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Real Madrid 2008-2009 Pre-Season - Football Slate

Real Madrid 2008-2009 Pre-Season Summary

August 29th 2008 17:59
Opponents Score Stadium Occasion Date
LASK Linz 3 – 2 Linzer Stadion 100th Anniversary of hosts LASK Linz D/MM/YY">27/07/08
Hamburg 2 – 1 Emirates Emirates Cup D/MM/YY">02/08/08
Arsenal 0 – 1 Emirates Emirates Cup D/MM/YY">03/08/08
Santa Fe 2 – 1 El Campin Pre-season friendly D/MM/YY">08/08/08
Eintracht Frankfurt 1 – 1 Commerzbank Arena 48th Anniversary of European Cup final D/MM/YY">12/08/08
Sporting CP 5 – 3 Santiago Bernabeu Trofeo Santiago Bernabeu D/MM/YY">27/08/08




Players Status Position Games Played Games Started Goals
Jose Maria Anton Youth system Defender 2 0 0
Julio Baptista* First team Midfielder 5 3 1
Juanmi Callejon** Youth system Midfielder 4 1 0
Fabio Cannavaro First team Defender 1 0 0
Iker Casillas First team Goalkeeper 1 1 0
Jordi Codina First team Goalkeeper 2 0 0
Ruben De la Red First team Midfielder 3 0 0
Mahamadou Diarra First team Midfielder 6 5 0
Royston Drenthe First team Defender 1 0 0
Jerzy Dudek First team Goalkeeper 5 5 0
Fernando Gago First team Midfielder 1 1 0
Javi Garcia First team Defender 6 4 0
Raul Gonzalez First team Striker 6 6 2
Guti First team Midfielder 6 6 0
Gabriel Heinze First team Defender 6 5 0
Gonzalo Higuain First team Striker 4 2 2
Marcelo First team Defender 1 1 0
Christoph Metzelder First team Defender 2 1 0
Daniel Parejo** Youth system Midfielder 3 0 1
Pepe First team Defender 3 2 1
Felipe Ramos Youth system Goalkeeper 1 0 0
Sergio Ramos First team Defender 2 2 0
Arjen Robben First team Winger 6 4 1
Robinho First team Winger 4 2 1
Michele Salgado First team Defender 5 4 0
Javier Saviola First team Striker 5 0 1
Wesley Sneijder First team Midfielder 3 1 0
Miguel Torres First team Defender 6 5 0
Rafael Van der Vaart First team Midfielder 3 2 2
Ruud Van Nistelrooy First team Striker 6 3 1


*Transferred to AS Roma
**Out on loan
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Posted By: Ann 2 - Category: Real Madrid, 2008-2009 Pre-Season
   


Miracle at the Bernabeu – Down Two Goals and Two Men, Madrid Win Spanish Super Cup 4-2 (6-5 agg.)

August 26th 2008 03:59
After losing the first leg by the score of 3-2 on Valencia's turf, Real Madrid players could take solace in the fact that all they needed was 1-0 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu to win the Supercup. Unfortunately, Valencia's David Silva and a couple of red cards got in the Meringues' way. The rest was just history writing itself in one of the world's most famous stadiums.

The Whites were the first team to get going in the opening stages of the match. Both Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Rafael Van der Vaart tested Hildebrant early, forcing the German goalkeeper to come up with some fine saves. Defensively, Madrid played a tight formation, not leaving any space between the defenders and midfielders for David Silva and Joaquin to exploit. Though the home team started well, it was Valencia who got on the score sheet first at the 33rd minute when Silva's shot to the bottom-right corner of the net left Casillas frozen in place. In Casillas' defense, I must point out that there were three Madrid defenders completely blocking his view, and none of them were quick enough to challenge Silva. Down 1-0 at their home turf, Madrid's situation would get worse when Van der Vaart was shown a straight red card for a nasty tackle on Juan Mata. The red card came less than ten minutes after Valencia's goal, putting the Madrid supporters in a state of shock. Since I watch most of the international soccer games on the net, there's often a chatroom connected to the streams; when Madrid got the red card several people left the room, convinced that it was over, but those who stuck it out witnessed an epic second half that will stay in my memory for a long time.

Indeed, five minutes into the second half, Real Madrid were awarded a penalty after a defender committed a handball on the goal line. Despite the clamors for a red card, the referee only showed a yellow card for Albiol's action, and proceeded to the penalty-kick. Dutch striker Van Nistelrooy had no problem converting it, equalizing the mark in the process, but his team were still behind on aggregate. In an effort to get more offense, at the 63rd minute, Bernd Schuster decided to replace defender Miguel Torres by Dutch defender Drenthe who had a more offensive upside. Meanwhile, Arjen Robben was taking on multiple defenders at times with his dazzling skills and twice came close to scoring. Madrid would suffer another setback at the 72nd minute when Van Nistelrooy got sent off with a second yellow card. Down to nine players with only Raul as their striker and Robben on the right wing, Madrid continued to push on; even Pepe ran up the field to get a shot off. At the 76th minute, the unthinkable happened, Sergio Ramos scored the second goal of his team, smashing in a rebound that came from Diarra's header hitting the crossbar. At 2-1, the score was now 4-4 on aggregate but since the Whites had scored two goals in the away game, they were in the lead. At that point, Schuster took a gamble. Since his team had the lead, he decided to lockdown the midfield in order to repress Valencia's attacks. Both Raul and Guti were taken out and replaced by Higuain and De la Red. Since Robben was still causing a lot of trouble to Valencia's defense, every ball from here on out was sent to him; even when the ball was in Drenthe's possession at the left side of the defense, the Dutch defender would clear the ball all the way to the right wing where Robben was posted. With ten minutes left to go, Madrid held on as best as they could since Valencia were now attacking with four players. At the 83rd minute, Casillas made a superb save that prevented the visitors from tying the score. Two minutes later, the ball had made its way to the other end where Ruben De la Red fired a spectacular long-range shot that left no chance to Hildebrant. Two minutes later, Valencia's defender would make a fatal mistake. Under Robben's pressure, he passed the ball back to his goalkeeper without taking a look. Higuain quickly seized the ball and easily beat Hildebrant to give his team a three-goal lead. 4-1 Madrid! Fernando Morientes would a second goal for Valencia at the 90th minute but it was too late, Madrid had won the Super Cup.

It was a majestic performance from La Liga's champions. All the players showed heart, courage, and determination, going against all odds to win this one. This is the kind of the effort that helps to forge a team mentality, every player is willing to go the extra mile for his teammates, and everyone is pushing in the same direction. With this win, Madrid will enter the season in a great state of mind knowing that nothing can stop them if they stick together.

All the Goals


Real Madrid's line-up: Iker Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Gabriel Heinze, Miguel Torres (Royston Drenther, 63rd); Arjen Robben, Guti (Ruben De la Red, 76th), Mahamadou Diarra, Rafael Van der Vaart; Raul (Gonzalo Higuain, 77th), Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
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Real Madrid Salvage 1-1 Draw Against Eintracht Frankfurt Thanks to Robinho

August 14th 2008 05:22
When the Meringues traveled to Frankfurt for their final pre-season game, I expected them to easily dominate the German club and walk away with – at least – a 2-0 win. What I saw instead was a team lacking creativity in midfield during the first half, and a bit shaky in defense. Fortunately, they pulled their act together in the second half and grabbed the equalizer twenty minutes before the final whistle.

With Sneijder injured, it was new signing Rafael Van der Vaart who was assigned playmaking duties in the center of midfield. Unfortunately, the Dutch never had time to settle into the groove of things as Real Madrid found themselves behind at the fifth minute of play. A stupid foul by Miguel Torres (he held the opposing winger's leg in order to prevent him from running down the flank) resulted in a average free-kick badly played by Madrid's defense. After that, the Germans patiently waited for their opportunities, attacking on the break and often on the left wing (Real Madrid's right).

In midfield, Madrid's quick passing play and vivacity was nowhere to be found. Robben couldn't break through, Raul and Van Nistelrooy were inexistent, and Guti was simply going through the motions. The only thing the Whites did right in the first half was beating Frankfurt's offside trap. In that aspect, their timing was impeccable. Unfortunately, the opposing goalkeeper always seized the ball before the strikers had any chance of scoring.

Robinho's entrance at half-time quickly brought some life to La Liga's defending champions. With the Brazilian on the left, and Arjen Robben on the right, Madrid had two wingers who excelled in one-on-ones and could easily cut to the inside inside and/or deliver penetrating crosses. At the hour-mark, Frankfurt's goalkeeper would make a lucky point-blank save on Raul's tap-in to keep the score in his team's favor. Ten minutes later, he would finally get beaten by Robinho after a nice pass by Saviola. The last minutes were spent in a frenzy as the ball traveled up and down the field at considerable speed. Saviola's shot at the 88th minute would shave the outside of the post while Casillas had to make a fantastic save one minute later to give his team the draw.

In the end, the man of the match was incontestably Robinho (though Casillas' last-minute save was as important as the Brazilian's goal). The pre-season is now over for the Spanish champions whose next fixture will be Sunday's Spanish Supercup. Stay tune for a pre-season summary later this week.

Real Madrid - Eintracht Frankfurt: 1-1 (Goals & Highlights)


Real Madrid's line-up: Iker Casillas; Sergio Ramos (Michele Salgado, 64th), Gabriel Heinze (Christoph Metzelder, h-t), Pepe (Javi Garcia, 79th), Miguel Torres; Mahamadou Diarra (Ruben de La Red, h-t), Guti (Julio Baptista, h-t), Rafael Van der Vaart (Gonzalo Higuain, 65th), Arjen Robben; Raul (Javier Saviola, 65th), Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Robinho, h-t).
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Posted By: Ann 2 - Category: Real Madrid, 2008-2009 Pre-Season
   


Arsenal Defeats Real Madrid 1-0

August 5th 2008 19:20
After losing against Juventus on a linesman's mistake, Arsenal put up a better front against La Liga champions, Real Madrid, denying them the space and time needed to be effective while bombarding Jerzy Dudek's goal. Despite all their efforts, it was a penalty-kick that gave the winning goal to the Gunners when defender Michele Salgado fouled Robin Van Persie inside the box. The ensuing kick was converted by striker Emmanuel Adebayor at the 49th minute. Here are a couple observations on the match.

There was an interesting battle on Arsenal's right flank as both Robinho and Walcott looked to have some influence in the game. When Robinho had possession, Walcott would often race back to help out his teammates in defense. This resulted in several altercations that left Robinho smiling at the young winger's intensity. When Robinho was substituted at the hour-mark, Robben took the Brazilian place on the wing. In response, Wenger replaced Walcott by Emmanuel Eboue in order to completely lock down the right flank


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