their offense and made a lot of attempts.  You can see the holes in Barca defense which Shakhtar tried to exploit.  With the absence of Carles Puyol and Abidal, Barca really needs to step up their defense as it seems like they will be facing Real Madrid in the semis (and in the domestic matches).  A team like Real will really capitalize on their weak defense.

Leo Messi scored the only goal of the match during the later part of the 1^st half.  It was an amazing show of ball control and dribbling skills.  The commentator said of the goal, “The little man re-writes the record books, yet again.”  Can you believe he’s only 23?!

no, this isn't the "jersey-grabbing" shot.. can't find it yet, well see if I can get the vid
photo from Getty Image

I guess Shakhtar must have felt that Messi was just too dangerous that they had to literally hold onto him to slow him down.  Ischencko, was seen clearly grabbing Messi’s jersey during the 2^nd half.  And a couple of minutes later, another Shakhtar defender (wasn’t able to clearly see who), grabbed on to Messi’s jersey when he dispossessed the ball from goalie, Andrey Pyativ.  I know this is normal in football but it the grabbing was caught clearly on camera.  Ischencko held on so tight, Messi couldn't run forward anymore.  I'll try to find a vid of it if I can.

On an unrelated note, this guy’s  kinda cute, hihi J  He has that Elijah Wood-look going on.

Yaroslav Rakitskiy

Another unrelated note, Swapping Jersey Watch: saw Messi holding Willian’s jersey after the match.  Messi must, like, swap jerseys every game.  Lucky Willan, got the "record-breaking" Messi jersey.

Final Aggregate Score:

Barcelona: 6

Shakhtar: 1

Here are numbers:

Champions League QF: Chelsea vs Manchester United Recap (1st Leg)

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Chelsea vs Manchester United

Javier Fernandez scores Man U’s 1^st goal during the 1^st half.   Didier Drogba equalizes in the 2^nd  half but just seconds after, Man U strikes back with Park Ji Sung scoring the 2^nd goal.

I never really paid much attention to the English teams.  I had this unfounded perception that Chelsea is one of the weaker teams (as they just seem to coast thru Round of 16 ).  But now, looking at their squad, they actually have a lot of strong attacking players.  You have Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Nikolas Anelka, Frank Lampard, etc.  How come they don’t score a lot of goals?  I know I didn’t watch their games, especially in the group stage, but didn’t they have draws or 1-0 wins?

According to the commentator, Carlo Ancelloti seems “to be struggling to find the right combination of strikers, ever since Torres came in as it changed the whole team dynamics.”  Is he like the “Beckham” of Real Madrid? (Remember the club’s Galacticos era where they put in too much money on the offense with Figo, Ronaldo, Zidane, Raul, etc. and not much on defense.  And after signing Beckham they haven’t won the Champions League ever since). 

I also wondered what the logic behind substituting Torres just before the 1^st half ended was?  It’s kinda early to make substitutions unless it’s because of an injury.  If it wasn’t, then that must really affect Torres’ confidence level with his “goal-drought” problem.  Won’t things like not being one of starting players and being substituted too soon makes you think the coach doesn’t have confidence in you?  But then again, he is a professional player, so I guess, that comes with the territory.  I feel bad for him, all this pressure.  He really needs to work with the team.

Chelsea seems to be under-playing their potential.  Is it because there is no team fluidity? (for me, it doesn’t really mean much if you have all the best players in the world but if they don’t know how to play together, you won’t the best team). 

So we say good bye to Chelsea as Man U moves on to the semi-finals.

Final Aggregate Score:

Chelsea:  1

Manchester United: 3

Here are numbers:

Champions League QF: Chelsea vs Manchester United Recap (1st Leg)

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Chelsea vs Manchester United

Must be frustrating for Chelsea because they had a lot of attempts, most of it on target, but they just could not covert them into goals.  Man U’s organized defense and Van der Sar made sure of that.  He had some pretty incredible saves. 

The frustration must probably be more so for Fernando Torres who is still having a goal-drought since his signing to Chelsea.  He could just not hit the back of the net.

Interesting to note, this is the only game in the 1^st leg that ended in low goal difference.  Real Madrid has a 4 point advantage over Tottenham, Schalke has 3 over Inter and Barca has a cushy 4 point advantage over Shakhtar.  So even if Manchester goes into the second leg with an away goal, Chelsea still has a big chance to turn things around and advance to the semis.  

Aggregate Score:

Chelsea:  0

Manchester United: 1

Here are stats/numbers:

Champions League QF: Inter Milan vs Schalke (1st Leg)

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Inter Milan vs Schalke

Quite a stunning defeat of the defending champions!  I am so bummed I overslept and missed this game L 

Looking at the numbers, I think this was a very quick-paced game.  Because I overslept and missed the match, I’m imagining that it was like the Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan game in the Round of 16.  German-style football vs Italian style football, with the Germans winning this time.

Talk about fast-paced, Inter scored the 1^st goal just 1 minute into the game.  How did that happen?  Was Schalke caught off guard?  But good thing they were able to equalize 16 minutes later.

With an “own goal” and a 2^nd-yellow-card-send-off in the second half, was this desperation on Inter’s part?  It seems like they just caved in to the pressure.  And even if Inter were down to 10 men I don’t think this was a factor as it happened at the 62^nd minute where all the goals were already scored.  More than anything, it would seem that out of desperation, they made more and more mistakes (which maybe Schalke capitalized on).

I am definitely watching the replay of this game.

Aggregate Score:

Inter Milan: 2

Schalke: 5

Here are the numbers:

Champions League QF: Real Madrid vs Tottenham Recap (1st Leg)

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Real Madrid vs Tottenham

I got to be honest, I didn’t get to watch the games coz I overslept L  But looking at the scores, and the numbers, it obvious that Real Madrid just really dominated this match.  They had 14 attempts off target and 11 attempts on target and converting 4 into goals while Tottenham only had 3 attempts and had one of it on target. 

Was the sending off of Peter Crouch only 15 minutes into the game a big factor to Tottenham’s loss?

And, darn it!  CRonaldo finally scored and I missed it...  Did his teammates celebrate with him?

This is what I get for oversleeping… Will try to update this entry once I get to see the replay.

Aggregate Score:

Real Madrid: 4

Tottenham: 0

Here are numbers: