Liveblog: Real Madrid v Numancia

By: Dancy | September 14th, 2008

Ah, who do we have as the first visitors to the Bernabeu? It’s newly promoted Numancia, aka the Slayers of Barca! Unfortunately, we will be without Sergio Ramos, who picked up an injury in the Armenia game with Spain. Raul is questionable too, according to AS. And Rafa Nadal will be in attendance! As part of the Spanish contingent for the Davis Cup, here in Madrid next weekend (Sept 19-21) facing the US. Here’s the squad list:

Goalkeepers: Casillas, Dudek.
Defenders: Pepe, Marcelo, Metzelder, Heinze, Salgado.
Midfielders: Diarra, Gago, Guti, Robben, Drenthe, De la Red, Van der Vaart.
Forwards: Raúl, Van Nistelrooy, Higuaín, Saviola.
Torres, Cannavaro, Javi García and Codina won’t play for coaching decisions.

Ok, a disclaimer on my liveblogs. They tend not to be “live” for long. This is also my first one “live”, so please be kind. I tend to enjoy the game at my own pace, and I tend to type a lot when I see good plays, wanting to do it justice. You can see my older game blogs here to see what I mean. The pause and rewind buttons are the most used on my remote, so take that what you will. To top it all off, this one is being televised here at noon CT, I’ve just rolled out of bed, so I may pause in between for a bite to eat. If you’re still with me after all that – all 3 of you – then let’s go! Hala Madrid!

0m WHOA! Already a danger?! Numancia #3 raced into the box with both Metz and Salgado sandwiching him, and Iker racing out to help, and we barely smother that one! Phew!

4m Real is attacking well, but the entire Numancia team seems to be parked in front of goal, Higuain gets close but nothing yet . .

5m Diarra to Salgado!!! Great cross to the RB, but Salgado barely gets there and slips as he tries to cross it back towards goal, and its punted away. LOL, they’re calling the int’l injuries that some players are coming back with the “FIFA virus” - aka what Sergio is afflicted with.

6m Metzelder with a key header to snatch that ball away from his markee, so dangerously coming into the area to meet his Numancia’s teammate’s cross from the right wing, where was Salgado? Now they get a corner . .

Crap, what happened???? GOL?? For Numancia? Goddamn, this is looking like Deportivo all over again! 0-1.

Replay: Ok, great cross in from their corner, it flies all the way over the heads of every single one of our defenders, to #18 Moreno flying in from the right flank, he homes in on goal and meets that ball with such a header that it whips perfectly into goal, diagonally away from Iker, so that he has the same stunned face as everybody else in a white shirt. Meanwhile, the Numancia fans are going crazy - visions of another giant David v Goliath triumph in their eyes? “He was freer than a policeman in a park on a Sunday morning” - LOL!

9m Metzelder? What are you doing, trying to kick the ball from behind the player’s legs? Fantastic, they get a free kick . .

10m HOLY COW, THAT WAS CLOSE! Thank God for Iker, b/c right now I don’t trust any of our other players. Its all Numancia right now! Another chance just falls into the box, and by “fall” I mean Pepe drilled a “clearance” straight to Moreno again, and that guy doesn’t hestitate, nor is he ever marked for that matter, and he pummels that ball towards goal that Iker must leap with all his might to save, and even then - it spills out!!! They nearly get it again! Only this time the Numancia player slips, Iker grabs hold for good, and yells at his defenders to bloody wake up b4 rolling it back out.

14m Robben with a shot just wide, though it was weak too, trying to pick up the scraps after Diarra loses the ball just outside the box to a red shirt.

15m They’re just missing by 1 or 2 paces . . Pepe getting his pass stolen, does well to recover it and find a teammate . . Higuian pillors his shot into a defender . . Diarra just missing Higuian, who tries a backheel to save it . .

16m Better! Robben brings a brilliant ball up the left flank, he spins and whistles and defies all challengers, then chips it over to find RVN right in front of goal, the Dutch striker does great to chest that down and then shoot - but it goes wide. Ah, it was deflected - corner! . . right into the mitts of the keeper. Excellent . .

17m GUTI! Fantastic through-pass! Ack, but is that VDV tripping just when he would’ve had the golden shot? We get it back! And now Robben, with another sweet pass, another one and we would’ve found someone at the right angle of the box . . but alas, the keeper snatches that away.

18m GUTI!!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1-1! And we’re back in the game!!! What a gorgeous, gorgeous ball, great linkup, everything about it had me smiling. It is Robben who starts it all, it is he who stampedes down the left flank like a runaway train, nobody can run with him, and just when you think he might take it all the way to the box, he passes to RVN, who just turns and touch-passes to Guti, who takes 1 step and lashes that thing into goal, there is no warning, and - was that slightly deflected? LOL! RVN ducking! INCOMING! Great, great goal, Guti is looking v good today!

20m And suddenly Guti is everywhere, creating a pass here, saving a ball there . . and there it is again! High ball forward for RVN, who doesn’t quite control it, but it falls to Higuain, who blazes a shot on goal - and its saved by the keeper!

22m Oh crap. GOL for Numancia!!! 1-2. And this one is a mirror image to our goal, its lashed like a meteor from outer space, 35 yards out, by #17 Barkero. Replay: Oh, thank you, Salgado! Who clears the ball right to him, and Barkero whips that thing expertly into the top, top left corner, Iker must’ve gotten his fingertips burned on that one.

23m Ack, no call? Robben bares down on goal fighting off 2 defenders left and right, he goes down, Marcelo manages to save it and so nearly gets something off, but its smothered too and he goes down in frustration. Nope. Play on.

25m GGOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HIGUAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2-2!! And this is a beautiful buildup, our whole team is basically at their gate, storming it down, and after some passing back and forth probing the horizontal wall, we suddenly breach their vertical by RVN releasing Higuain, who powers past 2 defenders sliding their foot out and the keeper hurriedly coming out to chip that ball into goal! Fantastic.

27m Marcelo with a couple stepovers, to remind us we still have 1 brazilian in the house.

30m Jeez, that was scary! The ball loose in the box and right in between 2 red shirts, if only they had pounced on that, we would’ve been in trouble! Just 8 yards away? Thankfully its cleared out.

33m VDV!!! GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3-2! WHAT A SHOT!!!! “He’s kissing his right finger, his wedding ring, but he should be kissing that left foot of his!” Pure, pure gold. I sat stunned as the crowd went wild and the ball seemed to be nowhere at all and then all of a sudden rolling happily out of the net. Oh, what a goal! From absolutely nothing, we were losing the ball, VDV picks that up so far out on the left side of the box that he may as well be out in the car lot, but he latches on with his left foot and launches such a corker towards goal that the keeper is hopelessly beaten. Dipping, curling, spinning, whatever you want to call it, it was a wicked, wicked shot on goal, and now we have the lead, thanks to VDV’s fist goal in the Bernabeu!

37m Numancia lurks near goal, looking for an opening, anything, and we keep humoring them, keep clearing the ball away just so, to avoid immediate danger, but they pick it up again in midfield, again . .

39m GOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4-2!!! 6 goals already in 40 min? Amazing! And Guti with the “assist”, haha - to an own goal by Numancia #5 Cisma, poor lad. The ball in from the corner is fantastic, it creates a lot of havoc, and Higuian rises to try to head it in but it falls to #5, who can’t react quick enough and tries to head it over the bar, but it in fact sails into the goal, past their stunned keeper. Gracias!!

44m Schuster was talking to Diarra on the sidelines, perhaps telling him to pull back a bit? The game now does slow down a bit. Another shot of Rafa in the stands, and they report that given a choice between winning Wimbledon or Real winning the CL crown, he said, no contest, Real Madrid. “That’s a true fan,” the commentator sounds surprised.

46m RVN starts off the second half with a strong shot on goal from 20 yards out, but its saved by the keeper.

49m Ruben de la Red is warming up, as Raul is having a laugh in the shade of the bench.

50m ROBBEN!!!!! Stinging shot just saved!!! Great confidence, he just saunters up the right, then cuts sharply inside off his marker and gives a 1-2 with Higuain, gets it back and sends that shot whistling towards goal, just barely denied. Perhaps he should’ve passed to RVN, breaking towards goal? Well, if it had spilled out . .

52m Now its Numancia’s turn to scare, and though their first cross in from the right, flying dangerously towards the box, is cleared out - again, we don’t do enough of a good job to hack it clear, and they get it back - #10 sending it mercilessly into the top, top right of the goal - but it sails over and out of bounds.

53m Salgado! Who says you’re too old? Does a nice job of forcing the ball off the Numancia player in the right corner and sheperding it safely to Pepe. Robben with a handball? V close call, that.

54m VDV is brought down hard, no call.

55m Ack, Metzelder! Whats up with you? He’s taller and he should be stronger, yet he continues to grab onto players’ shirts, so that this time, when they go down in a tangle just inside the 18 yard box, he is finally found out. The crowd howls with frustration. Free kick is awarded just 19 yards out, on the right side of goal . .

GOOOOLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For Numancia! 4-3! DAMN, that kid is good! #10 Moreno again, with such a ball that just clears the top of our wall, then dives and dives into goal so that Iker tries to get a hand on it, but only punches it ifurther nto the netting. Perfect delivery by Moreno, and Metzelder, now, looks stunned and sheepish as he jogs away.

If anyone had thought it would be Salgado who lets down our makeshift rearguard today - it is in fact Metzelder. Poor guy - demoted from starting XI in the German NT, and now given a start here and completely bullocks it up. Now our 4-3 lead is looking slightly endangered . . Moreno is 33 years old! So not a kid then.

60m Higuain and #8 Palacios both go charging for a loose ball, and Higuain ends up rolling 3x and then goes flat on the turf. The ref pulls out the yellow on Palacios.

62m Pepe with a foul, they get a free kick . . and though it goes nowhere, it falls to a red shirt. Marcelo shadows him as he goes into the left corner (their right), and as he ponders what to do - Marcelo says ‘nough of this and just matter-of-factly puts it out of bounds. Nice!

64m More scares near the box, until Salgado kicks it clear . . but they try again, from the throw-in. Numancia right now looks fully capable of getting another goal to tie this up. And . . is that Raul looking to come on?

65m Metzelder with a backheel flick to save that ball from almost certainly being sent on goal! And now Salgado continues his disciplined defending against the smaller Numancia players - excellent work, Michel!

65m Numancia makes a change, #17 Barkero comes off and #21 Anton comes on.

67m HIGUAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That should’ve been a GOAL! Argh, but it was pushed wide by the keeper. Great linkup, Real finally begins to wake up and string a couple passes together again, and now Robben cuts back from the left flank and gives it to Guti, who as soon as he gets it releases it perfectly forward for Higuain, it finds him just to the left of the box and he strikes it true, it’s almost surely home free - but no, no, no - its saved.

67m Raul on for RVN, and De La Red for VDV.

72m Numancia again wrecks nerves in the box, Salgado tries to clear it out in desperation but goes down in a heap, and the ball falls clear for the Numancia player!!!!! He has a clean path to goal!!! Oh, but PEPE! Deflects that shot. And now they stop play and award the foul to Salgado, so we can breathe again . .

73m Raul with a nifty spin on the ball and some ferocious spirit to protect and save the ball! And now Higuian is fouled just inside the 18 yard box, vying for a header with his marker. Its almost in the same exact spot as the one that Moreno struck so well past Iker in the first half - will De La Red deliver a similar gem?

ALMOST!!!!!!!!!! But non! It’s a wicked, deceptive ball that curves and curves, past the hole in the wall, but Juan Pablo the keeper does well to push it away.

75m OUCH! What the - Diarra and Metzelder?? In a high-speed aerial collison, both trying so hard to save a loose ball . . and now Metzelder is helped up, with blood gushing from his forehead. Ugh . . Diarra is not even moving. Poor Metz. This is definitely a forgettable game for him. Now they pull out the staple gun . . double ugh!! Do they have to show that?! Diarra is now up and looks terribly dazed, but is able to continue.

79m Both are back! I’m guessing Schuster had no replacement for Metz? And now Robben dribbles and dribbles all by himself into the danger zone, they close in on him from all sides and he looks to lose it for sure - but somehow! He gets it back! Then he sends a great ball forward for Raul, he is all alone with only the keeper to beat, surely, surely, we have something here - but NO!!!!!!! Its pushed wide by the keeper! What is that, his 12th save of the day today?

82m Ouch, Robben! As he crumples to the ground, clutching his right knee - will glassboy hold up? The replay shows him trying to weave in between 2 red shirts, and just landed on his knee awkwardly, no one kicked him . . now he gets up, hobbling slightly but looking alright . . phew!

82m Drenthe on for Higuain.

88m Why did we take off Higuain for Drenthe?

90m Numancia is making one last push, and they are dominating the endgame. Real looks almost too comfortable with their 1-goal lead. And now Metzelder clears the ball right to a Numancia player??? Thank god the ensuing shot was weak, and just wide. Not good if we aim to win on our home turf.

90+2m OHMYGOD!!!! They NEARLY had it!! Christ! Iker is thanking his lucky stars . . the Numancia player Pino makes a furious run up the left side (their right), and drives a stinging cross across the goalmouth that just, just eludes his teammate Palacios, who is being chased by Metzelder but it barely matters, he was diving in for that header and if head had met ball, that would’ve been the end of Real Madrid. Barely 2 feet from goal . . the gods are kind, after all.

90+3m And that’s the game! 4-3, Real holds on v Numancia, who can go home now with pride.

Post-Game: How sweet was it for Guti to have scored the 5000th goal for Real Madrid? A true Madridista!