Why the Hell did nobody make a thread for this one yet? The game is today already! LINK Cambiasso will be able to play tonight, it looks like he has recuperated enough after the injury he received during the game against Valladolid. Also noteworthy in the selected group for today's game, is another homemade player: Jordi. Full list: Casillas y César; Salgado, Pavón, Rubén, Raúl Bravo y Roberto Carlos; Borja, Beckham, Cambiasso, Guti, Figo, Solari, Núñez, Jordi y Zidane; Raúl, Ronaldo y Portillo. I have good hopes.
Who is Jordi? Is he from Real Madrid B? I think this could be a really entertaining match (not least because it's the first official match we'll actually get to see in the states!). Both teams are coming off big wins. Zidane is facing his hometown squad. It's good that Cambiasso is fit, although I have to admit I was kind of hoping to see what would happen if they played Guti-Beckham in midfield.
It's the first time I've heard of Jordi, but yeah he's probably from their B squad. Marca had their probable line-ups listed yesterday for the game: Real Madrid: Iker Casillas; Michel Salgado, Pavón, Raúl Bravo, Roberto Carlos; Figo, Beckham, Guti, Zidane; Raúl y Ronaldo. Olympique de Marsella: Runje; Beye, Van Buyten, Meité, Ecker; Hemdani, Celestini, Meriem, Johansen; Marlet y Sytchev o Mido Exchange Guti for Cambiasso, and Mido will probably start as well (wouldn't he? I thought he was a regular over there) and there you have the most likely teams for tonight. It will be nice to see how Madrid's young defense will perform against a bigger and better rival than they've faced so far.
I'm actually a bit nervous about that - has Raul Bravo ever even played central defense before? I'm counting on the fact that l'OM's midfield isn't exactly going to give Mido and Marlet a whole lot of chances (Meriem's good, but their only ball winner is Celestini and he's not quite Champions' League caliber).
Was far from a rocket....took a volley and pounded it into the ground from the left side of the box....and hung in the air dropping into the top right corner... Ronaldo just shot at the keeper.... Now puts in a goal from Salgado to an open net... 2-1 RM
hey, im watching the game you dont need to describe me what's going on, even Diego Balado said Beckham charged RC's bazooka with his service jeeezzz
Sorry, it wasn't for you, it was for people who might be reading this, a rocket sounds like a volley nailed right into the net, which that was far from. Wasn't trying to be a jerk, sorry. Beautiful goal though....
certainly it wasnt a volley, i guess its the difference between languages, my comment (ESPN LatAm) is in spanish, no worries
No. There were 20 or 30 people and in only one play, there are 80,000 people in the stadium. I was in the stadium and i hardly listen the sound. IF you want to listen monkey sounds clearly you must go to the Barcelona stadium, where all the stadium frecuently make monkey sounds against Roberto Carlos. I think that with Ronaldinho, they will change his aptitude this year. Speaking about the game. I think that very good game. The first goal of Roberto Carlos was a great goal. The Real Madrid begining wan't very good, But after the Olimpic goal, the Real made 20 or 25 minutes of great soccer and it made many goal chances and scored two goals. In the second half the team began playing very good and score the third and fourth. Then the team played more relaxed, because the game was "ended". In these minutes the Olimpic score its second goal. Salgado played a extraordinay game, he was in all the places attacking and defending. He is in a great moment. Cambiasso also played very good. Helping in the middle and in defense to recover the ball. Beckham is improving every game, and he is playing also in a great level. Helping the team in defending and attacking. His first pass to RC in the first goal was great and the shot of Roberto Carlos even better. We are seeing great goal in the last games. 11 goals in the last two games, i am very happy with that. And the Olimpic is a very good team - first in the french league -, and the Valladolid had tied with the Valencia in Valencia's home. Zidane like always played very good. He moved the team very good, with great details of quality. His play in the second Ronaldo goal was great. I think that these players were the best of the game, Although Roberto Carlos, Pavon, Raul, Ronaldo also played very good. Figo was the worse player today. He made too many errors in the pass. I think that the referee wasn't very good. I have to watch the plays in the TV. But in the stadium, it seems that in the Olimpic first goal the ball touch in the hand of one player, and I saw a clear pk to Ronaldo and repeat the pk of figo was a joke, and i think that in the RC pk he must show the Red card to the Olimpic GK. Anyway, even with that the Real Madrid won clearly the game. And we are the first of the group. It is very important to win the first game. The next game is against the Oporto in Portugal.
The noises came from the Fondo Sur end of the stadium, which leads me to believe it was the Ultras Sur or (much more likely) Orgullo Vikingo. Neither group is looked on particularly favorably by the majority of Real Madrid fans.
Those fans were only getting on Drogba for 10 minutes or so after a foul he made against Beckham. Overall an entertaining game. Marseille is a pretty good team and they tested Madrid early on. But Madrid kicked it into gear and they' re difficult to stop when they attack like they did today. Overall a solid game from most of Madrid's players. I'd say the weakest links were Raul Bravo and Figo but I was very impressed with Beckham, Roberto Carlos,Zidane, Ronaldo and Cambiasso. A good start for Madrid in the Champions League.
Cambiasso played like Makalele, and raul Bravo played like Hierro last year. Hope Helguera gets through the season without major injuries. Beckham is still not the hottest tackler but his defensive work-rate is impressive. his passing is genius Offensively, this year's team is even better than last year, that much is clear by now. Defensively, I still don't know how much worse. I think yesterday was not too bad because we controlled most of the game. But I wondr how we will play against a Juve or a Bayern that will push us hard in midfield or against a Man U that will try and exploit every hint of space, every imaginable chink in our defence.
Oh but Salgado has become a monster going forward... yesterday he was much more dangerous in the marseille third than Figo!
Salgado has been playing fantastic for a couple of weeks now, hopefully he can keep this form throughout the season. The first time Ronaldo fell down in the penalty area, wasn't a penalty in my opinion. The second time the ref could have given it, because the defender doesn't touch the ball with his tackle, but he does touch Ronaldo. Taking the Figo penalty kick over didn't make sense at all, it was a couple of Marseille players that were just over the line, so he should have given 'advantage' to Madrid and let the goal count. If Figo would have missed the second attempt, Marseille would have benefitted from their own 'foul' (walking inside the area too soon) I think yellow was enough for the goalie though, besides you wouldn't want to make it too easy for Madrid.
Yes, with the best two right wingers in the world, Salgado is the most dangeriouslast night. That summarized his performance. Bravo picked up a dumb yellow card in the end!!! It might cost him later on.