On Saturday at the Montjuic in Barcelona, site of the upcoming Copa del Rey final... Madrid are going to be without Beckham and Guti, both suspended for accumulation of yellow cards, each having picked up a yellow against Valencia. Queiroz is likely to go with Borja and Zidane in the middle, and Solari on the left wing in place of Zidane. I think this will work out fine, Borja will concentrate on defense, Zidane will orchestrate the attack, and Solari will spread the play out wide. Figo is doubtful, apparently having picked up a slight knock in wednesday's friendly against England. If he's not ready to go Juanfran will likely get the nod. Espanyol are currently in 19th place in la liga with a minus 21 goal difference. Tuesday is the all important game against Bayern Munich... Hopefully the players will concentrate on the task at hand and put this game out of reach early, so that key players don't have to go the full 90.
I hope that the players play very concentrated this game and that they don't think in Bayern, because it can be very important game to win la liga. I hope that Figo can play, although maybe Querioz reserve him to Bayern. If Figo can't play, we would play with two "rookie" players in midfield, maybe too risky. Although i think that Juanfran is a good player, he isn't figo.
yeah, Juanfran definitely isnt Figo, but id rather he play and let Figo sit and get ready for Tuesday. besides, hes been showing flashes in the few chances hes had. i think it actually worked out in our favor having Guti, Becks, and Figo unavailable for this game, making them fresh for Munich. anyway it IS Espanyol and Raul, Ronie, and Zizou will be playing, not to mention El Indiecito Solari, who has done nothing wrong all year. lets hope to get ahead early, and get some of these guys rest towards the middle-end of the game.
wow, 0-1 off a penalty commited on Raul. here come the criticisms. im listening to the game, and the commentators just laugh and poke fun as soon as the penalty gets called. hahahhaha.
Well there was an equally absurd penalty on the other end as well. 1-1 I can't believe how poor the referees are in Spain.
yeah man, unreal. now theyre just looking for reasons to get one over on Madrid, to "even" the recent amount of PKs given. this is ridiculous, whichever way it goes.
out of town, i'm listening over the internet. 4 to 1 as I type!! Goal Ronaldo!! 1st goal: Ronaldo (penalty kick, Figo started the game on the bench with Juanfran in his place). 25th minute. Ronaldo's 20th league goal. Raul was apparently taken down in the box. 1st goal for Espanyol: Tamudo, penalty, in the 31st minute after penalty called on Casillas. 2nd goal: Roberto Carlos, 52nd minute. Zidane on the right crossed to Ronaldo in the middle who passed off to Roberto Carlos, first time shot. 3rd goal: Raul Bravo, 66th minute, header from a corner kick by Figo who replaced Juanfran at halftime. I think this is Raul Bravo's first goal in la liga. 4th goal: Ronaldo again in the 69th minute. Good pass into space by Cambiasso who replaced Solari at halftime (slight injury to Solari?). Ronaldo beat the keeper one on one.
cadenaser.com - you will find link on AS.COM, or Radiomarca - you will find link on Marca.com. Radio is in Spanish of course and they tend to go back and forth when more than one game is on. Espanyol scored a second goal in the 84th minute - Lopo. Final score Real Madrid 4 - Espanyol 2. Sounds like Zidane had a good game playing more in the center. The lead is maintained and Valencia is set to play a resurgent Barcelona. Now the team can concentrate on Bayern.
I missed the second half.... but I saw the first half. Both PK's were actually okay. The RM penalty was almost identical to the one against Valencia last week.... it was scarey similiar. But I think it was a clear foul because Raul was wrestled down on the floor.... the defender prevented him from getting to the ball. I gave the refs credit for calling it since what happened last week.... the media will have a field day if he made a mistake. I thought the Espanyol PK was also okay....
Well in the very least the PK's had no effect on the game's outcome. Zidane was awesome this game and Espanyol sucks.
It is a shame that you missed the second half, because Zidane played great. He made a exhibition of perfect play. You must see one play between he and raul, beautiful. It was one of the best games of Zidane this season outside the Bernabeu. I think that after can't play against Valencia, he has very motivated to play and to demostrate who is Zidane. The rest of the team also played very well in the second half. I think that the team is good physically, in the second half of the last games the team has played much better than in the first half. I think that it is because the other teams played very motivated in the first half, making a big pressure and running a lot, but they can maintain the level in the second half, and RM maintain the level the 90 minutes. The great dribbling of Ronaldo to the goalkeeper in his second goal. If you see the play you can see that he made all with his body without touch the ball, and when goalkeeper fell, he scored easily. it's his 21 goal this season in la liga and his 27 goal in all the competition. Amazing. And he not only score goals, he is the 2nd of the team in assists with five. After this game, we have a advantage of 5 points over Valencia. It will permit us made some mistakes and continue as leaders. And now ............ the game against BAYERN!!!!!
Tooooo bad for those who missed the game. It's so easy to get. Zizou is back, Ronaldo still the BOSS, while R.Carlos keeps as smiling. the whole team played a good match. I only wanted to see Pavon outa this squad. Meaby It's strange to describe it that way but I belive after the team scored the second, The game went to be funny!. You can't get off this smile outa ur face. EVEN R.CARLOS COULDN'T : That play between ZIzou and Raul was just fantastic, Zidane keeps proving that a player like him could only come once a century!.
is there anywhere i can view this play. ive watched almost every game on sky sports but unfortunately this was a rare occasion of it not being on.!
Can you say that for sure?? Espanol were outplaying RM early in this game, until that horrible penalty decision. If its 1-0 Espanol at halftime, maybe the second-half is a little different.
Poor little boy, are you crying again? Even español manager and players have said that the two PKs - Casillas very doubful PK include - hadn't affected the result, and that RM had deserved to win clearly the game. And you must be happy after see the great play of RM in the second half. Español manager said that was great to see Zidane playing like that. The people in the stadium was very happy to see that beautiful play. Come on, man,put some happyness in your life. You know what happen when you cry too much, that you lose. See Valencia -Barcelona game, Valencia made a PK, the ref didn't see it - a clear hand - and even with that help they lost. They cry and cry, but they lose. What a sad history, isn't?
Here ya go : http://members.lycos.co.uk/rakloverreal/z&r.zip \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ BocaFan, come'on man, R.Madrid has done what it takes to gain the three points. They played very well speacially in the second half.
Okay All, I watched the WHOLE game, watched the replays on gol a gol and bought the Marca newspaper which had a frame by frame on all questionable calls. First PK: Clearly a penalty Second PK: Clearly a penalty Salgado did barely touch one crossing ball with the under part of his forearm which would have been difficult to see without instant replay. The referees had no bearing on the outcome of this game. I wish people would quit trying to prove the referees are giving advantages to RM. RM continues to win because of the play they displayed in the 2nd half of this game. RM is known for a strong 2nd half as last season would demonstrate. R. Carlos scored a missile of a goal and Ronnie was...well, Ronnie. Zidane is the most talented play maker on the planet. Don't discount RM getting very physical with Bayern. Beckham will make sure of that. Lee