Back to la liga on Sunday. Queiroz is apparently thinking about making some changes for this game. Specifically, Raul Bravo, and possibly Salgado and Raul to be rested. Resting Raul Bravo is not such a bad idea. Roberto Carlos is likely to be suspended for the return leg against Bayern and Raul Bravo can slide over to left fullback to replace him - by resting him Queiroz can be sure that Bravo is healthy and ready to go. He can do a job defensively but of course the team loses Roberto Carlos' danger in attack. Solari has replaced Roberto Carlos before and can provide a lot of attacking impetus but he's too vulnerable in defense in my opinion. Pavon is likely to play alongside Helguera in central defense. If Queiroz intends to play Raul Bravo at left fullback against Bayern then this is a good opportunity for Pavon to get back into things - he hasn't played much lately. Salgado could be replaced by Mejia, who apparently has played right fullback in the cantera. I don't know about this move, mostly because I have no idea how good Mejia is at this position. If he can fill in adequately he will really cement a position in the squad - as the right fullback has been a position for which there's no apparent substitute. Raul may also be rested, and if so Queiroz will have to decide between playing Portillo or moving Zidane behind Ronaldo and having Solari play on the left. Frankly, I think the latter would be likely to create a lot more chances on goal. It would be an interesting move. Celta is coming off a 3-2 defeat at home to Arsenal.
You can still catch it a bar if you know of a place that has, say, ESPN LatinAmerica on satellite. Hmmmm.... Let me think if I can think of a place in New York like that...
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I'm deeply troubled. I've heard of something called "VoomTV" which is supposed to be carrying the game. I'm not sure if it's available on satellite or what, but their website doesn't seem to be up and running yet.
On Nevada Smith's website they actually made a special note mentioning that they could NOT get this game! If they don't get a game then I pretty much give up hope of seeing it.
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=98546 link to a thread discussing Gol TV coverage and Voom TV, which is a HD TV satellite package. This is, needless to say, hugely disappointing.
in the end, Pavon starts for Raul Bravo, otherwise it's the expected lineup: Casillas Salgado-Helguera-Pavon-Roberto Carlos Figo-Beckham-Guti-Zidane Ronaldo-Raul Portillo doesn't even make the bench. Interesting score in the Valencia-Espanyol game...
17 min - goal Celta, Ilic. off a corner that, according to el mundo, shouldn't have been a corner, Ilic unmarked in the box. 22 min - yellow card Mostovoi for delaying a Real Madrid free kick. Raul active early. 32 min - yelllow card Guti. Tried to pass to Raul, Luccin got the ball and Guti fouled him to stop the break. Sounds like Beckham and Guti not controlling the midfield at this point.
Bench: 25 Sanchez Cesar 8 Fernandez Borja 15 Raul Bravo 33 Alvaro Mejia 19 Esteban Cambiasso 16 Antonio Nunez 21 Santiago Solari 4 midfielders and not even a single striker? Quieroz's selection speaks volumes of Portillo's progress or lack thereof.
37 min - Zidane with a good shot from outside the box blocked by Celta goalie Pinto for a corner. Beckham takes, Helguera heads towards goal but Pinto's got it. Madrid with more possession now. 41 min - yellow for Salgado for foul on Edu. Salgado misses the next liga game against Racing Santander. 43 min - yellow for Pavon for tackle from behind on Milosevic. Pavon also misses the next liga game. halftime - Real Madrid 0 - Celta Vigo 1 the crowd whistling as the teams go off.
49 min - 40 meter pass from Guti to Roberto Carlos -offsides. 53 min - great save from Casillas. 54 min - GOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!! Zidane crosses to Beckham who heads it back from the far post to Ronaldo who knocks it in unmarked. 55 min - Madrid turning up the heat now. Beckham cross to Raul - header just wide. 57 min - Casillas with another huge save to stop Milosevic. The crowd is chanting his name. 58 min - yellow for Ilic.
63 min - GOOOOOOOL Zidane!!! Zidane making a run takes the cross from Figo and heads it in for the second goal! That is Figo's 100th assist for Real Madrid. Madrid in control. Guti and Beckham doing much better in this half. Real Madrid 2 - Celta 1. 70 min - GOOOOOOOL Figo!! Just as the radio announcers were saying Beckham's form has dropped since the winter break, Beckham delivers a long pass to Figo into space and Figo scores! Real Madrid 3 - Celta 1. Asi, Asi, Asi gana Madrid! 72 min - Solari comes on for Ronaldo. Announcers saying Celta looks tired, leaving more space.
80 min - Raul asks to come off - limping. Left ankle bothering him. Nunez comes on, I think Guti moving to forward. 87 min - Beckham off, Cambiasso on. 90 min - Goal Milosevic. Real Madrid 3 - Celta 2.
92 min - GOOOOOOOOOL Zidane!! Figo with the assist, crosses from the left side, Zidane scores with the outside of his foot. Real Madrid 4 - Celta 1. Game. Eight goals in the last two liga games. Nice. Real Madrid has an eight point lead on second place Valencia. Looking good in la liga, in the finals of the Copa del Rey, time to focus on Bayern.
If Depor win then your lead is only 6 points. Either way it looks as if Madrid has the title locked up. The Copa and League look like a sure bet for you, however I don't think you'll win the CL.
Too many league games left to call it a sure bet, nor am I counting on the Copa del Rey until the game is played. Zaragoza does strange things in the cup. As for the CL, I say the same thing about all 16 teams right now. The only favorite that looked good last game was Arsenal, and they played a relagation candidate. I would put Real Madrid´s chances as good as anyone at this point.
oops - actually when I wrote that, I forgot it's still another week before the return leg. not time yet. edit: Depor lost. So Real Madrid has 8 and 9 points respectively on their nearest rivals. 3rd goal in flash: Deep ball from Beckham to Figo who controls well and scores from a tight angle. http://elmundodeporte.elmundo.es/elmundodeporte/especiales/2003/08/liga/goles/jornada26/golfigo.html
I felt the same way.... everyone has some problems defensively. May be a smaller club will take.... I actually started to believe Bayern Munich might take it, but I doubt they can go past RM.
I caught the highlights on FSW! Zidane looked fantastic, as usual! I'm surprised that Real Madrid didn't CRUSH Celta Vigo...something like 4-0. But like I always say, win is still worth 3pts no matter if it is a 6-0 win or a 1-0 win!
Great first 25 minutes of RM in the second half. Celta was playing very good in the first half, but Real Madrid begins to play in the second half and Zidane and company simply destroy Celta. They did a perfect soccer, all the team doing perfect his job, including casillas with a extraordinary save. When all the players play at this level it is very difficult to stop them. Figo played very good he scored one goal (Beckham assists) and he gave 2 (both to Zidane). Guti played very good moving the team. But the best one was Zidane. He scored two very good goals and he was a nightmare to Celta players.