Game Blog: Real Madrid v Malaga

By: Dancy | November 9th, 2008

Holy f***ing cow.

WHAT A GAME! 3 penalties, 8 yellow cards, 1 red card, 7 goals, and ALL 4 RM GOALS BY ONE PLAYA????? How is that possible?! OMG, the drama never ceases at Real Madrid, that’s for sure!!

Ok, here’s how it all went down:

I was surprised this game was switched to Saturday instead of Sunday. Li Liga, make up your mind, plz? But when Saturday came, I realized that they had done me a favor. God, did I need this game. Due to this stupid economy coughing and sputtering all over the place, being sucky overall, shredding employees right and left and then killing the rest of us by asking us to do 2 people’s jobs, I was so tired by week’s end that I slept til noon, then actually had to be woken up. I even refused to get up, until I realized that I was starving, and the game would start soon. Well, maybe I’ll tape it, I thought. But no . . once I turned on the telly, I was hooked. The first image they showed was Gonzalo Higuain. Plus, Sergio was playing! He’s not that hurt, after all! YAY!

And so, I snuggled into the sofa, and allowed my boys in white to take me on a journey that made everything I did during the past week completely melt away. Bah, what is a little hard work . . when compared to this game?? Hala Madrid!

Lineup:
Sergio – Canna – Heinze – Marcelo
Sneijder – Guti – Gago
VDV – Higuain – Drenthe

0:30 Ray Hudson describes us as a “wounded animal”, and “you know what wounded animals do, Phil – they attack.” Ooooh, I love that word. That’s exactly what I want Real to do! Malaga is not bad themselves, being currently 8th in the table. Well, except they let in 4 against Barca. So, if you add “wounded animal” + Barca’s margin of 4-1, I hope that equates to a GOALFEST!!!!!!!

5:30 Oh crap. This is SHOCKING! I’ve barely finished my lunch and they’ve already scored????? 0-1? A melee in front of goal! Marcelo lets #18 Eli by as if he was a rampaging T-Rex! WTF?? “Marcelo needs to be horse-whipped!” Ray Hudson screams. I agree!

Eli has just danced around Marcelo as if he was a tree. Heinze tries to slide in for the doorstop. But no! That guy continues to dance around half our backline and then lures Iker out hurriedly to defend as well, before slamming the ball off the post and then picking it right up in stride while our midfield, too, lunges in, to no avail – because he’s already beaten them to the loose ball, picking it up and with a simple touch of his foot, so simple he seems to be sleepwalking while everyone else was running blind-folded, he slips it diagonally into goal as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Barely 5 minutes in and already a goal, and not for the home side? The wounded animal has just been kicked yet again. And by the Anchovies no less! (no, really! That’s Malaga’s nickname!) Oh, this one hurts baaaaaaad.

7:00 Right afterwards, it is Sergio who reacts first, as always. Pissed off that our wounded pride has been sullied, he takes the ball from Iker with only 1 goal – to drive it up as far as he could. And how! Even when a Malaga winger zeros in on him, he doesn’t care, he doesn’t slip it back, as he usually does, he doesn’t give a crap about “saving possession”. He only cares about creating this revenge goal, and as the winger flies in to challenge, Sergio quickly taps it forward for himself, full of confidence. The winger is beaten with laughable ease, Sergio dumping him unceremoniously to the ground before he roars on, the goal looming larger and larger in his eyes, his run carrying him all the way up into nearly the opposition’s box.

And when the defense finally tries to pin him down, he turns deftly to slip it to VDV, who says thank you and now takes over – cutting into the middle, getting everyone involved, the ball pinning back and forth between them in a jealous bout of possession to keep it away from the Anchovies, so much is our desire to equalize, and equalize fast. Guti, Marcelo, Higuain, Gago – they were not to be denied. This is what should’ve happened against Juv. This is our payback.

7:40 GOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew it!! Guti to Marcelo with the smasher against the goalie, then Higuain in the right place to whip it home! 1-1!

This goal, truly, was born of teamwork, of movement and skill. Everyone was involved, everyone, including Sergio who initially brought it up, VDV who switched it to the middle, Gago who tries to win it back, and of course Guti who slips a beautiful ball forward for Marcelo, their one-two played perfectly for his redemption, the little chastised Brazilian gunning forward to knock it square into the keeper, but oh yes – he spills it! Right into the path of Higuain! And our lone striker does not disappoint, hammering it swiftly into the empty net.

Oh, the crowd goes mad! The announcer screams their names! But the players themselves, though happy, know that they have only equalized. And so their celebration is a quick one, Pipita hurriedly picking the ball up from the net and jogging back to center circle, accepting high-fives and pats on the back along the way, but looking more eagerly towards the restart than anything else. Wow, what an attitude! I love it!

9:55 Sergio is a leftie? As he slips a ball with his right foot to Iker to clean up, Phil says: “A leftie, but it works.” Who else is a leftie – Miguel Torres, right? And Cesc?

10:00 Sneijder with a walloping shot! VDV with the pickup! But gah, into the side netting!

17:25 NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Malaga does it again???? 1-2?! What happened to all our intent and purpose and desire?

The entire backline is to blame for this one. Canna for letting them square away from him. Sergio for letting that pass through. Heinze and Marcelo for letting #25 Baha slip through their grasp, neither of them recognizing the danger until he’s already run away from them, Heinze just a step too slow but that one step is what cost us the goal. Poor Iker couldn’t even react before the ball was already spiraling into the back of the net, and Baha slides on the turf in elation to celebrate with his pals. This is the Bernabeu, for Christ’s sake! This is our home stadium, our castle! Does that mean nothing anymore??

23:50 OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!! ALMOST AN OWN-GOAL BY MALAGA! Ok, well, it wasn’t that close, but still! Great job, Sergio! A couple of lightening crosses forward into the opposition’s box, and now he takes matters into his own hands with a wicked shot that the Malaga defender must head away! But it sails so close to the goal, flashing for a brief second as if for the far right corner – before it goes out! Corner!

27:50 What a pass by Guti! For Higuain! The ball tears right past 2 defenders sticking their leg out for Pipita suddenly 1v1 with the keeper! ACK, he had to smother that one! Crap!

28:00 DAMN, Sergio was solely concentrated on the ball and not on the challenger with his cleats raised, so he takes one through his ankle and rolls onto the ground as if he’s been shot. The ref, however, calmly handles the situation and doles out the free kick, ignoring the hisses and cries from the crowd. Our ensuing free kick so nearly connected with a RM player! But just a tiny bit off, and into the hands of the keeper, who ruins everything.

35:15 PENALTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSS!!!
Handball on the very, very tiptoe edge of the box to stop the shot by Higuain. Immediately the buzz heightens around the stadium, and the ref is looking a bit beleaguered about giving the penalty, but he does pull out the yellow card. Guti, even, goes to comfort the condemned defender #3 Weligton for the handball. Acting all captainy – so great! Then, then – YES! WE GOT IT! A PENALTY! THANK YOU LORD!

And Higuain, who looks so reluctant when he’s seriously deep in thought, steps up to take it. There is no Raul today. No RVN. The 20 year old is our only hope. 80,000+ pairs of eyes are on him – and millions more across the globe. And he even stutters – pausing just ever so slightly in his run-up, as if still choosing a direction? Damn! So that the keeper guesses right – and almost saves it! BUT NO! WE GOT IT! The ball squirmed past under his arm and into the back of the net! WE’VE EQUALIZED YET AGAIN! 2-2! YAY!!!!

And again, Pipita roars and pumps his fists, and then promptly grabs that ball away from the depressed keeper to hurry back towards the middle, to eagerly restart the game. Haha, do you have somewhere else to be, bb? Celebrate a little more, won’t you?

39:00 WTF, IKER?????? Take your time with the ball back from Heinze, won’t you? Instead, he doesn’t even pause to restart, just kicks it right back to Heinze, and suddenly the Argentine has to fight for it back against a swift-footed Malaga winger coming in to challenge?? #@*$&%*?&!!!! OH, that’s a great tackle! CLEAN! “A tremendous tackle,” Ray praises! But the ref doesn’t think so! He calls him for a foul! And Heinze, so incensed at this injustice, immediately runs up to the ref to appeal, with his hands cupped together in the shape of a ball for emphasis (or is that to choke the ref’s neck?), begging and pleading and screaming that it was clean! Please!

But the ref scowls, and yep, whenever the ref gets ticked off, they can do whatever they want to correct the situation – like, pulling out a yellow card! YIKES! C’mon, that’s way too unfair! Why can’t they, ever, admit they’re wrong? Poor Heinze can’t believe it, and captain Guti comes up to try to stop the yellow card, to no avail. So. They get a freebie kick. Eh.

OOOOoooh, and that one so closely sailed over the top of the bar! SO dangerous! PHEW!

41:00 Higuain gets a yellow for . . grabbing the guy’s arm. Are you kidding me, ref?

43:00 WWWWWWWWWHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT???????????????????
A RED CARD????? ON SERGIO RAMOS???????!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH, I NEVER!

Maybe Sergio has a bit of a reputation. Or maybe this ref needs his eyes checked. But he goddamn APOLOGIZED, ref! What more do you want from him?????!!!!!!!

Ok, here’s what happened. Sergio’s defending against #18 Eli on the right wing and semi-fouls. Fine. Whatever. Eli’s on the ground, but there’s no whistle, so he’s allowed to play on. The ball, meanwhile, is threatening to roll out of bounds. So, in his eagerness to get to the ball – Sergio steps on him. Square in the chest. Eli screams out loud, and Sergio immediately wheels around to apologize, putting his hands out in that universal “I’m sorry” language, and coming to check on the player.

But then the ref goes bonkers! He rushes over and raises the red card. The red card??? NO WAY! In fact, with all the players now gathering and the replay being played, I barely see the red raised – but on the screen it says “Tarjeta Roja”, which I know means “red.” And from Sergio’s expression – oh my God. He doesn’t even argue, just gives the ref an exasperated look, and turns hopelessly away. There is tremendous disappointment written all over his body, even though he tries to hide it in his face, tries to hold it in from the rest of the world already on his case from the last 2 weeks of hell. As he walks off . . his eyes are down, his hands listlessly taking off his hairband and wrapping it around his wrist. Behind him, they argue on, the entire team trying to plead his case, not giving up even after the fact, with Gago, Sneijder, and Canna the most animated, probably because they are the only ones who hasn’t gotten a yellow or a reprimand yet today.

And the crowd: what are they chanting?
The card was just insane. And you know what? I don’t even care. I don’t want to argue anymore. Sergio’s played his heart out in this game, with a bruised foot too – making so many great runs up the right flank that’s helped the team. I don’t mind, with the score 2-2, for him to get a rest.

So now Guti has to defend the RB spot. Ah good, there’s the halftime whistle!

Second Half:

2:00 Well, there’s Salgado and his dramatics again! So Sneijder’s sacrificed. And every little touch, falls him like a dagger, with Michel clutching his face, his chin, as if the worst wrong has been done to him. Very nice to sell a couple fouls, though.

10:00 My interest in this game has plummeted dramatically. Now I barely care. And RM is playing like it too. When deep injustice has been done to your team – and I feel it has – then you lose heart. You feel its not worth your while, that no matter how much you put into it, it won’t ever return it back to you. So. My guess is this will end 2-2. And that is just woeful.

18:10 LOL, so cute! Guti does so well to slide in for the tackle on Nacho, but that guy, a fresh sub just come on, manages to backheel the ball right before the contact is made! So Guti gets the man instead of the ball! Free kick. Damn, this spot is so dangerous, deep inside the right corner by the flag, that Guti can only throw up his hands and fall back dramatically onto the grass, laughing at it.

23:10 OH NO! WE ARE DONE.

ANOTHER PENALTY????????? This time Gago being the culprit, too desperate to stop the ball and shoves Duda off it, right inside the box. So of course, here comes the card, and here comes the pointing to the spot for the pen. Christ. Gago protests, but the ref does not care. “There’s no need!!” Ray exhorts on Gago’s push. Canna was coming over. Iker was ready. Really, Gago!

So now Iker is our last line of defense. And he’s not enough. #10 Apono rifles the shot into the roof of the net, as Iker guessed the wrong way, and its now 2-3.

I am speechless. This is such a nightmare! Oh, Real . . what is wrong?

25:00 YYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HIGUAIN HAT TRICK!!! 3-3!

A kiss for Pipita!! What an amazing little Argentine we have! And now my soul is cleansed. My hope is restored. That shot was wicked good, so far out was he, 25 yards? But that is enough. Give him an inch of space, and he absolutely rifles that shot into the far left corner of the net, a perfect shot, a shot deserving of his third for the hat-trick. Oh my God, how good it feels!!!!! I LOVE YOU, PIPITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And now he celebrates! YEAH!!!! Lookit how he yells, throws his fists!! God, we needed this!

And now Real has woken up. They’ve shaken off this gloom that was Sergio’s sending off, and now they’ve taken heart from Higuain’s strike. The slate is wiped clean once again. 3-3 now. Marcelo’s error is gone. Heinze’s error is gone. Gago’s error is gone. Even that injustice that is Sergio’s red card is momentarily erased, and we are once more the masters of the universe. Well, at home anyway! OH YES! Look at that! Real’s MAD! They’re pissed off, bb! The crowd’s roaring them on! That’s the way to play, boys!! ALL OUT!

27:50 Saviola on for Drenthe. Eh. I am actually sad to see Drenthe go!

30:00 WOW, GUTI! Thank you!!!! Wonderful, amazing, all-out tackle by the captain to win the ball back from a dangerous Malaga attack, sliding in with every ounce of energy left in his body, then whips the ball forward for VDV! All in one motion! We have so few bodies upfield right now that it looks like its for naught, for nothing – yet, yet all we need is TWO! VDV curls a mean cross ahead for Higuain, so audacious – the Argentine can’t quite get to it! SO CLOSE! OOOOOOooohhh! What happens????? A PENALTY?????????? AGAIN? I mean, YES! Wonderful! Haha! I can’t believe it! What game is this??!!! Barcelona? Villareal? The CL final?? How can this game against little ol’ Malaga be this exciting???? *giddy dance!*

Replay: ooooh, Higuain dived! Did they even touch him?? Two defenders on either side of him, running with him – but? Was he pushed? Well, its hard to tell . . but he does seem to dive, perhaps trying to get the header when he realizes its too far out? “The diving swan!!” Ray laughs when its replayed. “He bought one!” Ah, well! This avenges everything then! Very fair, this ref! :DDD

AND ITS SAVED?!?! BUT WE GET THE REBOUND! GOAL #4 FOR PIPITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4-3! We can rest easy now!

Wow, this is such a soul-cleansing game like no other! This entirely erases away the bitterness I felt when Sergio Garcia took that penalty v Iker in the Betis game, only for Iker to save it, but then he poaches the rebound to fire it past Iker for the goal. I had spat on him then, but now we do the exact same thing. Higuain, perhaps a little nervous, perhaps a little tired, telegraphs his strike and in fact tries the exact same thing as last time, running up from the left and striking it to the left. The keeper reads it well and saves it well – but as always, spills it!!!! Higuain wastes no time correcting his wrong and slotting it home, past the desperate lunge of the keeper, and runs off to celebrate goal #4. Oh, and the winner. This is the game-winner, very likely. 4-3. Oh, thank god. I can breathe again.

And this celebration is the sweetest of all. All of them piling up on him, laughing, crying, hugging. It really is all Gonzalo Higuain. Lots of help, of course. But you have to bow down to this 20 year old boy from Argentina. Without him and his brilliance, his speed, his industry – we would have no answer for Malaga. RVN’s hurting. Raul’s beat. Saviola, um – is not worthy of La Liga. But we’ve got a blossoming young striker here. 4 goals, all his. Oh, and Guti. What a tackle! What a pass! What vision! Thank you VDV too! Ray cannot stop raving about Pipita. “Tireless Spartan, gladiator that is Higuain! And tip your hat to the captain, Guti, too!” Oh yes. When the chips are down, their talent comes out after all.

36:00 Now its Malaga’s turn to be mad. I even feel a little sorry for them – that last penalty was a little dodgy, after all. So the counter-attacks begin to come to blows, the shots like cannon, both sides hell-bent on getting/stopping another one. Iker is called on for a couple saves. And as Malaga forces a corner, Phil exclaims, “just a run of the mill season match!” Indeed!

37:50 Diarra comes on for VDV. Now we want to protect our lead.

38:40 Look at Guti with his steely tackles! Another good one! Though they get a throw-in off it, he couldn’t quite do the magical double that he pulled off earlier, this one being just for survival. Ray is just floored. “Richard the Lionheart, down there, is Guti!” he roars. God, my love for him grows more and more every game! Him and Higuain both! Gah, Guti . . doing everything he can for the team, always!!

45:00 Oh no! GUTI! Are you hurt?? Why won’t they stop play for you?
He once again makes a fantastic tackle, just stands his ground – then, on one knee, trying to get up – falls over. AAAGGHHH! “Fatigue,” Ray says sympathetically. Awhile later, he is up on his feet. Oh, thank god!

End We win!!!

Man of the Match
Higuain – 4 goals!!! Matched Di Stefano’s record for a single game! Not bad, huh?

Post-game thoughts
WOW. What a firecracker of a game! We really, really needed this win, and my hat’s off to Higuain to get it for us.

Real Madrid, somehow – has a way of burrowing into your soul. I’m serious. It takes so much time and effort to follow them . . but then when things go right – when they give it back to you – its all worth it. I woke up this morning groggy and tired, and now I’m laughing and singing along to the radio. What could be better?

This team fights. There’s no other way to put it. When things are going well, they fight against the media for making stuff up, for criticism that they took their foot off the gas, whatever. When things are going badly – like now – they have to fight even harder, even longer, in order to win, in a way that makes you want to curse them and hug them, all at the same time. This is what being a team is all about.

“We win together and we lose together,” Guti said after the last game against Juv. And there is no better reminder of that than this game right here. Look at Marcelo making that mistake in the beginning of the game, the one that Ray screamed to have him punished for it. Then just seconds later, the culprit himself is pushing forward, creating a beautiful one-two with Guti that releases him for the shot on goal, which ended up being spilled out for Higuain to slip home. 1-1. We make another mistake, this time by more players, when they go ahead 1-2, on a wonderful assist by Duda and an alert run by Baha. Again, we have to fight back. And again it’s a team effort, our buildup in the box leading to Guti letting Higuain have it, and he knocks it just past the defender who reaches out with his arm to stop it. Penalty. Pipita strikes it, 2-2.

Then Sergio’s red card. We had to go a man down. 10 v 11, for the entire second half! And for the first 18 minutes or so, we suffered. Yet when Gago pushed Duda and they got that penalty – we forgot all that. We couldn’t lose – we refused to lose. If that is not pure fight, pure white blood in my veins, then I don’t know what is! Higuin, again and again! Mistakes made by our back line, cleaned up and atoned for by our front. We win, and lose, together. Guti’s lightening passes, just incredible. Higuain, running and running, scaring the heck out of them. Marcelo barging forward. Sergio too, in the first half. Heinze arguing so passionately, Gago, so adorable and yet so tough, and Drenthe, too, looking better and better.

This victory belonged to the whole team, even though it was Pipita who got the credit, and that’s why it feels extra special. Yes, we have major players who are hurting. Yes, we’re going through a rough patch. But there is a never-say-die attitude about this team that I love so much right now! Hope does spring eternal! Hala Madrid!