Champions League Liveblog: Real Madrid v Werder Bremen

By: Steve | September 18th, 2007

Hala Madrid! Well kiddies, uncle Steve is ready to go for tonight’s opening match of Real Madrid’s 2007-8 Champions League campaign. Matchday 1 sees Los Merengues hosting German side Werder Bremen, and Corey has a great preview of the matchup.

Last time I liveblogged, I think I spent more time trying to type insanely fast than I did actually watching the match, so the liveblog this time will probably be less eventful, but hopefully more insightful. Let me know in the comments which way you prefer… and if you prefer the first time, you’ll probably be disappointed from here on out. Heheh.

Check back here at 19h30 GMT when I start the liveblog, or cruise back anytime in the 2 hours after that for an update.

PREGAME: It’s Real Madrid’s 300th European match. Wow. That’s impressive, but then we knew that it had to be a big number, with the 9-times champions always a factor. The Sky Sports Xtra’s pregame show has a feature on Ruud’s European experience with PSV, Man United and Real. He’ll be important.

PREGAME: Man, it drives me insane when the British commentators refer to the Real Madrid stadium as the “ber-na-bow”. If you’re gonna bother to try pronouncing the word, then dammit, pronounce it the right way! It’s “bear-na-bay-ooh”!!!

PREGAME: Ok, the teams are walking out now… I saw Casillas, Metzelder, Raul, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Higuain, Guti, Gago, Ruud, Cannavaro and Sneijder… not in that order.

PREGAME: I’m not really sure what to think about Higuain playing as a midfielder, but Schuster knows more than I do.

PREGAME: Interesting, the ball is the typical Champions League ball, with the adorning stars, but the stars are salmon pink. Nasty.

3min: Real look to be doing ok so far winning the ball, but they’re really not doing so good at keeping it. Giving away dumb passes.

4min: I’ve seen Metzelder run out to cover the attacker on the wide left because Marcelo was nowhere to be found. I hope that’s not going to be a recurring theme.

5min: Ooh, Mertesacker played a horrible backpass that the Bremen keeper was lucky to boot away from an oncoming Higuain. Good pressure by the Real forwards.

6min: Nice, Marcelo advances down the left flank and wins a free kick on a clumsy challenge.

7min: Sneijder’s free kick amounts to nothing. Tight man-marking by Bremen.

10min: Ooh, sweet pass by Sneijder that almost sprang Higuain for a shot on goal, just a bit too far.

11min: Real are pressing really well, but haven’t been able to get anyone in a shooting position yet… and just as I write that, Sneijder manages a pseudo shot/cross that the Bremen keeper easily handles.

13min: I know Schuster is trying to play more joga bonito, but Marcelo is going forward far too much. Stay back and play your position, boy!

15min: GOAL!!! Raul takes a sweet header off van Nistelrooy’s chip cross. Real Madrid 1-0 Werder Bremen.

17min: Goal. Bremen answers right back. A looping cross gets nicked by Ramos and Metzelder is beaten by his man who nicks it past a flailing Casillas. Real Madrid 1-1 Werder Bremen.

20min: I think Casillas should’ve come out to challenge that ball. It was coming up on an arc, so it should’ve been easy to read, and he could’ve punched the ball away. Bollocks.

21min: Higuain shimmies through 3 defenders but his throughball gets deflected away.

23min: Unbelievable. Casillas bails out his defense again. Bremen was able to advance on the right, and I swear, Marcelo was walking towards his man. What the hell are you waiting for? You’re a defender, right? Dammit.

26min: It’s getting really sloppy. No retention of the ball, chippy passes, nothing remotely looking like the skill that they displayed against Villarreal.

27min: Ruud takes a quick shot that glances off the right side of the Bremen goal. A good pass from Higuain who’s doing well getting open on the right flank.

29min: Marcelo is really way too reckless to be a defender. He’s good at bringing the ball up in open space, but he tried to take on 2 defenders, lost the ball, and then was caught out of position when Bremen counterattacked. On the bright side, Higuain is doing absolutely layman’s work, tracking back to the Real box to mark his man.

31min: Ooh, Ruud just slightly offside before getting huge space to go 1-on-1 with the keeper. Sure goal otherwise…

33min: Gago has been completely anonymous. Ruud gets another good ball in the middle of the box, but his shot gets deflected away for a corner… which doesn’t amount to anything, but Real is getting a free kick from about 35 yards, and you know Sneijder is gonna blast it…

33min: Hmmm, it was an indirect free kick, so they did the little touch-stop thing, but Sneijder’s kick hits the wall.

34min: Real is finally getting some sustained pressure… great turn by Ramos to lose his man, but his cross gets headed away by a Bremen defender.

35min: Higuain takes Raul’s cross and his first touch gets away from him enough to make him muff the shot.

36min: Cannavaro gets turned inside out by a Bremen attacker, but the shot goes weakly straight into Casillas’ hands.

37min: Ruud is standing inside the penalty area and 2 defenders just BARELY manage to deflect his shot from an open net after Raul does well to find him. Snap, that was SO close.

40min: Great vision by Guti, springing Marcelo to pass too close to the keeper for Raul to get a touch on it.

43min: Raul is showing that he’s still got the ballwinning skills in addition for that nose for goal, as he takes on a couple defenders on more than one occasion within a minute.

HALFTIME: Alright, the first half finishes rather uneventfully, Casillas called into action one more time, and Real threatening but unable to make an incisive move inside. Schuster needs to take off Marcelo, he’s a serious liability on the left.

HALFTIME: Ooh, a replay on the play where I said Marcelo was walking… and it’s actually Sneijder who’s defending, he’s a bit late coming in to close down on Diego, but that’s probably because he expects his leftback to be there… so where the hell was Marcelo?!??!

46min: ok, no halftime substitutions, but i’m sure Schuster has Marcelo on a short leash.

48min: man, a strong challenge on Ruud looked pretty harsh to me… but no call… because the defender got his head on the ball first.

49min: I’m at my wit’s end with Marcelo. Why he feels so compelled to always take on his defender by dribbling through him rather than playing the open man is beyond me.

51min: Madrid’s set-piece defending just scares me. They don’t head the ball away with any authority, and they just always seem to lose their man. Good for offense, bad for defense.

52min: Man, Diego is making mincemeat of Real’s left side defense. Need to bring on some muscle like Heinze.

55min: Great tackle by Mertesacker after Raul threatens down the right side of the box.

58min: Diego is killing the Madrid defense. Absolutely shredding them.

59min: Newsflash - Gago is doing nothing. Nothing productive, at least.

62min: Drenthe is warming up… that’s not a good sign. He’s not any more defensively aware than Marcelo.

63min: Real seem to be trying to play in the perfect touch pass, particularly if Ruud is in the middle… It’s like they are actively trying to get him his 50th Champions League goal, instead of just making the smart play, which sometimes means taking the shot.

64min: A little bit of injury stoppage as Bremen’s Tosic goes down…

66min: Ooh, Ruud gets played in offside by Sneijder… wasn’t even close.

67min: Robinho looks like he’s coming on, I wonder who for…

68min: AHHHH!!! Raul gets played onside, but his chip doesn’t go high enough to beat the keeper.

69min: Bremen makes a substitution: Hugo Almeida on for Rosenborg. Real subs in Robinho for Higuain. That’s a bit surprising, I thought Higuain was playing well.

70min: Robinho makes an instant impact, playing in Ruud, but the Dutchman gets tangled up in some turf and a Bremen defender and doesn’t get a shot away.

72min: Yellow card on Bremen’s Vranjes, as he flies in on Marcelo deep in the left flank.

73min: Wow, Ruud must be rusty after not playing on the weekend, because I reckon he’s had at least 4 chances and hasn’t been able to put anything on goal yet.

75min: GOAL!!! I spoke too soon… Ruud gets a great touch pass from Raul after a great ball from Guti, and the Dutchman calmly slots it to the keeper’s right. Real Madrid 2-1 Werder Bremen.

76min: Raul is playing some inspired football. I dunno if it’s the lack of galacticos, or Schuster’s home cooking, but he’s clearly found the fountain of youth.

77min: Drenthe comes on for Guti… He’ll take the left wing, and moves Sneijder into the middle.

80min: Wow, still not sure if Casillas muffed the shot, or if the Bremen attacker got a foot on it, but the ball flashed through the goal area… and then at the other end, Robinho takes on a defender and jinks his way to the touchline before his pass across the goalmouth goes all the way to the sideline.

82min: Hey, Robben looks like he might be making his debut… hopefully on for Marcelo, with Drenthe moving back to defend.

83min: And it’s Raul coming off for Robben. Well, at least Raul comes off to a deserved ovation.

86min: All four Dutchmen are on the pitch now, and they’re keen on attacking, with the last sequence involving all four of them. No end result though… but good to see it anyways.

89min: Argh… Robben looks really rusty. His movement is good but his touch has completely deserted him, on 3 separate occasions within the last minute. And Robinho should leave the long range shooting to Sneijder. I haven’t seen him hit the ball cleanly from outside the box once.

92min: A Bremen free kick in a dangerous spot goes for naught. I think that was Bremen’s last decent chance at a draw… Madrid is still looking for a third goal though.

93min: And we’re done… An industrious if somewhat unconvincing win. They’ll need to bring more to the table the next time out.

POSTGAME: Ok, it wasn’t pretty, far from it, but it’s a result, straight from the school of Don Capello. Man of the match has to be Raul, he played like it was 1999. Other good shows by Sergio Ramos, Guti, van Nistelrooy and Higuain. Sneijder seemed surprisingly absent, and Robinho was decent if a bit greedy with ihis shooting from outside the box.

POSTGAME: Drenthe was passable, and played with more defensive awareness than previously shown. Marcelo was horrid, showing promise on the offensive end but was caught out of position far too often. Metzelder and Cannavaro were a bit unnerving, the German especially faulty on a couple touches, but Casillas was, as usual, up to the task. Robben, as I said before, seems a bit rusty, but I think he’ll pick it up, he’s got a lot of promise. Did I miss anyone?

POSTGAME: Ahh, I missed Gago. Yeah, he started playing better in the last 10 minutes, but was otherwise a wallflower. Not sure if that’s what you want from him, but I think Diarra would’ve been a better choice.

POSTGAME: The Sky commentators are talking about Bremen’s goal… it’s just a complete breakdown in Real’s defensive concentration. Madrid really need to work on settling down in the defensive third of the pitch, they just don’t inspire any confidence.

POSTGAME: Raul extended his Champions League scoring record, getting his 57th goal in 109 games… but Ruud’s stats are equally if not more impressive: 50 goals in only 62 games! Is that a big-game player or what?

POSTGAME: Alright, last post for the liveblog. Real Madrid did enough to win, but considering the opposition, that’s not really saying a lot, and definitely not the kind of football Calderon and Schuster have been espousing this season. Madrid will need to really work on their defense if they want to advance far in the Champions League. They can score, but they’ll need to be able to defend to get past the other big guns of Europe. Cheers kiddies, hope you enjoyed it.