Game Blog :: Villarreal 0-2 Real Madrid

By: Dancy | September 24th, 2009

An inspirational Guti, rejuvenated Sergio Ramos, and the “Arsenal” of Spain, Villarreal, made this game about 100x better than that last one against Xerez. Pellegrini continued with his science experiments of rejiggering the lineup, throwing out there a 4-3-3 with Pipita the lone striker and benching Raul from the 4 attackers that bogged down the Xerez game. Plenty of questions were answered: how will we do with our new lineup? Who is the better attacking mid, Guti or Kaka? Is there any hope for Lady Gago? Read on!

Pellegrini’s back at his old stomping grounds! But his former side is really hurting, with only 2 draws and 1 loss so far. They really miss him, don’t they?

I have a feeling they’re gonna bring a lot of fight. Villarreal has great players in Diego Lopez, former Real Madrid canterano; Capdevila, Marcos Senna, and Santi Cazorla from La Seleccion; Cani, which is just a cool name; Giuseppe Rossi – the kid from New Jersey USA who plays for Italy; and Nilmar, at 11ME the most expensive signing in Villarreal’s history and who’s nicknamed “Nilmaradona” back when he played in Brazil. Awesome!

Lass, Albiol, Sergio, Marcelo
Gago, Guti, Granero
Kaka, Pipita, CR9

Uh oh! Garay got injured in the warm-up? *facepalm* Is the Robben ghost still haunting us? That means . . Sergio To CB, Lass to RB and Gago in next to Guti. Oh dear God. Why did we let go of Miguel Torres?? >_

GUUUUUUTTTTTIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!! *giddy*

Guti is EL CAPITAN today! Awww, so awesome to see him do all the things that Raul always did – shaking hands with the ref, following the coin toss in the air up and down, then encouraging and rallying on his troops, including kissing Sergio on the cheek! All the while sporting that spiffy black armband. (He’s also got a cast on – did he hurt his arm?)

1:30 GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY COW, RONALDO! Again?? Haha! O.O

And this is what we paid for. He made this, all on his own. Villarreal with the ball, Villarreal attacking – and then all of a sudden it is Real attacking, Ronaldo flying up on the left wing, his first touch to pip that ball past his marker is tremendous! Then he keeps going, evading a wall of defenders, none of whom quite knows what to do with him but can only give him space, give that tiny window between two of them where he shoots, Sergio had run up from the CB position and Pipita is right there but Ronaldo wants that Pichichi trophy – and it rolls right in! OMG! I totally thought the keeper would save it?

But no, Ronaldo is too good – and my god, he wins over my heart by running over and doing the first thing he can think of, which is to celebrate this one with his captain, his true captain, Raul. What a ham, huh? Ooooh – and it was SERGIO with the steal and pass for him! Does he get the assist? 1-0.

8:30 Wow, my hats off to Villarreal. They play beautiful, flowing football alright, the ball scarcely touching one player’s boot before its released to another. Is Pellegrini nostalgic? I would be. After that Xerez game, where we couldn’t string two passes together, to this? I am almost entranced by the Yellow Submarine, as the white-shirted players can do nothing but chase and chase – or, in Gago’s case, hack and hack. If it weren’t for that early goal, I would be very worried, indeed.

8:47 Guti hacked down! Making his blond hair all sexy and sticking up.

12:00 Aaaaaaahhhh!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOO! That was such an amazing attack building up! Granero nearly HAD IT!! Then he tripped? Cristiano on the ground? :/ Then the ref whips out a yellow card, and I exhale. Free kick coming up!

Just when I thought Villarreal would rule the pitch with their technical excellence, we play a little “tic-tac-toe” according to Ray on the edge of the box that has me speechless in awe. Guti! Ronaldo! Granero! With defenders buzzing all around them and in fact in between them but they do not care! Forming a little triangle with their one-touch passing that almost sends Granero free towards goal, before he tripped! OMFG, if that had come off! And for a minute there I thought it was Kaka instead of Granero, they do look very similar in their movements and hair color, no?

16:17 “Cannot let Guti get into his groove, man!” cheers Ray as Guti displays one accurate pass after another, pulling the strings in midfield while barely moving a single muscle. His position is his throne, just behind the attackers, and its been more than half a year since I’ve waited to see him back to such imperious form once again.

Look at him – he can teach you how the game is to be played. With just one flick of his boot, one raise of his chin and his eyes to the teammate he wants, he can make the pass that will completely change the direction of the game. That’s nuts! That’s Guti!

18:50 Pellegrini looks terribly worried, his brow furrowed. Why the worry, mister?

19:20 Ronaldo again! With that feathery touch of his, tapping that ball forward to evade TWO defenders! Then sets up Pipita!!! *speechless*

20:30 SERGIO!!!!!!! Ok, I LOVE this game. Quality, quality opponent at every position, fantastic test for us, all my favorite players out on the pitch, and now SERGIO races in side by side with Nilmar to force the Brazilian to check with nowhere to go when just a second ago he had the ball at his feet and Iker’s goal at his mercy!! WAAAA! Great stuff!

22:20 GONZALO?!?! HOW, HOW COULD YOU MISS THAT?! That’s even worse than Negredo’s miss from yesterday! ACK! Perfect, perfect buildup, I am nearly crying from the way Guti is threading every pass from midfield, all one-touch between him, Marcelo, and Kaka, before Marcelo almost runs to the endline before teeing up Pipita, just waiting in front of goal, seriously if he could’ve had gotten any control on it he would’ve tapped it in? But noooooo – he once again sends another one to the moon. Jesus, bb – everyone else is doing so well – why can’t you?

33:50 OMG! Kaka down?? It looked so promising all of a sudden, total surprise as Higuain got the ball from their defense, gave it to Kaka for the attack – and then the defender?? Reached up with a boot to try to reach the ball, but instead kicked Kaka in the ribs? Oh no . . then a yellow . . Guti coming to talk to the ref, everyone huddled around them . . the guilty defender, Gonzalo, wiping his face with his shirt and looking terribly sorry. RED CARD! Wow!

I feel so bad for Villarreal. I don’t know why. They’re already a goal down and now they’re gonna lose for sure, right? 10 men against Real . . impossible. But I hate that they’ve lost their coach, they’ve lost Marcos Senna to injury (because of La Seleccion?), they’ve started out so badly in La Liga, and now this. I don’t know . . they play too well to deserve this.

Second Half:

51:33 Aww, c’mon, Guti. A bit choppy now in the second half, and he gets booked for what, for kicking the ball away when there was a whistle? Jeez. *shakes head*

53:30 Guti wins a header! Then sees it still in the air and jumps again, gets it down for a teammate! “Haven’t seen that fire from him for a few years,” Phil muses. A few years?? What do you mean, a few years, its only been a few months! And then we have a beautiful buildup, Gago gives it to Higuain on the far right who powers that shot at goal!!! Tremendous SAVE by Diego Lopez!! Then we get the rebound, AAAAAHHH, so close by Ronaldo across the face of goal, if only somebody had been there to tuck it in! But they clear it off the line, and the crowd is still holding its breath. So, so close!

58:00 Villarreal looks amazingly dangerous, you would never have guessed that they were down a man!

64:40 Higuain? Pipita subbed out? And the look on his face as he walked off will kill you, so full of quiet anger and tremendous disappointment in himself. He only got that one great shot in the second half, but other than that, he couldn’t combine well with the rest of his teammates. It’s not like they weren’t trying to find him, but either his positioning or their pass would be *just* off, its been so frustrating for him today. Better than Benzema before the Xerez game opened up, that’s for sure – but, well, not by much. >_

Raul, though, comes on extremely eager and claps his teammates on. Does he get the captain’s badge now or Guti? I’m into stuff like that.

68:40 SERGIO RAMOS TO THE RESCUE!!!!!! WOW! There’s the Sergio that I love and missed! They take down – Granero? Ref doesn’t care, waves play on – then all of a sudden Nilmar is released and is battling Lass in full gallop towards goal???? Nobody can stop him?? Eeeeeek! Then out of nowhere a freight train comes in to tackle that ball away, taking out Nilmar as well, the Brazilian flying and rolling over into the penalty box! One split-second later and that would’ve been a penalty! But no – Sergio timed it right – timed it just perfect. Wow, wow, wow. Thank god for you, bb!

69:35 Ooof, Guti taken down. Ray berates him a tiny bit, saying that with only 10 men for the opposition, Guti should be able to dictate the game more than he has so far in the second half. Truth. But he can only set up the passes, not finish them. And just then, as if he’s heard him – here it comes – the pass to Marcelo.

Marcelo races the defender to the endline, and seems to have won a corner! But why is he so happy? LOL, slapping high five with Raul? OH, OH! A PENALTY?? WHOA! The defender Angel had used his hands to try to stop the ball? Hmmm – watching the replay, where he seems to pull up his hands out of the way as the ball pings off him – that seems a bit harsh. But hey – I’ll take it.

KAKA up for possibly his first goal. Diego Lopez, former backup to Iker, readies himself for the pen. I feel kinda sorry for Kaka, that the only way he can get his first goal is through penalty? We gave him a penalty during one of the preseason games too, didn’t we, so he could get the monkey off his back? But no matter – he cuts in from an angle and sends Lopez the wrong way, easily striking the ball home for his first La Liga goal!!!! YAY for Kaka! 2-0, I feel much better now.

74:00 Guti fouled yet again. Free kick – Ronaldo? Then who do I see? RAFAEL VAN DER VAART! Ohmygosh, I never thought I would ever see him again! Ohai Rafa! Welcome back! On for Kaka.

HOLY GOD, what a free kick!!! Screaming and diving, Lopez tremendous in parrying that away!

79:00 Marcelo is tripped up just outside of the box and we get another free kick. Ray is full of praise: “Lovely movement from the Whites! Prompted by a sweet little kiss of the ball from Guti in a tight situation.” Granero to take . . but right into the wall. VDV tries to win it back and is called for the foul – OMG, then out of nowhere GUTI wins the ball back! Runs up the right! Ack, then the pass is nicked off . .

80:53 Lass is booked. But why is there a huge cheer going up? Is that Momo Diarra coming on?? Ah, I see: Guti off. And he deserves nothing less than the rapturous ovation. He knows it too, raising his fist happily towards the crowd before he grins and hugs Momo. Great game, baby – see you next game!

Ahahahaha! What a cute little moment with Sergio there! OMG, I love this game! Sergio taps his nose with a finger, and Guti’s like “yeah, I know, let me show you what they did to me, those punks,” and lifts up his top lip with his hand to show him! Is he bleeding? Chipped a tooth? Jesus Christ, that little snarl! *faints*

Too funny, as Raul loses out on a header:
Phil: “Has Raul even gotten a touch on the ball since he’s come on?”
Ray: “His next one is probably a goal.”
Touche.

85:30 DAMMIT!!!! His first touch is NOT a goal scored, but ALMOST! Again Sergio is TREMENDOUS, he glues himself to Nilmar? in the box and beats him to the ball, cleanly, not a feather ruffled, yet he doesn’t punt it away blindly. Oh no – he is in full control. Wow, just the composure on him, look at him GO! To VDV, who slips it on to Ronaldo, who looks like he might be beaten but then so alertly finding Sergio again – bang, bang, bang! And Sergio, running and running, almost beating the last defender to break free 1v1 with the keeper but just missing that final touch, then finding Raul, to Ronaldo, to VDV again – ah, beautiful stuff! VDV cuts it back! Almost finds Ronaldo, OMG! Raul with the too-heavy touch! YEEEEEEKS! How many chances have we had??? This game should be at least 3-0, then we can keep our top spot over Barca! *sigh*

89:30 ACK, Raul so close yet again! Wow, either Villarreal has gotten tired, or we are really starting to show some sexy one-touch passing too that is just dazzling! Momo Diarra fitting right in!

End: 2-0, and a fun match!

Man of the Match:

No question this time – Guti. Though Sergio was amazing too, but for me, Guti had me on the edge of my seat at times, the way he dictated the direction of play. When he’s “on”, it is such a treasure that it’s impossible to watch anyone else. He commands all eyes. Bravo, Guti – I really hope this is your year!

There was one point midway through the first half when Kaka deferred to Guti to make all the decisions. My jaw dropped open. Why, why did we pay 67ME for Kaka, when we have this gem from our youth side? I’m all for Kaka, but I’m just waiting to see what he’s all about.

Because Guti is, to me – priceless.

Post-game Thoughts:

Pipita should’ve been allowed to play the whole game. He would’ve gotten a goal; I’m sure of it. At the very end is when it opens up for us, it seems, and with one of the runs that Raul had, if only he had a little more pace? He would’ve had it! I love Raul but . . not at the expense of Pipita. He looked so good in that Zurich game. Then he has to sit out for one game and now . . ? Ugh, my nightmare is his crestfallen face as he came off tonight. And now he has to sit on it again and brood for another whole week? While we do this rotation thing and Benzema starts the next one? It just kills all momentum, and I hate it. I would leave if I were him. Seriously.

But other than my favorite Argentine, everyone else had a tremendous game!

Gago looked much better in the second half. In the first half I cringed whenever he ran in for a tackle, half-expecting a yellow card to follow. Surprisingly, the ref was kind to him. But in the second half, he looked more confident, and especially in the absence of Guti, began providing some nice balls through the midfield. Keep it up, bb – you’re the only one with long hair these days on our team! We need you out there!

Sergio looked AMAZING at times. OMG, the real Sergio is back, the one that we all fell in love with! So, so strong, steady and calm, knowing exactly when to put out fires and when he can run up ahead, tackling away balls SO CLEANLY, saving Lass’s hide on that one dazzling slide on Nilmar, stealing away that ball that led to Ronaldo’s opening goal – I half expected him to be rested since he just came back, but then Arbeloa went out injured and Garay too and it’s Sergio who saves the day! I think that’s why I loved this game so much. Whenever he has a good day, I do too.

Kaka – I don’t know. I’ve never seen him play for AC Milan, so maybe someone else can enlighten me about him? He is supposed to be the attacking midfielder here, the new “Zidane” – but Guti outshined him by far in this game. He seems to attack a lot though he’s not a striker, he seems to pass well but they’re just not on the same level as Guti’s, at least not in this game. Maybe I’m slightly biased, but I’m still waiting for him to show me why he cost 67ME. I don’t care if you don’t score goals, Kaka – but I want you to dictate the pace of our game. Give us an identity. Be the eyes and ears of Pellegrini out there on the pitch. He’s been good so far – but not brilliant. Yet.

This was a great game to watch, Villarreal played their heart out with 10 men for most of it. And they matched us stride for stride for the bulk of the second half! I really hope they do well, and get wins after this. The way they played football, so beautiful at times – will we play like that, Pellegrini? We saw glimpses of it here. Say yes. Tell me – that that will be us in a few more months . .