Real Madrid 2-2 Espanyol

By: Corey | October 7th, 2008

TinTin got what he wanted, in a hard fought draw that really showed us two things, one being the King is not dead, and two, that we are not out of the woods defensivley, atleast not when Heinze is playing! In order to save time, go to the play-by-play of Steves excellent liveblog here. So the nine match winning streak has come to an end, although we are still unbeaten at home of course, but it was kind of a anti-climatic end to the marathon of matches we had in a month. Not to be expected, as the players are a little fatigued and definately had their minds on other things based on their lapses in concentration from time to time.

Match Stats
Real Madrid Espanyol
Shots (on Goal) 24(6) 10(4)
Fouls 19 10
Corner Kicks 0 1
Offsides 3 4
Time of Possession 60% 40%
Yellow Cards 3 1
Red Cards 0 0
Saves 2 4

Match Information
Stadium: Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Spain
Attendance: 65,000
Match Time: 15:00 ET

Lineups
Real Madrid
Casillas
Sergio Ramos
Pepe
Cannavaro
Heinze
Diarra
De la Red
sub Sneijder 68′
Van der Vaart
sub Robben 48′
sub Drenthe 73′
Higuaín
Van Nistelrooy
Raúl Goal 25′, 47′

Espanyol
Kameni
Sergio Sánchez
Jarque
Beranger
Pareja
sub Lacruz 48′
Moisés Hurtado
Nené
Román Martínez
sub Ángel 65′
De la Peña
sub Coro 78′
Luis García Goal 31′
Tamudo Goal 21′

Real started with the usual three pronged attack, but Higuain was the winger this time as Raul looked to be typically playing in his more customary role. Same midfield and defense as the Zenit game, so the bain of my existence, Gabi Heinze was playing again due to the suspension of Marcelo. Ruben was playing so I guess I could not complain, while VDV is still filling in for Guti adequately and we had Wesley Sneijder on the bench, way ahead of schedule in his rehab. But there was something to this match that I cant really describe, it was almost lethargic, as the players just wanted to get it over with and have a little break (or international games).

We moved the ball well enough in the first half, but it seems that the three midfielders had a sturn test with Espanyol playing two DMs. Zenit had one of the best DMs in the world in Tymoschuk, but he sits very deep, and only presses you when run at the defense, sort of like Diarra, but Espanyol played with the typical Spanish central midfield, pressing all over the park to good effect. Roman and Hurtado did a good job of keeping things tidy and letting De la Pena, who I thought would start on the bench (Greg Beranger played too, I was way off on the predicted lineup in my preview), shell out passes everywhere. He was impressive today, and it made me miss our lesser heralded genius in the center of the park.

Espanyol were first on the board after some shocking defending from you guessed it, Heinze. A ball over the top to none one was latched on to by Tamudo, who runs the channels so well, and it was dealt with the only way Heinze knows how, a messy tackle that was an obvious penal. It should have been handled better, but it was a good indication of the shotty defensive posture our team would take the rest of the game. Why oh why can we not defend well? Is it the coach, the players, the curse of Hierro? And when I mean well I mean looked organized and make tidy challenges and clear the ball when needed. Espanyol looked defensively sound despite giving up two goals, I just dont get it.

Raul’s two goals were a nice thing to see, as he may just be returning to form at a time where it looks like Ruud may be dropping in form. Despite his oppurtunistic striker against Zenit and his excellent match winner against Betis, he has been pretty invisible in the build up or in getting balls to come to him, so maybe a rest is what he needs. I think the whole team needs a rest, and but with 11 players called up for international duty, it seems that rest may never come.

I was unimpressed with the amount of space that De la Pena was allowed. This was a tactical breakdwon by Schuster, but it was sort of forced on him because of Gago’s injury. Diarra will never go so far into Espanyol’s territory to stop De la Pena from getting the ball, something Gago could have been employed to do. It was interesting that even with De la Red further forward as usual, he was not instructed to do the same. Its like playing with fire, and sure enough he was spraying balls all over the field today.

Espanyol could not make their lead last though, as Sergio Ramos continued to be our only threat on the right wing as he put in a great ball that Raul was able to step into and head into the net. I nice piece of play, but I still had the feeling that Real were under the gun whenever Espanyol had the ball, and sure enough we would be undone yet again. And it was to be more inept defending, this time at the far post, as Luis Garcia slide in to convert a cross shot from Roman. It was such an avoidable goal, but our fralities in defense were again exposed, and we would soon give Espanyol a chance to kill off the match.

Luis Garcia would hit the post with his free kick in the 40th minute, and he would then float the rebound on to Hurtado’s head, but somehow he managed to head wide. A real scare that didnt seem to jump start Reals play for some reason. Real would respond though, when Raul collected a free kick and quickly moved the ball on to his foot to slot passed Kameni and level the scores once again. It was a vintage Raul goal, making something out of a hoofed ball forward.

In the second half we again had more of the ball but were not doing much with it. Robben was brought on for the ineffective VDV, and he gave us a spark that we were missing. He ran at defenders and looked lively until he was pulled off 20 minutes into his cameo performance due to a muscle injury. Drenthe would come on to little effect, and I am beginning to loose my patience with him, he seems a waste of money at this point. Wesley Sneijder also made a return from injury, but he could not conjure anything up in a very flat second half.

Espanyol looked more purposeful when they had the ball, which is sd because we were at home. Then again stunning performance at home dont come all the time, and we have been spoiled with a 7 win streak at the Bernabeu. The match was not great, but getting a point seemed acceptable considering all the points we garnered in the marathon stretch. All in all, we should be please with 6 points in the CL and 13 in La Liga. 15 would have put us in 3rd place, but we sit in 5th, only three points off Valencia and Vilarreal with plenty of the league left to play.

De la Red:
“We have to win at home, but if we don’t, we need to at least take a point. Many players are off to join their national teams, but next week we must prepare hard for our matches against Atletico and Juventus. I hope we continue winning as we have been.”

“This league has gotten off to a strong start. Every team puts up a strong fight and we only managed to take a point from Espanyol. We’ll do whatever it takes to win in the Calderón against Atlético Madrid. I felt very comfortable out there. I am pleased for that very reason, but I wish we could have won all three points.”

Sneijder:
“I got some minutes in and it felt good. I knew it was a tough match. Espanyol is a strong team. It’s not a bad score. We’ll be back from international duty on the 16th and we have some difficult matches ahead of us. I was eager to play after being sidelined for two months. I am very pleased with were I stand with the team. I am going to work hard with my national team in order to return as strong as possible.”

Pepe:
“We were a bit lethargic in the first half. We started off poorly but improved in the second half. We deserved the three poinrs, but at least we didn’t lose and managed to tally a point.”

“We cannot look past any opponent. We have to play our game and take one match at a time. We must put this behind us and try to win every point possible. It’s a shame we couldn’t win today despite doing everything possible.”

“We are heading off to international team camps, but we have to difficult matches shortly after returning. We have to come back strong and win each and every match. We have to be in top form for the derby.”

“After jumping for a ball with Tamudo, I was knocked down and felt really dizzy, but I am better now.”

Schuster:
“We deserved to win in the second half. We were far superior and had enough chances to win the match. Kameni made some great saves and we weren’t accurate enough to score a third goal, but I think we deserved better in the second half.”

“We have played the last few matches at a good pace. Fatigue was not a factor.”

“I am pleased Sneijder is back. He recovered very quickly. It’s a pity because it wasn’t a great match for him to make his return. He came in when it was 2-2 and tried to help win it. I think he is in condition to help us out. This was his first day back, but he’ll be back to his old self after returning from his national team.”

“There is nothing bad about a player trying to score from longe range, especially when it is a great shot like Van der Vaart, Higuaín or De la Red. The majority did go over the crossbar, but that’s a different story altogether.”

“It wasn’t easy for Van Nistelrooy, Higuaín and Raúl in the first half. I knew it was going to be tough, which is why I didn’t start Robben. We lacked in depth and in finding the box. We tried with plays between the three lines and combinations between the forwards and Van der Vaart and De la Red, and with Ramos along the right, but I wanted to have the option of bringing in Sneijder and Robben, in the second half. It’s a shame he got hurt because I am sure the result would have been a lot better.”

Robbens Injury:
Arjen Robben had to abandon the pitch on Sunday after coming in for Van der Vaart after halftime. The Dutchman hurt his left fermoral biceps and will uindergo further tests over the next two days to determine the severity of his injury.

He will be left out of the Dutch squad for their qualifiers, but should return for the Derbi, which is good, so a little bit of rest and rehab for Robben. I am teaming up with Al from the Atletico Offside to do a great tandem effort on getting ready for the Derbi Madrileno. We will be putting up posts starting Friday about the derbi so you can get both sides of the story and really be ingrossed in the meaning of the match. Until then, HALA MADRID!