Thursday, November 7, 2013

Review Barcelona versus AC Milan 6.11.2013

Good match by Barcelona against a hopeless Milan side

FC Barcelona totally dominated the game.  They scored 4 goals and won 3-1. Piquet was somehow confused about the goal direction and scored an own goal. Messi opened with a goal from the penalty spot. The penalty it self was questionable. I am not sure if Neymar was really fouled.
The second goal was a very untypical Freekick to header from Busquets. Martino is really bringing some new aspects to the Barca game.

The goals for Milan was largely due to Kaka's good run and Pique's carelessness. Messi finished the game with a brilliant 1-2 pass with Fabregas. he just walked into the box  and somehow semi chipped the keeper.


Good game by Barcelona. a long not losing streak. They still have to prove themselves against very strong opponents though. Lets see how they would do against Dortmund, Bayern or Arsenal.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Review Rayo Vallecano versus Real Madrid 2.10.2013

Exciting to the end,

What a match. I must admit, as a barcelona fan since the emergence of Messi and Guardiola from 2009, I enjoyed watching FC Barcelona games a lot. But this season, the world has been upside down. FC barcelona games are proving to be  dull and uneventful affairs. In stark contrast, Real madrid matches are really exciting to watch. Last game against Sevilla was 10 goals extravaganza.
Barcas game against Espanyol on the other hand was a yawn fest.

I believe that the reason for this is to be found in Madrid's surprisingly weak defense.  Even against the last team in the league, their back line looked helpless.

The first half of this very exciting game started with a goal in the 3rd minute. CR7 got the ball deep in Rayos half on the left side. He was  a bit lucky in tunneling the defender and getting past him and finished masterfully against the keeper. Rayo was denied a penalty shortly afterwards and was also a bit unlucky with an offside goal which could have been a goal.

After a counterattack Benzema was able to head in a very good assist by Gareth bale who seems to be improving in each match. Bale also assisted CR7's


After the 3rd everything went awry for Madrid. Rayo could have scored about 6 or 7 goals. The second half from Madrid was absolutely abysmal. I wonder what Ancelotti is thinking. Madrid went from being one defensive monolith under Mourihno's reign to having the weakest defense from all the top teams in Europe. Is Ancelotti not the guy who trained defenive giants like  AC Milan in the 2000s and Juventus in the 90s?
Strange that such an experienced coach with these star defensive players is not able to put up a good defensive effort.

But I am not complaining. This makes every madrid game really a joy to watch. They wont be able to win anything with a defense but they are very entertaining.

Anyway, Madrid managed to somehow not concede the equalizer in the second half. They gave away two penalties to Rayo on very stupid fouls. Rayo had 3 or 4 more chances to score but were very unlucky and/or unable.
Rayo remains in the the bottom table and Madrid remains third after this game.
CR7 is now top scorer in La Liga with 13 goals.

Looking forward to the next match!


Saturday, November 2, 2013

Review FC Barcelona versus RCD Espanyol 1.11.2013

A very uneventful game.

Messi was clearly not in form. Has some nice passes and tried to score. But his explosive style and drillings were not present. Is he still suffering from his injury?
Espanyol were absolutely harmless. Barcelona was not able to papply any pressure. It was a very nice pass from Neymar through the legs of two defenders that set up Alexis Sanchez for his 7th goal.

Overall, it was a game to forget about.