In case you missed it – Levante vs. Real Madrid [2011-09-18, Liga jornada 4, 1-0].
José Mourinho was onto something there (see, he just wasn’t being ironic or sarcastic) because our goal really does appear to be to get to 40 points, especially now that we know it won’t be easy. As Sergio Ramos said, “on these fields, Ligas are won and lost.” This game was characterized by a lot of flopping and bad acting from both sides that would have done a certain team proud. That, plus some ineffective play from our boys, is why the name of this post perfectly sums up the game. That’s how I see it, I’m tired of hearing excuses.
ONE. A sampling of the frustration that our boys and us fans felt while watching the game. By the way, since Mourinho arrived, on average someone has been sent off once every four games.
TWO. It had all started out so well. In the tunnel, while Iker was tying his shoelace, his former national team teammate Juanfran came up to him. They hugged and proceeded to chat and laugh for a long while.
THREE. Prior to the game, a moment of silence was held for Vicente Esteve, the chaplain of the team who had passed away earlier in the week. I love Marcelo Sunshine’s eyelashes! Look at the natural curl on them! I’m jealous…
FOUR. The game was of course characterized by the “trampa” (trap) that Sami Khedira fell into. By the way, Sergio Ballesteros weighs 93 kilos. It would take a lot more than a shove to knock him over.
Sami applauded Sergio Ballesteros sarcastically twice as he left the field.
FIVE. It was also one of those games where the cameras focused on the bench a lot, due to the presence of (so far) habitual starters Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Özil. The other five who rounded out the bench were Adán, Lass, Arbeloa, Callejón and Pipita. The new bromance of Callejón and Higuaín sat together…
… though Cris and Mesut also showed that theirs needs to be considered too.
SIX. The way Sergio fell down + the camera angle = one of the few good things about this game.
SEVEN. Kaká was so frustrated that his hair rebelled.
EIGHT. Cris was quite the active spectator, jumping up each time Madrid had a chance, only to deflate and sit down in disappointment when they missed, or were offside. You have to love his enthusiasm. And how he rolls up his shorts.
NINE. Iker started out the game in yellow, with black socks. But after the halftime, he reappeared wearing yellow socks. It might be because he looked too much like a referee. And when are we going to get to see the striped socks? I’m really looking forward to that.
TEN. Fábio looks quite different when his hair is deflated, no? I loved how he got so angry and started shouting things.
ELEVEN. Prior to the game, the boys were all looking quite boss on the bench, led by the head boss himself, Xabi Alonso. While Mejías, Coentrão and Varane checked out what Cris had in his hands, Pipita bit his nails and the Spaniards had a conversation.
Later on, Álvaro showed Pipita something on his mobile, which prompted quite a strange reaction from Gonzalo, Lass and Rafa. Gonzalo was stymied and not too happy, Lass was in disbelief and Rafa thought it was kind of funny.
TWELVE. Well, it looks like the rest of Iker’s facial hair is catching up to the mustache. That’s a good thing.
THIRTEEN. More scenes from the bench, including Pipita sticking his foot up and chatting with Mesut, and whispering sweet nothings into the ear of José Callejón. I like José’s response of semi-sarcastic nodding.
FOURTEEN. The Xabi Alonso pose section.™
FIFTEEN. Poor Marcelo, things weren’t so sunshine-y.
SIXTEEN. Mesut needs to take a lesson from Pipita on how to wear the shirt – look at how Pipita’s is perfectly arranged to highlight one of his best assets, and how Mesut’s just hangs there and doesn’t highlight anything.
SEVENTEEN. Sergio said after the game that everyone was to blame for the loss. He commented, “it was quite a complicated game. It’s clear than when you’re playing with one less, it’s important to create occasions. There’s no reason to blame this on any teammate. We’re all guilty for the loss today.”
How does his hair look so good after running around and sweating for 90 minutes? My hair never looks this good after the gym.
Meanwhile, Pepe said, “the referees are there to do their job and they didn’t do it. Before Khedira was sent off, there was a foul on Di María, with the line judge on the scene. The referee has to be fair to both sides. We played good football and many times they didn’t let us play.” He added, “it’s clear that this year, they’re going for Cristiano Ronaldo.”
EIGHTEEN. The Mou corner. He went from slouching to note taking.
on the defeat: while we played 11 against 11, we played well, they didn’t advance the ball past the center and Casillas didn’t touch the ball. We had good chances, two of them without the goalkeeper. On a difficult field, because it’s bad, and because they defended a lot, we managed to dominate and start the game well. When we were left with 10, the game was balanced. Then they scored and the game was almost over, although we still reacted and in the end, there was a clear penalty that would also have been a second yellow. It could have had a great influence on the game. If we scored, then 10 on 10 is a different story…
on Levante and Khedira: I don’t want to take any merits away from Levante. Here at home, they’re allowed to do what they want and they do it very well. I congratulate them for being smart, because they knew how to provoke, simulate and get extra time, they knew how to do all this, which is also football. We don’t like being in this type of game and they know it. Last year, we took them apart in the Copa but we’re not comfortable in this habitat that they know how to create better than anyone else in the Liga. My team has good players that play well in great stadiums but they’re not capable of adapting to the situation, the dirty part of football, the provocations, the simulations, the wasting of time… Madrid is not comfortable like that. For me, it was the fault of my player, who should have known better because we’ve spoken about these types of situations. And Khedira fell into their – I don’t know how to say this in Spanish, when you put out this thing to catch an animal… – trap. He knew perfectly and I place part of the responsibility for the defeat on him, I don’t have any problems in doing so. The referee is also at fault because he didn’t call a penalty and the sending off was too much. I’m also at fault, along with the other players that were on the field.
Mou added that he had spent a large portion of the pre-game chat at the hotel warning the players about what could happen, listing situations similar to the one that led to Khedira’s red card. He also said that at two in the afternoon, Cris told him that he wasn’t completely healed, that his evolution hadn’t gone well in the last day, but he wanted to put himself at the disposition of the team to help. Mou also praised Kaká, saying that he was one of the best in the first half and played very well.
I don’t like that Mou called out Khedira. We win as a team, we lose as a a team. And didn’t Mou also say something like, when we win, it’s due to the players, and when we lose, I’ll take the blame? He can yell at Khedira in private (and he probably did) but airing it like this… I don’t like it.
Who knew the back of Mou and Rui’s iPad would be covered in stickers?
NINETEEN. Other notes:
– Madrid was back in training on Monday, as there is a midweek Liga match this week, on Wednesday at 20h against Racing in El Sardinero.
– congratulations to Spain, champions of Europe in basketball, and to our Real Madrid champions, Felipe Reyes and Sergio Llull and our newest addition, Rudy Fernández. And what a detallazo by tournament MVP and captain Juan Carlos Navarro to allow “Felipón” to accept the trophy on behalf of the team. Navarro (and the team) had come up with this idea to cheer up Felipe, as his father passed away suddenly just days before the tournament started and so of course he was very sad.
– there were many signs at the Ciutat de València playing off of Cris’ comment. He was also serenaded with “guapo, guapo,” while the team heard the singing of “a segunda, oé, a segunda oé…”
