Higuain Scores Again?!?

By: Corey | August 28th, 2008

Yes, Higuain scored for the second game running, and he got two goals, count them out now. One, Two! Oh, and we won back the Bernabeu Trophy, which is always nice. It was a goal fest last night in Madrid, with a 5-3 score line how the game finished. Sporting were a good rival for the game, playing some smart football and holding there own with us. Another game, another trophy seems to be the way the team is operating these days. Lets hope it stays that way come May!

MATCH REPORT

5 - Real Madrid: Dudek (Codina, 46′); Sergio Ramos (Torres, 46′), Pepe (Cannavaro, 46′), Metzelder (Javi García, 46′), Marcelo (Heinze, 77′); Gago (Diarra, 64′), Guti (De la Red, 46′), Van der Vaart; Robben (Drenthe, 46′), Raúl (Van Nistelrooy, 46′) & Higuaín.

3 - Sporting Portugal: Rui Patricio (Tiago, 46′); Pedro Silva (Abel, 46′), Caneira (Adrien, 76′), Polga, Ronny (Tonel, 46′); Pereirinha (Romagnoli, 60′), Veloso, Rochemback (Moutinho, 46′), Izmailov; Rodrigo Tiui (Yannick, 46′) & Hélder Postiga.

Goals: 1-0, 15′: Higuaín. 2-0, 19′: Robben. 3-0, 23′: Higuaín. 3-1, 31′: Izmailov. 4-1, 40′: Raúl. 5-1, 43′: Van der Vaart (Polga scores an own goal). 5-2, 74′: Yannick. 5-3, 90′: Veloso.

Referee: Velasco Carballo. Booked Cannavaro (89′), Polga (38′), Tonel (63′) & Adrien (87′).

As you could see, just about everybody played. Except Metz, Salgado and Sneijder who are carrying injuries. Canna made his glorious return to the white shirt with a second half display that was worthy of the captains armband. Nice to see, he will be vital for us this year. Its great to have Marcelo, Drenthe and Gago back too. And Higuain scoring is such a good sign, maybe wont need to splash the cash on another striker. No word on whether Saviola has been shipped out of Madrid yet, he is the Spanish version of Winston Bogarde, getting a fat check every two weeks to do nothing but train and sit on the bench occassionally.

So a good win, and now we must prepare for our first league match at Deportivo, where we have not won in 16 years or something. Should be an interesting one. But first, tomorrow, Friday, we have the Champions League group draw, which always gets people excited. Here it is:

Pot 1
Manchester United FC (ENG)
Chelsea FC (ENG)
Liverpool FC (ENG)
FC Barcelona (ESP)
Arsenal FC (ENG)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
FC Internazionale Milano (ITA)
Real Madrid CF (ESP)

Pot 2
FC Bayern München (GER)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Villarreal CF (ESP)
AS Roma (ITA)
FC Porto (POR)
Werder Bremen (GER)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
Juventus (ITA)

Pot 3
Olympique de Marseille (FRA)
FC Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS)
FC Steaua Bucureşti (ROU)
Panathinaikos FC (GRE)
FC Girondins de Bordeaux (FRA)
Celtic FC (SCO)
FC Basel 1893 (SUI)
Fenerbahçe SK (TUR)

Pot 4
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
ACF Fiorentina (ITA)
Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
CFR 1907 Cluj (ROU)
Aalborg BK (DEN)
Anorthosis Famagusta FC (CYP)
FC BATE Borisov (BLR)

Its nice to see we avoid all the English teams right off the bat. Because I hate EPL teams in the CL. But if you look at the teams we could face, Bayern, Roma and Juve will hopefully not be in our group. Id settle for PSV or Porto. Sporting, Bremen and Vilarreal are the weakest teams of Pot 2, but we wont face Vilarreal obviously. Pot 3 is weak compared to Pot 2, but the French teams I would try to avoid as they have something to prove. Fener and Celtic would be sturn tests, and other then going east for some chilly visits to Romania or Russia, the rest of the teams all seem managable.

Pot 4 scares me a bit. I do not want to face Fiorentina. Sure Barca hammered then in pre-season and they have been out of the CL since they were demoted and were called Florentina, but still, they have alot of good players and a great coach. Shaktar is always a question mark, while we wont face Atletico. Here is what scares me. Any of FC Bate, Cluj or Aalborg could be an upset waiting to happen in the away leg. Remember the trouble we had against Rosenborg in Norway a few years back? Of course it would be a rape party in the Bernabeu, but we have to assume we will win our home games and look for a win, if not two, on the road.

All in all, we will probably face two strong teams this year. Bayern or Juve would be a disaster, so lets hope we avoid them and we should be just fine to qualify out of the group.

On a more somber note, Antonio Puerta passed a way a year ago. This was a very sad day in the Spanish football fans memory, as he was a cherished player, and a community symbol. We remember him as a not only a footballer with such great promise, but as a good man, a loving husband and a father. May you rest in peace Antonio. Further coverage here.

Also, check out the new forums we have here on the Offside. A Real page is already started, so go ahead and contribute to it!