Bassam

It has been a great year and a half here at the offside. Leaving this space is a bitter sweet moment. It’s bitter because this is where i first started blogging and sweet because starting RMFB is a huge step forward for us. I was to thank the readers that have been following my posts and leaving all the comments. I also want to thank the offside management, especially Ian, for all the help he provided throughout the time i was at the offside. I also want to thank the RMFB crew for putting in a lot of effort in making the offside page what it is and putting in even more effort to start the new page. Finally, i would like to give Corey a huge thanks, because if it wasn’t for him asking me to help him out on the offside, i wouldn’t be in this situation right now. I hope to see all of the readers at the new space! And i wish the new bloggers at the offside the best of luck in their journey!

Jordan

While my tenure here has been short in comparison to others, I want to thank all of you for welcoming at the get go and helping me and the other builders a haven for Madridistas all over. Since coming on in August, I have done my best to bring you all news, Liveblogs, and reviews and even though my contribution has recently diminished since gaining real life employed, you all still stuck by me and gave me constructive criticism and praise. For that, I thank you. I will admit my time here has been interesting to say the least, even though that is not necessarily a bad thing. I will forever remember being labeled a Mourinho fanboy, a Mourinho hater, a Ronaldo fanboy/hater, overly sympathetic of Gonzalo Higauín and overly critical of Angel Di María, and (my personal favorite) a Barcelona supporter. In closing, I hope you all will join us at RMFB and build with us another great community for us to celebrate the team we are all so passionate about, Real Madrid. Hala Madrid, Hala Real.Offside, and HALA RMFB!

Kaushik

My writing journey with Real Madrid Offside started a little more than 6 months ago, but my association with the site began almost since it’s inception. What was initially a blog, then became a community of sorts, and we’ve now got an excellent forum for discussing anything Real Madrid, and sometimes even other stuff. With the move of the webpages as we’ve constantly emphasized nothing changes really, but you will start seeing more diversity, and things that being under the offside banner would have stopped us from taking that extra step towards it. Hope you continue to read and enjoy the blog like I have been doing for a long time.

Corey

I will keep it short. I started this site, it was my baby and now I feel like I am abandoning it. But, I have a new baby, one that I think will bring me even more joy, so join me over there. The Offside grew up, it can strike it out on its own. The RMFB needs my supervision so it does not get suspended from school or scrape its knee after falling of its bike. Tis the cirlce of life Simba. Thanks for the three and a half years, goodbye.

Today promises to be another classic showdown between Real Madrid and Sevilla. Madrid dispatched Sevilla on their way to Copa del Rey glory early in the season, and the Sevilla men will undoubtedly look for some type of revenge. The Pizjuan is a fortress that Madrid will once again have to conjure up all their might to conquer once again. No youngins will make an appearance against Sevilla, which is quite the shame as the environment could be something good for the lads to cut their teeth on. Either way, at this point in the season, I think we can all just sit back and enjoy some good football, Hala Madrid!

Squad list:
Casillas, Dudek, Tomas Mejias
Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Arbeloa, Garay, Albiol
Xabi Alonso, Lass, Kaka, Ozil, Granero, Canales
Cristiano Ronaldo, Adebayor, Higuain, Benzema

You can join us for the Liveblog at our new home over at RMFB

Its a sad day for me, and the other writers of this page, but we must announce that the Real Madrid Offside is shutting down and packing up to a new site, Real Madrid Football Blog. The change has been in the works for awhile now, and some of you who have been faithfully reading this blog for years will know I always wanted my own site. The change comes at the right time for us, given the change in hands of the Offside, as well as the expanded capacity of the writing staff here. As of this Sunday, May 8th, we will no longer be posting new material on this site, only clips of what we are posting on Real Madrid Football Blog.

The writing staff will stay the same, as will the content and hopefully the community. That means myself, Bassam, Kaushik and Jordan will be joined by Marc Denis Ong (Madridista Mac) on this new ’super site’. I say ’super site’ because it is going to be a one stop shop for all Real Madrid news in English, and even some in Spanish in the future. I wanted to make this site as recognizable as possible for everyone involved, so we have not shaken up anything all that much. Hence no change in staff, as well as the use of the Disqus commenting system, and the expansion of our multimedia offerings, including Twitter, Facebook, podcasts and Andres’ YouTube channel. All will be better integrated in to the new site, a long with the freedom of having an independent website. Its a win-win for the writing staff as well as for the readers I think.

Of course we cannot just wipe away three and a half years of history here on the Offside, but we are hoping to start our own with the new site. Thats why I am asking for all of you who read and comment here to come join us on the new site. The only way I would consider this site a success is if we were able to keep the community of readers and commentors together, so I would humbly ask that you come with us over to the new site. Your Disqus profiles will carry over, meaning the only difference you will notice is that you have to bookmark a new site, that the Facebook page has had to shut down and open up with a new name (long story, wont bore you with the details but its typical Facebook!) and the the new site is mighty purtty!

Having started writing here three plus years ago with barely any readers, I have been completely humbled by what this website has grown in to. If you are not aware, we regularly attract 90,000 pageviews a month here, which is astonishing considering this page was non-existant a few years ago. I think we can keep that going on the new site, and become bigger and better then ever. Thats why I would like to thank all of you who read and comment everyday for your continued support here on this site. If you have questions about the new site, I would be more than happy to answer them in the comments. Again, as of Sunday, nothing “new” will be posted on this site beyond previews with links to the new site. As of next Friday, the 13th, we will be fully migrated to the new site, and what happens with this page is up to the new owners of the Offside.

Thanks for all of the memories everyone, it was really great to write here for all of these years. But this isnt a sad moment, its a happy one. We have our own site now! I look forward to seeing everyone there for years to come. HALA MADRID!

We all know by now that the league is a long shot for us this season. We have 4 games left with 8 points to make up. This is what mission impossible is like. SO in many ways, the season is over for our lads and the rest of the games is just impeding Barcelona’s title celebration. None the less, saturdays game is not an easy one as it is against a strong opponent. Since the lineup will be very unpredictable, i decided to give a little preview of the Castilla game as well. First, the game against Sevilla:

To predict a starting lineup for this game is really hard. The players are really tired and they are coming off a long stretch of games, 4 of which were clasico’s. The players said they were tired, the manager said they were tired, and for stretches on the field, they looked tired. Does that mean that we are going to see some players rested? Maybe. Or maybe not. I believe that Mou would not want to end the season with the difference between him and Barcelona more than 8 points. For that reason, i believe he will be starting most of his starters. Here is some of the things that i wish to happen:

A) Ronaldo to play. I would really like him to take part and attempt at beating his previous record of 42 goals a season. He might also want to have a go at the Pichichi trophy. Of course, this should not come at the expense of the team play. But he does deserve to beat his previous record because he is having a really good season.

B) If we have players we are going to ship out in the summer, let them play. For a player like Pedro Leon, the more you put him on display right now, the more attention he will get from buyers. We all know he is leaving, and it would be nice to give him a chance to show case his talents to scouts or european and spanish teams that might be possibly interested in him. The same for me goes for any player the team is hoping to ship out. Lass for example, might want to leave since he is not fond of staying on the bench, and putting him more on display might be a good plan to leverage a higher price. I wish i could say the same about Gago, but the boy has been in the injury room for way too long.

C) Give the second team some chances to play. Players like Garay, Granero, Kaka and Canales have not had the most chances to play this season. This is not due to a lack of effort on their part, but due to the high level of competition within the squad. They deserve to get some game time and the games don’t really matter, so why not give them the confidence boost they need and let them play. You never know, they might impress you.

D) If Adebayor is not going to be purchased, then he shouldn’t start. I am on the “Gracias y Adios Ade” bandwagon, but thats a whole different debate for a different day. The game against Sevilla will be a huge indication of that. If it was up to me, just play him in either the last game of the season or the last home game as a tribute.

E) Start Benzema or Higuain, or both together. Pipita needs playing time ahead of the copa lebertadores this summer to get into fitness and represent his country. The playing time he gets will go a long way in helping him succeed in that tournament and it will help his confidence more. As for Benzema, he is in form. And we have been waiting for Benzema to be in form for soo long. Once Benzema got in form, we only got to see 2 month of regular Benzema and the fans deserve to see their 35 million dollar investment playing. Not to mention, it will be a huge blow to his confidence if he doesn’t get the chance to play. Finally we got his confidence back, lets not waste it.

That was all for my thoughts on the Real Madrid game. A fun fact for all of you, Sevilla away was the venue that Zidane scored his last goal for Real Madrid at.

As for the Castilla game, they enter the final stretch of the season, with 2 games left in the league. They are currently 2nd, with a 5 point couchin from 5th place which knocks them out of the promotion spot. Of course, the hard part comes after the league ends, where they have to take part in a playoff with 15 other clubs. I will post the rules of the playoffs once the league ends.

With 2 games left, a win will put Castilla through to a playoff spot this year. Even two draws from the two remaining games would insure that they get into play off spots. They are currently on a 16 game unbeaten run, with 12 wins and 4 draws. It will be vital to continue this run onto the play offs. Of course, it would also be essential for Castilla to keep winning to insure an easier opponent in the play offs.

The possible line up for Castilla will be similar to what we have been seeing ever since Toril became coach. A 4-2-3-1 formation that utilizes a player in the hole and 2 wingers. Sarabia and Morata have been the revelation of the Toril era. Juanfran has been good but rarely as consistent and subject when it comes to the final decision. Sarabia though has proven that he is the heart of this team. Dropping back deep to start play and doing wonderfully well at the final pass. He has been the top assister for the club this season and has gotten praise from Toril for his play making skills. Despite the game being on sunday, i believe its going to be too early for me to actually wake up. It says its at 3 Spain’s time. If that is true, thats too too early for me. Otherwise, i will put up a loveblog for the game.

Before i leave you guys, enjoy the Juvinile A team ripping some Villareal arse in the Copa de Campeones. A player to watch out for is Jesse, who scores 2 of the 5 goals.

PS: We have a surprise for you soon

For those who don’t know, Real Madrid Castilla took a huge step last week in their promotion battle by winning 1-3 away from home. Another thing you might or might not know is that we had our very first loveblog for a Castilla game. There was a good turnout, and it was nice to watch a you can say “they are just kids” if someone makes a mistake. What was interesting though, Castilla rarely put a foot wrong aside from all the missed chances. Sarabia in that game was my MOTM. A beautiful Guti-esque assist left me out of my seat applauding our 19 year old talent. Hopefully in a seasons time he will be able to make the jump, as he sure seems like a great talent. Not to start a Canales vs Sarabia debate, but minus the La Liga experience, which counts for a lot i should say, Sarabia and Canales seem to have very similar abilities. Sarabia, for me, edges out Canales for more tactical diversity (can play anywhere upfront). But again, all we have seen Sarabia perform is the CL game, so lets hope he gets the chance sometime to show us his talents in La Liga. Despite Sarabia being the highlight of that game, the big talking point was Morata’s goal. Morata was not a starter for the game as he was sporting a little injury and Joselu has been in great form.

The goal above speaks a lot to me. Not because its a goal from the third division and the last defender was poor, but because it shows aspects of Morata’s game that i think we should look at. As you can see, Morata receives the ball high up the pitch. Rather than control the ball and turn around, which would take time, he manages to flick it around the defender that is behind him and go on the break through. What is nice about this is a couple of things. First off, its nice to see a kid of his age has the awareness of where the defender is on the pitch to pull such a move. This kind of awareness is something that he gained this season from his training with the first team, because it shows a sign of maturity. The second thing i want to note is the speed in which he was able to turn and reach the opposition penalty area. For a big guy (he is 1.91 meters tall), his agility and pace are a great asset. The speed with which he was able to dribble the ball up to the penalty area was great. The reason why i say till the penalty area is because the defender obviously falls a fool to Morata’s fake, something that a La Liga defender probably wouldnt do. None the less, the moments up till that moment were notable to see more than one asset of this player that can be useful to the team. For what its worth, i thought every part of the goal was perfect.

Moving on from our two gems, we go into rumors and facts. And here, the rumors are both speculations and facts. One that i will enjoy reporting and one that i don’t hate, but rather don’t understand. On the latest Revista de la Liga episode, which was recorded today, Guillem Balague confirmed that Real Madrid has signed two players: Nuri Sahin and Callejon. Lets start with the news that i thought was good, and thats the possible signing of Nuri Sahin.

I first got to know Brussia Dortmund in 2004, when i used to play Football Manager (back then, it was Championship Manager). They had players with good stats and were cheap. Rosicky, Metzelder (back when people thought he was good), Ewerthon, Jan Koller and Odonkor. Naturally, since Dubai Sport was generous enough to play their games, i watched them. I will say one thing, the fans for this club are amazing! Since then, i have followed them intermittently, with the last two seasons being the ones were i have watched the most games for them. Nuri Sahin was a 16 year old back in 2004, and since then, he has been my first buy with any club in the football manager series. But of course, thats all games. The question remains, is he actually any good? The answer is simple. YES! I will list the good things and bad things that this signing will/might bring to squad

The Good:

1) Finally we will have a compatible partner to Alonso who can serve as an outlet.Nuri Sahin’s passing is second to non in the Bundes Liga, and yes that includes Schweinsteiger. He has a great vision to spot the pass both the short one and the long one. He is good at holding the ball up and solid in defense. His vision to spot the man making the run is great and with him and Alonso playing right next to each other, we will no longer be the team solely dependent on Alonso to start an attack. While both Khedira and Lass have been doing great as of late, it has long been suggested throughout the season that the partner for Alonso is the problem. Not a dig at Khedira or Lass, but where they excel defending, they have both been too simple in attack (Khedira) or too ambitious beyond his ability (Lass). Sahin is both fast, a good dictator of tempo and equally competent in both attack and defense.

2) Used to the system. Borussia Dortmund play a system that is very similar to ours. A traditional 4-2-3-1, with Sahin and Bender sitting behind the 3 in that formation. This is similar to the Alonso-Khedira partnership that sits behind the 3 in our set up (Ronaldo, Ozil and Di Maria). This will make the transition that Sahin makes to our club much easier and will make it easy for him to fit into our set up. It should also be noted that Bender plays a very deep lying midfielder role, one that is similar to the one Alonso plays. This should make the partnership easier.

3) When employing a Trivote/double pivot, we are now more creative. Again, this is not a dig at either Lass or Khedira. I honestly thought that Khedira has been great this season in defending and doing the simple thing. But as we have all discussed, he has not shown us that he can serve as an outlet for Alonso. Sahin is a very creative player, and hence will limit this problem.

4) The deal is similar to the one done for Ozil, but cheaper. It is rumored that the deal will be for 10 million, which is dead cheap for a talent as much good as his. He is nearing the end of his contract and has a buyout clause in his contract for that much. Yay us and good business. No more 65 million deals.

5) A signing that Mou actually wants. Many would argue that he was the one who bought Khedira, but i would argue that it is Lass that he doesn’t want. And the reason i mention Lass not Granero is because Granero is more willing to sit on the bench than Lass, something that Mou approves off. Not only that, but it seems that Granero has been turning into Mou’s 2nd hand man between the players. He helps out with tactics and training drills and even psychological advise (Granero has a coaching degree and is studying psychology at the college level). But it seems that Mou is not fully satisfied with Lass or Khedira and feels that Sahin would be an improvement.

6) Young and experienced future replacement for Alonso. Not to mention, a perfect partner for Alex in the future. Sahin can play both a central midfielder and a deep lying midfielder role perfectly well. He is 22 years old and has over 150 games for Borussia Dortmund in the league and around 186 total appearances. He also has 26 appearances on the international level with Turkey.

7) Dead ball specialist. If there is a player that will challenge Ronaldo for freekicks, then its this guy. Great freekick taker and slots in really good corners and crosses.

Sahin vs Bayern

Bad Things about the move:

1) Believe it or not, Gago being sold is hard news for me. Hate him or love him, he is currently one of the longest serving members of this Madrid squad. He had one good and one great season with us. He then declined as the years went by. He has been injury prone for a while now and its better to ship him out while the people of the world still see him as a good player. It’s sad to say, although i thought his progress as a player declined recently, but the Nuri Sahin signing says adios to our Argentinian.

2) Adding a player to an already stacked midfield. We have Granero, Khedira, Lass, Alonso, Gago and now Sahin. Lets assume that Gago leaves, we now have 4 players that expect to start and Granero that has the quality to start. With the news of Sahin joining, i wouldn’t be surprised if we hear that Lass will look for an exit, as he is down the pecking order more and more now. Especially with Pepe showing his ability to fill in, maybe we will be seeing a central midfielder clear out.

3) One footed and not the best in the air. He is too one footed it pains me. Not as bad as Di Maria, but still a problem. He avoids using his right foot as much as he can. With that said, his left foot is really unique. He is also not the best in the air, as he is only 1.80 meters.

So this is my view on the Sahin transfer. To sum his playing style up really quickly, i would say Sahin is the closest we will find to a Guti-esque player right now. He has the ability to pass the ball through tight spaces and can hold on the the ball well. Sort of what we wish Khedira can take from Granero in attack and what we wish Granero can take from Khedira defensively all in one package. A very diciplined player that knows when to make a run forward and when to sit back. He usually enjoys sitting at the back and starting the play, and has a mean shot from outside the area. With that said, he is comfortable playing the ball while further up the pitch. He is a better passer of the ball than Ozil, and thats saying something considering Ozil is a great passer.

I have written 2000 words about Sahin, so i think it would be best to stop here, let you guys focus on Sahin and i will leave the Callejon talk for tomorrow. Hope this gives a better view for some of you who haven’t seen Sahin play before (i have watched him in over 15 games this season and the same number last season). Corey can tell you more about him as well, as he enjoys Dortmund just as much, if not more, than i do.

Until then, tell me what you think of the Sahin signing. With Gago possibly on the way out, and Lass, despite playing great lately, looking for more consistant first team action, what are your views on the matter? Will Lass be ok with being the 4th choice central midfielder? Or will he even be ok with being the third choice? Lets try and not talk much about Callejon till i put the article out tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the highlights of the Castilla game:

To say we expected to comeback and win that tie would be expecting too much. I for one, thought that If we got to see a performance where our boys would show an attacking intent, a drive that embodies all the spirit there is in being a Madridista. And we saw that, I am happy to say we went out with our heads held high. Only disappointing bit is that, I keep wondering, had we set up like this right from the first Clásico wouldn’t things have been much better through these traumatizing 3 weeks?

1-1 was the final score. I think it was a fair result for the night. Yes, we should have had Higuain’s goal, and the referee was wrong, but then again he should have also sent Carvalho off twice perhaps. I will not blame the referee for his decision making like many are, but for his inconsistency in making them. But for a change, I was happy that all the talk, if any was left to make, was not about the referee, or UNICEF, or who is the boss, but the football. There was a football match, and this was the only match among all 4 when it looked like everyone just wanted to play. We probably didn’t have another choice, but that’s a different issue.

We started with the regular 4-2-3-1 with Higuain getting a start supported by Kaka, Ronaldo, and Di Maria. Xabi and Lass lined up as the pivots, while the makeshift defence of Arbeloa, Albiol, Carvalho and Marcelo stood in front of the patron saint of Real Madrid, Iker Casillas. Barcelona started with their first choice front 6 if you can call it that. Their defence was the same that played against us last Wednesday.

The first 15 minutes was fairly silent, with Barca more than happy to retain posession in their own half and Madrid barely getting a sniff of the ball, and when they did look to move from first gear to fifth in the fraction of a second. The game started to open up slowly as Madrid’s defenders played a dangerous but correct approach of getting to the ball (or man)  before it reached the player. Its a bit like how I do it in FIFA 11! Like I mentioned before Carvalho got an early booking and was lucky to stay on the pitch only because it seemed like it was told to the referee to try his best not to send anyone off. The next few minutes will be best summarized as the Iker Casillas show. Time and time again, he keeps showing us that he can single handedly keep us alive. San Iker denied Barca many a goals, giving us some hope of remaining in the tie.

Then of course there was the incident of the annulled goal of Pipita. Here is what I think of it. Ronaldo was fouled by Pique, and lost control and ran into Mascherano, which I think was unavoidable at the moment. The ball ends up at Higuain, clearly onside, and doesn’t make a mistake with the perfectly placed shot past Valdes. Sounds like a goal to me. It is either a foul on Ronaldo + advantage, or no foul and goal regular, or at the very least a freekick for Ronaldo. Would we have gone through if that was allowed? Perhaps not, but the dynamics of match would have surely changed.

Iniesta, one of the very select Barca players I find it hard to not like, picked out an absolute peach of a ball which played Pedro through on goal for the killer. Adebayor then replaced Higuain in a bizarre substitution. Di Maria would later make an excellent run, resulting in a fantastic shot, which said hello to our good friend, the post. Props to him to have the presence of mind to square the rebound back to Marcelo who tapped it in. No fairytale though, as Barcelona ran down the clock efficiently with their ever famous passing and ratio which is a misleading statistic, adding to it being mildly irritating.

On to player reviews. I am truly at a lack of words for Casillas’ performance, in a good way of course. All I can continue saying is, Thank you San Iker, you are a legend, and that is understating it. The defence did fairly okay considering it was a bit makeshift and that we were up against the best team in the world. Arbeloa is the best utility squad man in the game, and he was excellent in defence. He has his flaws going forward, but it is not something you can hold against him. Albiol was instructed to be the last man in the defence with Carvalho lunging all over the park. The former did alright, although I cannot recall any particular incident which highlights anything good or bad about his performance. The latter, made a few good challenges, and a few rather rash ones. Marcelo had another good game. Yes he got beaten for pace again, but not many left backs in the world would have stayed up to pace against Afelaay and this week Pedro. The damage was done by Iniesta’s through ball more than Pedro’s run. In attack, he often lent a helping hand and was a force whenever he went forward.

Xabi Alonso had a much better match than his previous clásicos. Is it because Barca’s pressure was of a lesser intensity today? Or is it because Lass shielded him rather well? A bit of both perhaps, but Xabi’s long passing was at its best where time and time again he opened up Arbeloa, Ronaldo and Di Maria into free space. Lass, his partner though, was a total beast. My nomination for man of the match, contained Messi in a way that Pepe would have been proud of. A couple of silly challenges he got away with, were compensated with a couple of cheap calls for which he bordered on getting booked. That’s just how football works. I was also impressed with his dribbling, for a change, and he was excellent in realising his limited skills and playing to a plan. He has been very impressive in the last couple of months, putting on a show as a serious message to the management, that he wants to stay.

Kaka was disappointing to say the least. It is clear he is not match-fit. And for a match of this intensity he was never going to be ready, and even if he tried his best, he would last a half at best. Injuries have spoilt the man’s career it appears. It is hard to not be judging him, but it really seems like that was not the best 60 odd million we have spent. Ronaldo and Di Maria had good games in my opinion, albeit with a few criticisms. I absolutely adored the way Ronaldo was visibly looking to make more passes and playing people through. Maybe the occasional shot wouldn’t have hurt. Grass is greener on the other side? Perhaps. I had a friend say he felt bad for Messi because our defenders tried to kick him, to which I responded asking him if he ever felt the same sympathy for Ronaldo because he could have done with some decisions going his way. He responded saying Ronaldo is bigger, and should not expect that. I laughed, and then thought, this is exactly what referees will be thinking too. No disrespect to Messi, but it would be really helpful if Ronaldo gets half the decisions Messi does. Di Maria had a game that characterizes his whole season. He can frustrate you for most of the match with his decision making, or lack of it, and his passing, or again the lack of it. But he will produce that one moment of burst that will result to goals, like he did yesterday. He’s a gem, if he can cut down on diving, and work on his passing and ball retention over the summer, there’s no stopping him with all the potential. Good game from him overall. Higuain was also, a touch off pace, due to lack of match fitness, but he was the right choice to begin the match with. His off ball movement, is what this counter attacking team needs, and as we saw with the disallowed goal, is excellent. He tried his best, like he always does, and was a much needed different dynamic with our attack.

2 Substitutes came on. Ozil replaced Kaka and it is safe to say he was equally ineffective. Something has dropped with his game in the last couple of months. I need to go deeper to realise what it is exactly, but all I know is now, he is either tired, or just doesn’t do well when intense pressure is applied on him, because as good as his ball retention is, he needs someone nearby to pass to him, and our passes don’t tend to be so short all the time. Adebayor, well, to see a player with so little technique leading our line in the all white in Champions league semi-final was a tad depressing and painful. To add to that, he has another clothesline moment. It is clear he wants to stay, and play for Madrid, but given the chance so would I. It is unfortunate that he just isn’t as skilled as I would like him to be, being brutally honest and admittedly a bit harsh too.

Now that the Clásico series is over, there are multiple observations to be made. Barcelona is still a better side than us, but the gap is getting closer and closer by the match. Our team has the firepower to be the best in Europe but we need to start believing in ourselves. What I mean by this is, it was clear in the first Liga match that we looked out of confidence. The 1-1 started tilting things back, brought back some belief. The Copa win changed it significantly. I actually believed we went into CL Home Leg as the more confident team, and could notice Barcelona players and fans starting to sound a bit awkward. But playing defensive, a strategy I don’t agree with at home, brought things back to square 1. Which leaves us with the last game. With a much more expansive lineup, we played rather well, again bringing back some belief. And a great man once said, all of sports is a confidence game, as it will be all of next year. But I pray, nay, beg that we limit these to twice a year, and not have an overdose, for then we have hope of making it a football show, and nothing else.

So, we all know the story by now. There is only one game in the world that would cause as much uproar as this one. And that is an understatement. The game that all the players in the world stop and watch it. Rio Ferdinand tweeted about this game. It is a game that says a thousand words with one picture. Unfortunately, the words the pictures are speaking are not ones that make any of the two teams proud. On the contrary, they are ones that make us weep; weep not just as fans of the club, but fans of the game itself.

With that said, we are down 2 goals. And we are going into the away leg, without our best two defenders and our starting central midfielder. To say the odds are against us Is an understatement. To say the fans are optimistic is a lie. To say the players are hopeful is a stretch. And we are where we are. The only thing I hope for the game is that my team actually plays the kind of football we are used to. We actually pressure high up the field and actually bring the game to our opponent. I hope we see more football and less theatre, from both teams. I just hope we see what we always hope to see from el clasico, and that’s the best game on earth. With all this odds against us, let us not forget one thing.

We are REAL MADRID. We have hearts of lions. The term it doesn’t end till the fat lady sings could not be any more true. If there is one team around this world that has the ability and the quality that can turn this game around is Real Madrid. If there is one team that can bring this home, then its real Madrid. Just think back and take a trip down memory lane, a trip to the time that this team could beat all the odds. And you know what, we have nothing to lose. We are already on the back foot and there is only one way we can go, and that’s forward.

Tomorrow is when the two best teams in the world take part in a flooded and buzz cut Camp Nou. Tomorrow is where the galaxies clash. It is where good and evil meet, and where good and evil are interchangeable. I have special sources that tell me that Obama ordered for Bin Laden to be killed before the game, so he doesn’t get the pleasure of watching the game. It is the game that scriptures talk about. It is the game that will blow the socks off your feet and then put them back on, all in one second. The game tomorrow is a tsunami meeting a hurricane. The game tomorrow is what makes the universe move, and has the power to make it stop.

A game against Barcelona is hyped enough. A game against Barcelona in the CL is even more important. Make that the CL semi final and you get to the biggest game of the season. The game that makes your eye lashes retract backwards. The game that makes your heart stop without killing you. This is El Clasico.

We know how to make a comeback…

We created the CL trophy, we are the ones who have one it the most, we are not only kings of Spain, but of europe as well. We are all that and much more. With all that, you can’t help but think things are against us. The order of the games is against us. Suspensions and injuries are against us. And sometimes, you can just feel that the world is against us. But you know what, we gotta believe. We gotta support! We gotta know that maybe, just maybe, this is our year. Our year to reach La Decima. And it’s ours to lose. So as i said last time….

Tomorrow is the day we forget about tactics and we just support. So lets do this! Lets kick some cule arse! Lets do this for San Iker! Lets do this for Don Di Stefano! Lets to this for our coach! Lets do this for the world that is watching! And finally, lets do this for our fans!! Support your club, in thick and thin. Support it regardless of the score! And whatever happens tomorrow, remember that this is the Madrid that you love so much. And remember, whatever happens, we are extremely proud to be at this point. And whataver happens, we walk away with our heads help up high, high in the sky. Remain humble, remain foolish Madradistas! Arrogance leads you no where. Humbleness leads you to glory. It leads you to our birth right, the tenth European trophy.

So, believe Madradista’s! Believe that we can do this! Because without belief, we have nothing! SO lets do this!!!!!!!!!!

and after it, watch this (they dont allow embedding): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWuAQ_tRGUQ

God I’m nervous! Tonight, we DINE IN HELL!!!! Hala MADRIDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!

If this doesn’t warm your heart, i don’t know what will. Credit to the awesomeness of 22fan for providing the link. You can find other pictures here.

Well, Jimmy needs help. And guys, we need to help him. He is on a mission, and thats something you need to respect. Plus, I’ve always thought that red goes well with Mou. So lets help Jimmy to help us see Mou with a red hat. I little warning though, the players tried helping and this is what Mou did to them….

When Ronaldo describes Benzema is my favorite part!

In the end, all i have to say: Why? Why Mou? Whyyyyyyyy?