If we can play the same way in the remaining 4 matches as we did until Figo was sent off, we will win the league. barca is the best team in the league this year on form and we were destroying them without our best outfield player. If Ronaldo is back and we play the same way we will finally win at the Riazor, especially with the Porto match round the corner. I know that Valencia will not go 4 games without dropping a point, and we don't have the bloody UEFA Cup to worry about. So till we atre mathematically out of it, I will hope, I will pray and I will remember last year. And of course, I will hope Joaquin will demonstrate wy we should sign him
Nothing has changed since last week, even if we had tied with Barcelona, we still would have needed Valencia to tie or lose for it to be possible for us to go over them, and that is still the case. I'm pretty hopefull that Valencia will drop some points in the remaining games especially with them still vying for 2 Cups, and even though playing at the Riazor is always difficult, we couldn't have picked a better time when Depor are pretty much out of the championship race and will probably already be thinking about the 2nd leg against Porto. Athletic is way behind them, so they don't have to worry about losing that 4th CL spot either. Come on Irrureta, rest your best players, you know you want to. Joaquin also had a pretty good game against Real last weekend, so hopefully after regaining some confidence from that, and being selected again for the national team, he'll be somewhat close to his normal self and cause some havoc in Valencia. This could be a great weekend, especially if Manchester say no! Just say no!
Come on Madrid! As much as people on this board complain, you'd think we were fighting relegation! WE CAN DO THIS! Depor will probably be resting players, and we should have Ronnie back. I hope that if we get a lead we can rest some of our players, but until we get a lead, the best players need to be on the pitch, period. Every friggin' point counts - we cannot slip up and then watch Valencia drop points and still win LaLiga. Every game we win puts more pressure on them. This is close to a must-win game (as are the rest of the games). I have a lot of faith in Ronaldo - he comes up huge in big games. I'm cautiously predicting 4-1 to Madrid, with Ronaldo getting 2.
Ronaldo is back for sure (according to Soccernet) and Irueta has said they will field a mostly second-string side. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=298903&cc=5901 'It's not that the game against Real isn't important,' Depor midfielder Mauro Silva said this week. 'It's just that the game against Porto is much more important and we have to do things according to our own best interests. Hopefully this game will go very well for Madrid, and we might even be able to take some players out for the final third if we can build up a nice little lead. Let's pray for a Valencia loss or draw, and we will be back in control.
Wow, Depor must be fielding Depor B if this is a cautious prediction. I think Madrid will win 3-2. Mauro Silva and probably Andrade will be out there, along with Tristan, I'm not sure Molina will start though. So they shouldn't have all reserves out there.
Convenient that Figo is allowed to play. Hmmm...Figo gets his yellow card taken back, Puyol is injured for three weeks. That's fair justice there
69 min - Figo gets second yellow for foul on Puyol and is sent off 79 min - Solari gets yellow for foul on Puyol 84 min - Puyol comes off You still think Figo injured Puyol?
According to Puyol's interview he was injured by Figo. Bias aside, do you think it's fair for the committee to rescind the yellow card? What makes this even fishier is that the Betis player Benjamin, who received a fifth yellow card last week and would've had a suspension this week, got his yellow card taken back. Betis plays Valencia. It all looks very dirty.
I didn't see the game or any replays/highlights so it's hard for me to comment specifically on this incident (other than to point out, as I did in my last post, that Puyol played on after Figo got sent off, and only came off after being fouled again by another player). As for the fairness of the committee rescinding Figo's second yellow - well, the committee exists to consider such actions and based on their review they decided to rescind it. Was it fair? Well, it was their duty to do so if they felt the card wasn't warranted - and again I didn't see it so what can I say... I do get tired of the conspiracy theories attached to la liga, though. I would like to just enjoy the game of football played at the highest level.
i think we all are growing a bit weary of the conspiracy theories associated with la liga, but honestly the league, i.e. refs, F.A., etc. have done little to help themselves this year and have in many ways hurt the championship race. You can say, "well he's a barca fan so he's going to be anti-madrid," but I think some of the decisions this year by refs (Madrid v. Valencia, Valencia's later matches, the phantom cards to Motta in the Barca deportivo game) just don't happen in other leagues. Fortunately, or unfortunately for Madrid, depending upon your argument, these decisions seem to help the Madrid cause more times than not. I guess what I question about this decision to revoke the Figo's red, is that in this case the FA is overriding a referee's judgement on a call and not an error per se. Like most here, I have seen all the replays which show that the tackle on puyol wasn't as bad in slow motion from the goal line angle as it must have looked to the ref at full speed. Nevertheless contact occurred and the ref choose to award a yellow. IMO, the FA should be very very cautious about setting this precedent. With the suspension associated with acquiring 5 yellows, every yellow is in fact important. Yellow card offenses are minor and players frequently acquire them in less than clear circumstances when the ref has to make a decision based on many factors not entirely linked to the isolated incident in question. By revoking this yellow the FA is really setting a standard in which all yellow cards may become questioned by clubs whose players stand to miss important games.
as you later said, you didnt see the game nor highlights so you cant comment (not trying to be rude). after figo's tackle up till around the 82nd min (i think) puyol had a bad limp and the camera zoomed on his face many times to show him grimacing, and in the 82nd or so min solari had a tackle on him that made his ankle worse and that is when he got subbed out.
~Derby vs Deportivo 05/01/04~ This is a very important match for real. All we can hope is that we win and barca and valencia losses their games. the good news is that we got Ronaldo back and Figo is playing also. Please give your predictions for this match. my 1st prediction: 4-1 for real. Ronaldo 3 and becks from a FK. my 2nd prediction: 3-1 for real. Ronaldo, Zidane and raul.
deportivo 1-0, goal by diego tristan '29 real has controlled match but bad defense sets up a goal by diego
Zidane was out for the next match anyway, but red card still hurts big time. Real hit the wood 3 times in the first half - I think we need a goal early into the second half so we have time to get a second. Ref is handing out cards like crazy, though. Let's get some goals, or the season could be all but over. I'm hoping Ronaldo does his thing.
could it be that real madrid will have to qualify for the champions league? something tells me that barca will finish 2nd..
Is it just me or is Real Madrid self destructing at a point in the season where last year they found that extra gear that no other team in the world has??? 6 defeats in your last 10 games this has got to be a shocker. Hmmmmm from a Barca fan's POV this couldnt get any better. I didnt see the game but I didnt have to because a final score tells the whole story. No matter how good a team playes there is no way a team like Madrid should be unable to beat a semi second string Depor (the future CL Champs im 95% sure of this). Only Valencia's inability to capture points from Betis will save you from the humiliation you surely deserve. Oh well I will not dwell you have enough on your mind's Im sure. How about wishing us some luck in the Catalonia Derby? It would be much appreciated
damn it!! Sorry Zidane, but that was a REAL BIG mistake. Real played so far better but things turned around. That stupid refree was giving cards like gifts. In so many normal or you can say legal tackles he was whistling and giving a fould, even Deportivo got some of those wrong decisions. Well, to be honest, we have to concentrate on the performances that players showed. Ronnie was nothing except for a couple of runs, on of them a good shot hit wood work. Carlos and Cambiasso were the best, they did everything they can offer in this terrible situation. Oooooh man, how bad it is to get out with empty hands especially if your last 4 seasons ended up with 7 hounors.
Here we have a fan of a losser team that hasn't won anything in the last 4 years. Although that team has spent more money than RM every single year. Actually they are happy because they are four points behind us (it is a great achievement for Barca), and they can be 1 point behind us if they win the next game (WHOWWW, really amazing), Even the can win la liga (yeah, yeah, i'm not lying, they can win, impresive!!!!) ......Then they will be able to compare 1 liga in the last years with our 3 Champions leagues, 2 intercontinental cups, 2 ligas, 1 European supercup, 2spain supercup in the last years. And we will be really impresed. HA, HA, HA!!!! About the game, third consecutive game playing with 10 players a big part of the game, if the refs are our friends who wants enemies. I think that the next game we will start directly with 10 players to save time and work to the refs. I really proud of the players they played really good. Making a great effor. We had the double of goal chances than Depor, 3 or 4 balls to the posts. But it wasn't our day. Even in the second half we had more goal chances than depor in the first 20 minutes. But to play more than 45 minutes with 10 players was too much. And more for a team with physical problems. At the end of the game the players were deads. Queiroz was horrible, He changed Beckham when we were losing by 1 goal and with 10 players. We needed to scored, Queiroz!!!! No manager in the world change his best player for strategy/tactical plays when you need to score. Every single options to scored was important, and you changed a key player for all the strategies plays (Free kicks, corner kicks, .....). A joke!!! You should have change Cambiasso or a CB, it didn't matter to lose by 3 goals we had to win that game!!!, other option was to lose la liga. And few minutes later he changed Ronaldo and put Portillo. Ronaldo is dangerous even with one leg!!! and you change him and put portillo, a player that you haven't used in all the season!!! Again, you should have quit cambiasso or a CBs and play with 3 forwards. We needed to scored!!!! Anyway, No problems about a bad year, we have had REALLY GREAT YEARS in the last times. Really Really enjoyable years. I was in the stadium when Real Madrid won its last 3 champions leagues (Amsterdam, Paris, Glasgow). I think that very few supporters in the world can say that they have seen their team win 3 CLs. In the last 10 years nobody. And some supporters of a team whose first letters are Barcelon, NEVER. They only have won 1 CL in 100 years and It was 12 years ago. Teams like Manchester only have won 2 in all its story. You only have to see around to check that the last years has been great years. Anyway, we will see if we can achieve the record of Barcelona of 4 years without win anything......oppss, I think that this year didn't count. We have won the spain supercup. S H I T!!!, we will have to wait until the next year. Well, Now it is time to think about the next year .... It can be great. The really good supporters are for the not very good moments. Lets hope that we won't have to wait four years without win anything, and that we have to go to other forums when other team lose to have one moment of happiness. Only thinking about that i have nightmares!!!! Real Madrid Forever!!!!! Hala Madrid!!!!! Del Madrid al cielo!!!!
This is truthful. Although this season isn't technically over, and we still could win (although Valencia would have to drop points in two matches and us not drop any) I am looking forward to the summer with hope and fear. I wish Chelsea would stop looking to buy every player, so we can actually get players for realistic prices. But for now, we just have to worry about us winning and Valencia losing. The season still isn't over!
i wish we could win the league...but most likely it wont happen so all i hope is that we be in 2nd place. real was very unlucky on Ronaldos and Cambiassos shots. Rauls too. I think becks will leave madrid..did u see when he was substituted...not one word to quieroz. Ronaldo played bad today. Zidane did even worse as he got red card. Stupid red card. We played good but again no finishes and the first goal was again defence foult..2nd was casillas foult.....there was only 2 people on the wall...if there was more there would be less space for the shot. Figo is the best as by now. ronaldo wasnt 100% fit hope he does better next time!