Liveblog: Real Madrid v Valladolid

Hala Madrid! Well, Madridistas, it’s a gloriously sunny and somewhat warm day here in London and yet your faithful liveblogger is on the scene and ready to bring you your beloved Merengues in less than 6 hours! Real Madrid host Valladolid at the Santiago Bernabeu tonight, which will be shown in the UK on Sky Sports 1 at 18h00 GMT. Gotta bolt for some New Year’s dim sum, tune in later to catch the action!

UPDATE: Ah, sneaky Sky Sports… the match is actually only available through the red button… otherwise, it’s tape-delayed til 19h00…

Anyways, Barca drew at Sevilla yesterday, so now they’re within 5 points, but if Real can maintain their 100% record at home, we’ll bring that back up to 8 points. Schuster has gone with Casillas, Salgado, Ramos, Cannavaro, Marcelo, Guti, Gago, Baptista, Robben, Raul and Robinho. I guess he likes the 3 R’s theme…

1min: Great tackle by Sergio Ramos on a Valladolid attacker cutting in from the right wing…
2min: A napping Real defense gives away the ball just outside the penalty area, but the shot is a weak one…
2min: Oh! Robinho totally fakes out the Valladolid rightback, but loses control enough for the defender to recover and make a strong tackle… great moves though.
5min: Robben’s looking good on the ball, as Madrid creates some good buildup of play, though it’s ruined by Robinho going offside…
6min: Robinho cuts in from the left and attempts the first shot for the Madridistas, but it goes wide…
8min: GOAL!!! Baptista finishes off a great little 1-2 with Robben, who squares for the Brazilian to take it in on goal alone. Good buildup from Ramos and Robinho too. Real Madrid 1-0 Valladolid.
8min: Marcelo is having a horrid time with Sisi out on the left flank… He’s giving up a lot of crosses that Cannavaro and Ramos are gonna have their hands full to clear…
12min: Robinho goes down untouched… doesn’t look good.
13min: Drenthe looks like he’s warming up…
14min: Oh! A bit of miscommunication between Casillas and Marcelo leaves the Madrid keeper a step too late to prevent a challenge from a Valladolid winger, and the cross goes off Llovente’s face, who doesn’t look like he was expecting it…
15min: Yup, Robinho goes off with some sorta leg injury and Drenthe replaces him on the left wing.
17min: Gago lets Capdevila spin around his tackle and the defender gets a good shot on goal which Casillas parries to safety.
19min: So far, Real’s central midfield are looking pretty weak in the defensive half… Gago’s not had much luck at anything yet.
21min: Marcelo is getting abused out there, whether on defense or whether he’s on the ball… Valladolid have clearly put the brief on the young leftback that he must not respond well to contact.
24min: hmmm, Casillas rolls around and rips off his right glove in pain, after punching away a cross off a Valladolid free kick… his hand looks bandaged up already, especially his pinky, but it looks like he’ll stay in the game… he’s the one guy we really can’t afford to lose.
25min: Marcelo’s learning… he could’ve carried the ball forward much further, but instead of getting caught upfield, he decides to make a long pass to Drenthe, but the pass is intercepted…
26min: Great tackle by Ramos who comes out of nowhere to block a Sisi cross attempt. Wow. That dude is FAST.
27min: Robben gets wide on the left wing, but he waits too long for the cavalry to arrive and he loses possession… and then right away, Real get it back and Robben gets another chance, but he cuts in and is forced to attempt a shot with his right foot and it dribbles s-l-o-w-l-y to the keeper…
29min: Ahhh!!! Salgado gives away the ball on an ill-advised long pass… why?!?!?
30min: Real are starting to come up with some solid buildup play… now they need to combine it with some more clinical finishing when they close into the Valladolid box…
32min: GOAL!!! Raul rounds the Valladolid keeper on the right and puts it away after a great little tap pass from Guti. Not even sure how Real got possession… Real Madrid 2-0 Valladolid.
32min: Valladolid are under siege… great play from Real now…
33min: GOAL!!! Robben slots the ball inside the near post with his favoured left foot after beating the offside trap on Guti’s long long pass… Real Madrid 3-0 Valladolid.
35min: Valladolid’s keeper is only 18 years old. Wow. Tough when your defense is giving away the ball to a side like Real…
38min: Valladolid’s defense is horrid. The pace of Robben creates loads of space, and the Dutchman cleverly uses Raul as a decoy to pass it back across to the right along the path of the advancing Baptista, and the keeper comes out to challenge… But he concedes a penalty and gets a yellow card!
39min: GOAL!!! Raul coolly slots it home from the spot… though on replay, the penalty does look a tad dubious… Real Madrid 4-0 Valladolid.
42min: A genius pass over the top (by Guti again? Not sure but wow…) that Raul does well to beat the offside trap, but it bounces unluckily away from goal and the Valladolid defender (Marcos I think) is able to clear for a corner…
44min: GOAL!!! Guti becomes the recipient of a great pass from Drenthe after the Valladolid defense is absolutely NOWHERE… the second centreback is slow to form the back line and he plays onside 3 Madrid attackers… Guti crushes it past the hapless and abandoned Valladolid keeper. Real Madrid 5-0 Valladolid.
45+1min: Ugh, Guti gives away the ball in the Real side of the midfield, but Salgado bails him out after clearing the cross…
HALFTIME: Wow. It’s unbelievable the difference between the first half and second half of the first 45 minutes. Valladolid really did come out strong, but couldn’t convert their chances.
HALFTIME: Once Madrid found penetration of the midfield, they started running rampant… Valladolid will have to reconsider playing their back line so high up the field… Madrid is definitely finding a way to get the ball forward before the offside trap is set.
HALFTIME: Imagine if Ruud was healthy? How many goals would he have now?
HALFTIME: Big props to Apollo, Radu and Corey for joining in the comments…
HALFTIME: To be fair, Corey did say that Real would bounce back from the loss to Almeria, but did anyone foresee this?
HALFTIME: Well, i was late getting home, so I didn’t have time to write about Real’s walking wounded, but taking a look now… it’s scary how thin Real is at the back. Schuster brought his only 4 healthy defenders (ok, i suppose Drenthe could deputize on the left), and if Casillas is ever out for any time…
HALFTIME: Well, i don’t wanna say anything’s in the bag before it’s in the bag, but…
46min: Valladolid has made a substitution… couldn’t see who it was… Borja was involved somehow though.
48min: If Casillas really is injured in any way, wouldn’t it make sense to bring on Dudek? Surely even he couldn’t let in 5 goals in the next 45 minutes…
49min: Strange… looks like Drenthe has swapped wings with Robben, even though I’m sure he’s not normally used to playing on the right… but he’s doing pretty decently… I think this was also the case in the first half but it didn’t register til now…
50min: Valladolid is still trying to play the offside trap even deep in their own zone…
51min: Marcelo gives away the ball to Llorente and he plays in Capdevila for a shot on goal, but the Spanish number one keeper makes an easy save. Marcelo is having a bad day.
53min: Hmmm, another strange thing is that Ramos is actually playing on the left side of the central defense, Cannavaro on the right.
54min: Good save by the Valladolid keeper on a charging Baptista, again beating the offside trap.
55min: Oh! Casillas drops an EASY cross that the Madrid defense created space for, but Valladolid can’t convert… Wow, I’m really thinking they should take him off with a lead this big…
58min: A Madrid substitution, but it’s not Casillas… Diarra comes in for Ramos… and he seems to go in straight to centreback.
59min: Capdevila goes off for Sanchez.
61min: Guti gets manhandled to the ground… no card though… just a free kick. That’s a brutal call. The Valladolid midfielder didn’t even try to win the ball…
61min: Oh! Soldado warming up! Woohoo!
62min: GOAL!!! Guti converts a great cutback pass from Robben off the right side of the box and curls it off the near post for Real’s sixth goal. Real Madrid 6-0 Valladolid.
64min: Do you think this is what Calderon and Mijatovic envisioned when they made their purchases last summer?
66min: Marcelo puts the ball through the Valladolid 6-yard box from a distance away, but the young keeper covers up before Baptista gets there.
67min: Diarra is deputizing pretty well in defense… he’s definitely better in the air than Cannavaro, who’s taking the sweeper role now…
68min: Raul and Guti are both on their hat tricks… Robben and Drenthe have switched wings again, Robben right, Drenthe left.
69min: Haha, Raul’s only scored 2 hat tricks in his La Liga career, and they’ve both come against Valladolid. Can he make it 3?
71min: Ouch… Real’s got 6 goals on 7 shots on target. Now THAT is what you call clinical.
73min: Valladolid make their third substitution… Sisi off for Sesma. I guess they got tired of using their only somewhat successful route into the Real half? Marcelo has NOT impressed.
74min: Looks like another sub for Madrid as well… Soldado might get some PT!
75min: Yay! Soldado comes on for Gago… I guess Baptista goes back for defensive cover?
76min: Ugh, brutal touch by Diarra on a looping pass from Casillas to the right side of the Madrid goal… The Malian chests the ball down but can’t recover before Valladolid steals it… Casillas bails him out by just barely pushing the good shot from a Valladolid attacker onto the crossbar and out of play.
77min: Oh, Soldado gets a great lead pass from Guti and he does well to hold up the ball in the penalty area, but he was surrounded 1-on-3… no result.
78min: News bulletin… Drenthe is FAST.
80min: GOAL!!! Drenthe finishes a great shot whilst being pushed to the ground in the Valladolid penalty area… The headed pass came from… Guti? I missed the replay… Real Madrid 7-0 Valladolid. Holy crap.
81min: Bad giveaway by Salgado, but Llorente can’t capitalize…
84min: Great takeaway by Cannavaro after a Valladolid corner… just outmaneouvred and outmuscled the Valladolid attacker.
87min: Ack… Guti is getting lazy (well, we can hardly blame him for not changing his ways… it’s 7-0!), and doesn’t come back for a pass quick enough… Valladolid turn it around quickly and the long shot from about 25 yards barely goes wide right.
88min: Madrid are still pushing on the attack… Robben crosses a number of times from the right but turned to use his left foot… looks like he’s trying to target Soldado… wouldn’t that be nice?
89min: Baptista makes a great run to takeaway the ball from a Valladolid forward after their keeper makes a great outlet pass. Man, how versatile is the Brazilian? First he’s the centre-forward in the “hole” role that Raul normally plays… now he’s the holding midfielder.
90+2min: And it’s done.
POSTGAME: Well, there’s not a whole lot you can say about that… it is what it is. A blowout.
POSTGAME: I’m not sure if I wanna say that Valladolid were stupid and stubborn or brave and noble for sticking to their gameplan.
POSTGAME: Defending the high offside line wasn’t working but they stuck with it til the end…
POSTGAME: I feel terrible for the Valladolid keeper who really was left on an island there, and abandoned by his defense. The dude’s only 18, I wonder how this will do for his psyche…
POSTGAME: Anyways, Real push their lead on second-place Barca to 8 points, and their goal differential is +35.
POSTGAME: Still, something to consider is the injury to Robinho… that might come back to hurt us in the next few weeks, especially in the Champions League fixture later this month.
POSTGAME: Ok, onto my scorecards for the players… Casillas was uncharacteristically butterfingered tonight, dropping a couple easy crosses, one of them leading straight to a scoring opportunity… but a clean sheet is a clean sheet, i suppose, and he did make a fantastic stop when he needed to.
POSTGAME: Salgado was alright going forward, but he was pretty crap defending. Marcelo was worse, with Sisi just abusing him all night. I don’t foresee another start for him once Torres comes back. Cannavaro came back and was awesome, definitely putting the critics from the Almeria match in their place. Ramos was great too, not sure why he was taken off, but maybe just to see if Diarra could sub in at centreback?
POSTGAME: Gago was mediocre to decent… his play in the first 20 minutes really led to some Valladolid openings, but he finished his time on the pitch much stronger and his passing forward was good. Guti was ridiculously good going forward, absolutely picking out the right pass almost every time he was on the ball. He still needs to work on maintaining focus for 90 minutes, especially on defending. Baptista was, erm, a beast. He was strong on the ball, strong on defense, just a menace to the Valladolid midfield.
POSTGAME: Raul was running his ass off, as usual, but in a more forward position with Ruud out of action. He’s still got the touch. Robinho was pretty good for his few minutes on the pitch but any significant injury would be bad news indeed. Robben was electric… swapping sides with Drenthe fluidly and just wreaking havoc on the wings, and of course, scoring his first La Liga goal.
POSTGAME: Drenthe came on early for Robinho and didn’t disappoint. He also potted his first goal in La Liga. Diarra came on for Ramos and whilst he wasn’t terrible, winning a lot of balls in the air, it’s also evident he’s got a serious lack of touch on the ball. He could play centreback, I think, in a pinch, as long as Cannavaro is there to sweep up any mistakes. Soldado got 15 minutes of PT, which is about 15 minutes more than he’s gotten all year or so it seems… he did well to play the Ruud role, but we all know Schuster isn’t gonna give him any meaningful time on the pitch.
POSTGAME: Well, you can’t really complain about a dominating performance like this one, so I won’t. I think Real Betis is up next. I ain’t buying everything Los Merengues are selling… Caveat emptor. But damn, I’ll have some more of that, please!
POSTGAME: Aight, I’m out like Raul’s chances of playing for Spain while Aragones is coach…

Category: Liveblog, Team News

Tags: Liveblog, Team News, Valladolid

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