Real Madrid

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

well, apart from the fact they sometimes win stuff....

 

Nicholas Cage was at the Bernabéu on Wednesday, watching from the directors' box with politicians, judges and former players as Real Madrid crashed out of the Champions League. Before the match the star of Snake Eyes and Raising Arizona was presented with a Real Madrid shirt by the club president, Ramón Calderón. After the game he was taken into the home dressing room to meet the players.

 

There was just one problem. The man getting an access-all-areas pass was not Cage at all but an Italian impersonator - and after Madrid's 4-2 aggregate defeat by Roma it was easy to conclude that Calderón has been no more successful identifying players. Real's coach, Bernd Schuster, meanwhile, failed to identify defeat even as it stared him in the face, his grip on reality becoming even more tenuous. His grip on his job may prove just as loose.

 

When Calderón stood for Madrid's presidential elections he promised to sign Kaka, Cesc Fábregas and Arjen Robben. He did eventually sign Robben, a year late, but there is no sign of the world footballer of the year or the midfielder who outshone him at San Siro on Tuesday night.

 

In their absence Madrid have spent €220m (£168m) but have not broken a deeply concerning run - four years of falling at the European Cup's first knockout stage. There was a disquieting feeling yesterday that, although Madrid top La Liga, England and the rest of the continent has left Spain behind. One Madrid-supporting columnist wrote of "no excuses", not even the absences of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Sergio Ramos. This year Madrid have lost seven matches, threatening a collapse that many argue has been coming since the summer, kept at bay only by Iker Casillas's saves and Van Nistelrooy's goals.

 

Of Madrid's €100m of summer signings, not one has been a regular starter. Javier Saviola, a much trumpeted steal from Barcelona, has swapped one bench for another; Roberto Soldado and Royston Drenthe have been irrelevant and Robben and Christoph Metzelder came injured and have hardly played. There is no right midfielder, no one to lead from the middle and little cover. Worse still, of those who came the summer before only Van Nistelrooy has been an unqualified success.

 

That is why Schuster has not been the target, despite his evident discomfort with the pressure, his bizarre claim on Wednesday that "I do not consider this a defeat" and the fact he was brought in to replace the "boring" Fabio Capello but has changed little. Which is not to say he will not be the victim. Because the greater the pressure on Calderón, the greater the need for a scapegoat and a new miracle worker. Just as a certain Special One announces his intention to return.

 

 

they are quite funny though

[magneto]

They're top of La Liga. So they must be doing SOMETHING right.

[Benitez]

and they are league champions, so not even vaguely Newcastle like are they.

 

I hope Maurenho doesn't go there. I like Real Madrid, don't want that unpleasent twunt to go there.

[madaboutlfc]

and they are league champions, so not even vaguely Newcastle like are they.

 

I hope Maurenho doesn't go there. I like Real Madrid, don't want that unpleasent twunt to go there.

hes not

[crisps]

Can see him going to Milan

[Ronnie Whelan]

Giving his history with Barca i think that if Morinho was to return to spain it would be to the Nou Camp.

[Leo No.8]

and they are league champions, so not even vaguely Newcastle like are they.

 

I hope Maurenho doesn't go there. I like Real Madrid, don't want that unpleasent twunt to go there.

 

Madrid are even more arrogant as a club than Mourinho. I can't stand them.

[Silencio]

Bulls*** article. They've been playing well this season.

[Hassony]

Bulls*** article. They've been playing well this season.

 

They have struggled over the last month, lost 5 out of their last seven games!

[matty]

Mourniho and Real Madrid is a match made in heaven. Or hell, probably. They deserve each other. Although Berlusconi, Mourinho and Milan would be equally apt.

[theredfella]

Nicholas Cage was at the Bernabéu on Wednesday, watching from the directors' box with politicians, judges and former players as Real Madrid crashed out of the Champions League. Before the match the star of Snake Eyes and Raising Arizona was presented with a Real Madrid shirt by the club president, Ramón Calderón. After the game he was taken into the home dressing room to meet the players.

 

There was just one problem. The man getting an access-all-areas pass was not Cage at all but an Italian impersonator - and after Madrid's 4-2 aggregate defeat by Roma it was easy to conclude that Calderón has been no more successful identifying players.

 

[Ronnie Whelan]

Bulls*** article. They've been playing well this season.

 

 

Without VanNistelrooj up front they are looking very ordinary.

[floyd]

Without VanNistelrooj up front they are looking very ordinary.

When Cheltnham's finished, when is his next game??

[Ronnie Whelan]

When Cheltnham's finished, when is his next game??

 

 

I believe he is being retired to stud after cheltenham. Gary Neville is being sent over to extract his sperm.

[Internationinteroperability]

Madrid are even more arrogant as a club than Mourinho. I can't stand them.

[Jarg Armani]

Don't mind Real myself, prefer them to barca, now THERE'S a sanctimonious club.

comparisons with newcastle are patently ridiculous.

[Benitez]

Madrid are even more arrogant as a club than Mourinho. I can't stand them.

 

good for you

 

Don't mind Real myself, prefer them to barca, now THERE'S a sanctimonious club.

comparisons with newcastle are patently ridiculous.

 

 

spot on!

[Duncan Disorderly]

The fact that Barca never accept kit sponsorship, but wear UNICEF's name and actually give money to that organisation makes them alright by me.

 

Oh, and they aren't Spanish!

[Extraordinary Swindle]

Mourinho would fit in very well in Italy.

 

AC Milan, Silvio Berlusconi, Jose Mourinho

OR

Inter Milan, Massimo Moratti, Jose Mourinho

OR

Juventus, Gianni Agnelli, Jose Mourinho

 

The fans would even enjoy his style of football. And the best bit is we wouldn't see the f*cker on tv unless we draw his club in Europe.

[madaboutlfc]

Mourinho would fit in very well in Italy.

 

AC Milan, Silvio Berlusconi, Jose Mourinho

OR

Inter Milan, Massimo Moratti, Jose Mourinho

OR

Juventus, Gianni Agnelli, Jose Mourinho

 

The fans would even enjoy his style of football. And the best bit is we wouldn't see the f*cker on tv unless we draw his club in Europe.

agnelli died in 2003

[Jimi Rojo]

The fact that Barca never accept kit sponsorship, but wear UNICEF's name and actually give money to that organisation makes them alright by me.

 

Oh, and they aren't Spanish!

 

 

They are. Cataluñia is a state or province within a country. they have every right to call themselves catalans just as the cornish can say they're cornish. But the cornish travel with and are recognised internationally by an english passport and catalans have a spanish passport or DNI.

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

On Saturday night they lost 1-0 to Deportivo La Coruña, thanks to an own goal from Pepe. Which might not seem that bad - after all, Madrid have gone almost seventeen years without winning at Riazor - but for one thing: it was bad. Truly, deeply, desperately bad. A game so awful it left you whimpering for your 90 minutes back and the poor sods who actually paid-per-view demanding an €11.99 refund on the grounds that they hadn't viewed anything. A game in which Madrid didn't manage a single shot on target. A game so utterly pathetic AS's Mad Madridista Tomás Roncero declared it the "worst in Madrid's history" and Calderón was proven right: frightening? Madrid were terrifying.

 

Worse still, it was a game that continued a desperate run. Since their clásico victory, the absences of Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Robinho, Sergio Ramos and Wesley Sneijder have exposed Madrid's weaknesses. So too, although no one wants to admit as much, has the dip in (return to?) form of Raúl and Guti. And, however much marvellously miserable manager Bernd Schuster tries to claim that defeats are "not defeats", Madrid have been beaten eight times in 2008 - half their matches. They've lost four of their last seven in the league and only beat Recreativo and Espanyol with help from the referee.

 

They've spent €100m on players, none of whom are regulars; their president is busy threatening newspapers with excommunication if they mention Nicolas Cage, while insisting that he clocked Paolo Calabresi right from the start (which will be why he took him into a the dressing room afterwards) , and Schuster is at war with the world. In short, they're in crisis. Out of the Cup. Out of the Champions League. And out of the league.

 

Oh. Right. Yeah.

 

Three months later and Madrid's lead is still seven points; the same seven points it was after the derbi. Because if Madrid are bad, Barça aren't much better. Unfit, poorly organised, plodding, with Henry missing Tea - all ex-pats out here do, Thierry - and Ronaldinho missing training, Messi injured again, Edmilson fit again, lacking a killer instinct or a Plan B, they are a mess. One especially adept at snatching failure from the jaws of success, as the last four games have shown.

 

Against Zaragoza a terrible decision saw them escape with a win they tried to surrender. Against Atlético, they were so superior it was embarrassing but lost to el Kun. Against Villarreal they were on top but were defeated. And last night, handed yet another opportunity, they twice led against Almería and twice conceded from set-plays. Which is fair enough: why work on set-plays when Almería, a supremely well-drilled side, have only scored a third of their goals that way?

 

Barça have collected a solitary point out of the last nine - a run so bad that while they remain stuck puffing on the stairs, Villarreal are just two points behind. The same Villarreal who yesterday collected their first home victory in four.

 

And that's kind of the point. Because while Madrid and Barça have been poor, the saddest thing is that their challengers have been unable to take advantage or provide a half-decent title race. Atlético have a fantastic forward line but no defence, Villarreal panic near the summit, and Racing and Espanyol are over-achieving. Considering the problems that Sevilla have had - Antonio Puerta's death, the Dani Alves soap opera, Juande Ramos ditching them, injury to Javi Navarro and Manolo Jimenez's bizarre attempt to deny Luis Fabiano goals - it's a wonder they're this close. And, as for Valencia, the club that should have pushed for the title, they're a joke, ruined by a fat bloke with a rubbish 'tache: Juan Soler.

 

 

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/03/...win_the_wo.html

[Guest RedLegend]

They are. Cataluñia is a state or province within a country. they have every right to call themselves catalans just as the cornish can say they're cornish. But the cornish travel with and are recognised internationally by an english passport and catalans have a spanish passport or DNI.

 

Rather you tell them than me.

[Hassony]

They are. Cataluñia is a state or province within a country. they have every right to call themselves catalans just as the cornish can say they're cornish. But the cornish travel with and are recognised internationally by an english passport and catalans have a spanish passport or DNI.

Everyone I met from Barcelona calls him sef a catalan and wants the spanish team to lose because of the links to the royal family

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

Real lost again