Tuesday Musings

By: Steve | December 18th, 2007

Hala Madrid! Sorry kiddies, not sure where Corey’s at, but I’ve been swamped with Christmas stuff as I’m sure you have as well. A couple friends from Palestine were visiting me here in HM The Queen’s capital, hence the reason I wasn’t able to liveblog the match against Osasuna. Let’s start there and move onto this week’s matches.

Real Madrid 2-0 Osasuna

Real Madrid v Osasuna Real maintained their 4 point lead over Barcelona with a less-than-reassuring 2-0 win over Osasuna on Sunday. The match marked the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. I was only able to watch the replay, but Real played like everyone was already looking ahead to this week’s El Clasico. Osasuna applied great pressure and could be considered unlucky to have not scored at least once. Real couldn’t keep possession, couldn’t seem to clear their own half, couldn’t convince fans and other viewers that they deserved to win.

But Los Merengues we all love and cherish (though still wanting to trade up for a more consistent model) did come through in the end via a couple moments of footballing genius. Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the opener after Wesley Sneijder’s free kick from the right came sailing onto his forehead and he was left unmarked in front of the goal. Sneijder then bagged the insurance goal after finishing a sweet combination of passes from Robinho, Guti and Ruud, with a stunning strike just outside the box.

I dunno, chalk this one up to luck or Madridismo, but the whites have to play better against the blaugrana if they want to at least maintain their lead going into the Christmas break. Third-place Atletico and Villarreal are level on 31 points, 7 points behind Real, while Espanyol is one more point back in fifth spot. Preseason contenders Valencia and Sevilla are all but out of the title race now, standing at 13 and 18 points behind the leaders, respectively.

King’s Cup – Alicante v Real Madrid

I don’t know much about Alicante, other than the fact that it’s a strong tourist destination with easyjet and Ryanair flights going there all the time. Word has it they’re in the Tercera Division, which is actually the fourth level of Spanish football, and I’m too lazy to look it up now. Suffice it to say, Real shouldn’t have a problem getting into the round of 16 of the King’s Cup, a trophy they haven’t won in like 15 years, but let’s not count our chickens before they’re hatched.

Schuster will obviously rest some key players before Sunday’s El Clasico, but I wonder if he’ll employ Arsene Wenger’s strategy of actually maintaining a particular squad just for the Cup, with a different team for La Liga… Initial looks at the squad list indicate he might be doing just that.

Keeper – Dudek and Codina
Defense – Pepe, Marcelo, Drenthe, Heinze, Metzelder, Michel Salgado, and Torres
Midfield – Gago, Robben, Guti, and Balboa
Forwards – Soldado, Saviola, and Higuaín

I’d expect the lineup to be: Dudek, Salgado, Pepe, Metzelder, Torres, Gago, Robben, Drenthe, Guti, Soldado and Higuain. But then again, I’m not running the squad so who knows what we’ll see.

La Liga – Barcelona v Real Madrid

El Clasico! What I wouldn’t give to be able to see one in person… I’ll let Corey do the preview for this match, but this is shaping up to be one of the make-or-break games of the season! Awesome… Santa, I’ve been a good boy this year…