We don\’t like Real Madrid, right?
Backed by the king, the banks and the government, stealing Alfredo Di Stefano from Barcelona, too racist to give the young but electric Samuel Eto’o a game, they\’re just plain horrible.
We all hate them, don’t we?
We love it when they lose, right?
Here’s today’s draw.
Real Madrid v Spurs
Chelsea v Manchester United
Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk
Inter v Schalke
Watching the Inter Bayern first leg, I thought the game was a repectathon : two sides playing very carefully, giving each other too much respect. It was heading for a 0-0 when Mario Gomez popped up with the goal in the 90th minute to give Bayern a surprise win.
In the second leg, Samuel Eto’s scored one and made two, Pandev slotting late to make it 3-3 and allow Inter to qualify on away goals.
Real Madrid are an expensive team full of big gladiators, with a couple of small aggressive players thrown in.
Athletically and technically, they’re impressive. It’s a new team, a young team, a side that’s been collaged, one with genuine competition for places.
Personally, I believe that part of the dynamism of this Real Madrid team, part of their physicality and urgency, comes from a ticking clock.
Few think Jose Mourinho will be there next season. If he doesn’t win the Champions League he could be sacked. If he wins it, he could still be sacked, so the days on his calendar are ticking past almost as fast as the minutes on my watch.
Watching Real Madrid hammer Lyon with goals in 37 and 66 and 76, I had two thoughts.
One was that this team is starting to remind me of the AC Milan pressing team that crushed Barcelona 4-0 in the final, with Savicevic and Desailly scoring. Three of those goals came from taking the ball off Barcelona in their own half of the field.
My other thought was : Jose loves the nil.
When he put on Lassana Diarra for Karim Benzema, in 83 minutes, Mourinho was 4-1 up on aggregate. Diarra would add 10 minutes of bite. I thought : Yes, Jose likes the nil ! He takes defence very seriously. He loves that nil more than any Champions League manager and that’s why Real Madrid might win it.
Adebayor appeared for a cameo : miscontrol, miscontrol, miscontrol, ran offside.
In four home games in the Champions League, Real Madrid have kept four clean sheets.
They are formidable.
Mourinho knows how to play against Harry Redknapp, knows how to play against Peter Crouch, Xabi Alonso will control both games from the middle of the park, and Gareth Bale will find out that Sergio Ramos takes no prisoners. Ozil is a human scalpel who slices through your midfield, Benzema has scored 20 goals already, and Di Maria’s dribbling gives most teams a problem.
Yes, Real Madrid are organised but it’s the individual dynamism of left back Marcelo, of Ozil, Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo that provides most of their their attacking momentum.
The semi-final draw means the games we see could be :
Inter v Man Utd or Chelski
Real Madrid v Barcelona
What price a Real Madrid-Inter final at Wembley?
Stranger things have happened.
Samuel Eto’o would love it, just love it, if we beat them.