Managing Madrid

Alright, Madridistas. I'm not going to do a whole recap right now, partly because I'm waiting to see what happens with UEFA's disciplinary case against Mourinho, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and the sport of football generally, but mainly because I'm going to be doing one in conjunction with the guys over at Barça Blaugranes.

I know, I know, I'm a traitor--but they're good guys, and I genuinely enjoy Adi-Oula Sebastian's work (even when he writes about Madrid). So expect to see that piece in the coming days.

I was pretty pissed after yesterday's game, and I'm assuming you all were too. It's hard to describe how aggravating watching powerlessly as your team's players are ejected and given cards because the opposing team dives really is. But watching that against Barcelona? Yikes.

I don't feel like doing the whole list of mistakes thing--it's played out and pretty much embodies sore-loserdom. Suffice to say that both teams made a mediocre (at best) referee's job impossibly hard: Madrid played physical, shut-down defense, and Barcelona threw their bodies all over the pitch. Madrid committed fouls; Barcelona simulated.

The one thing I would like to stress is the importance of Pepe. Losing him was a huge blow for Madrid: he was Mourinho's silver bullet, the tactical anti-Barça that worked so well in the previous matches. Madrid wasn't the same without him, and the game was essentially decided. Whether he deserved to be sent off was another matter--of course, I think it was very rigorous, and the whole situation reeks of simulation and coddling.

But instead of going on a whole rant, I'm going to provide a sample of day-after headlines and quotes from our players:

Mourinho: "We're talking about a fantastic team--Barcelona--(don't misinterpret my words), but I don't understand why in a very equal game like today, they did what they did. Referees are supposed to ensure  equality between both sides--afterwards, may the best team win."

"Are we eliminated? Yes. Sometimes I'm a bit disgusted to live in this world, but that's life. We'll have to go to Barcelona with all of our pride, without Pepe who didn't do anything, without Ramos who didn't do anything, and without our coach who won't be able to be on the bench."

"Today we have demonstrated that no one has any chances against Barcelona, because UEFA won't let any other team play against them. I don't understand why. I'm not sure if it's about the Unicef advertising, or if it's because they're really nice..."

"If I were to tell the referee and UEFA what I'm thinking, my career would be over--that's why I'm only asking one question: why? We could have played three hours and the game would have stayed at 0-0."

"Drogba was sanctioned after the Champions League Semifinals, just like Bosingwa; Motta wasn't allowed to play in the final because he was ejected against Barcelona. And both Wenger and Nasri were sanctioned after their tie in the quarter finals. Now, I've been sanctioned, and I shouldn't even be here (in the press room)."

"Guardiola is a great coach, but he's won a Champions that I would be ashamed to have won with the scandal at Stamford Bridge. And this year, if he wins it, it'll be with the scandal at the Bernabéu. He deserves to win a Champions under normal circumstances. It's what I wish for him because he's a very good coach who I respect as a person because of how well he treated me for four years. Yesterday, I didn't show him a lack of respect, I thought I could call him "tu" but apparently I have to call him Sir Josep Guardiola. I respect him a lot as a coach and as a person, and I wish that un day he'll have the pleasure of winning a Champions League without an incidents."

Adebayor: "Football is a man's sport. But, every time you play with Barcelona, whenever you touch them they end up on the ground clutching their faces and crying like babies. And their coach and fans are always crying."

Sergio Ramos: "In reference to the refereeing, I don't have anything to say. Simply lamentable."

Cristiano Ronaldo: "You saw it yourselves. It's been four years now with the same type of thing happening all the time. Those guys on Barcelona have a lot of power, inside and outside of the pitch. 11 on 11 they didn't score on us and everything was in control. We didn't play great, but everything was in control. Then we ended up with 10 men and they scored two goals on us. Coincidence, right? It's always the same, year after year, I don't understand it. I really don't understand it, it's very hard to play like that."

Iker Casillas: "The red card to Pepe was very rigorous, but that's what we're used to, no big deal."

"In many ways, Madrid fans view these games as a playful argument about the way to see and understand the country as a whole."

In fact, they liked me so much they asked me to upload a short video of myself talking about Real Madrid. It'll run at 5:30 on World Sport segment of CNN International; you can also check it out here--



I've been pretty psyched after our HUGE triumph in the Copa del Rey, but have been pretty swamped with the end of my school year--but fear not, Josh and I will record a podcast this evening, to run after our third clásico of the month.

Oh, and did you hear what Guardiola said about Mourinho?

"In here [the press room] he's the fucking boss, the fucking champ. I'd be happy to give him his own personal press box champions league title right now." (Source: El Mundo)

Pretty absurd, right? WRONG: apparently, when Pep got back to the hotel where the Barça players are staying, they treated him like a hero. In this instance, our old "philosopher" as Zlatan Ibrahimovic calls him, took a play out of the José Mourinho playbook--saying something crazy or angry to deflect criticism of his players and create an "us-against-the-world" mentality in the dressing room.

Well played.

In other news, the terrible Wolfgang Stark will referee the game. Let's pause before we kill ourselves to remember that he was voted the WORST REFEREE in the Bundesliga. Ugh.

Ah, well. I'm currently taking bets on whether Madrid will end the game with 11 men on the field. In fact, here are my current odds:

Over 10.5 men on field after 90 Minutes: +540
Between 10.5 and 9.5 men on field after 90 Minutes: -110
Under 9.5 men on field after 90 Minutes: +210

Getty Images

One down, three to go. In the first of four highly anticipated match-ups, Real Madrid and Barcelona drew 1-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu in what was a gritty game marked mainly by players' nerves and referees. Leo Messi put Barcelona ahead 1-0 on a penalty after Raúl Albiol pulled down David Villa in the box (the Madrid defender was shown a direct red card); Cristiano Ronaldo tied the game at 1-1 for Madrid after Dani Alves mistimed a challenge on Marcelo (Alves was not shown a card, though a yellow would have been his second of the game).

Perhaps the most interesting part of the match was Mourinho's decision to include Pepe in the midfield trivot, at the expense of Mesut Özil, and to slide Albiol into Pepe's center-back role next to Carvalho. Tactically, the Portuguese defender's presence in the midfield stifled Barça's passing, relegating them to horizontal possession for most of the game.

It was a tricky move by Mourinho, one that belies a belief that we here at Managing Madrid share: possession does not win a game. By ceding possession to Barcelona, Mourinho cut off their dangerous diagonal passing lanes (that had so destroyed los blancos in the first leg), and relegated their "style" to mainly negative (that is, backwards) passes.

It also meant that Madrid played mainly on the counter-attack--which is arguably Barcelona's weak link: Ronaldo and Di Maria bombed down the flanks with Benzema in the center looking for quick passing lanes and vertical runs. While this style only gave los vikingos a small percent of the game's possession, it actually resulted in a similar number of total goal-scoring chances.

Critics of Mourinho (and of Madrid generally) will argue that this brand of counter-attacking, defense-oriented, fast-paced football is "bad" or "boring" football, that it shames Madrid to play like this. That's total bullsh*t. Seriously. There's no one brand of universal "good" football--I love watching my team defend properly, cut off angles, shut down attacks. I love watching fast-paced counters, brutal, lightening-quick finishing. That's way more beautiful, to me, than negative, horizontal, boring possession-based football. To say that one way is "better" than another is necessarily to make a totalizing universal out of a subjective opinion; and to the argument that Barça's style has resulted in trophies, I would respond that so did this style, unless Italy's 2006, 1990 (etc) World Cups, Greece's 2004 Euro Cup, and more recently Madrid's 2006-2007 Liga don't count?

I'm getting way off topic, though, because the real focus of the match was the refereeing, which has pretty much been attacked on all fronts. I'm going to try to be fair here--to both the teams and to the refs--because there have been so many biased articles about this already.

1. Barcelona wanted a penalty on Casillas for an encounter with Villa in the first half. This was a tough call: in my (in)expert opinion, Villa did himself no favors by beginning his fall before Casillas got to him. At the same time, there was some contact, but no clear indication that Villa could have gotten the ball had there not been contact--close play, could have gone either way, but the right (no-) call in my opinion. Madrid got the better end of the stick on this one.
2. The first penalty. The right call, Albiol grabbed Villa's neck and pulled him down. Would have liked to see him try for the ball at least: you're giving up a shot or a penalty in that scenario, the least you could do is swipe at the ball.
3. The second penalty. Dubious, but ultimately correct. There was contact, though Marcelo did exaggerate his fall, and Dani Alves was way behind when he went to ground. While this was much more up in the air than the first penalty, Alves has no business going to ground there--Football 101: referees are looking to make up for earlier penalties, so don't give them an excuse.
4. Alves not getting booked for his tackle. Terrible call. If the penalty call is correct (remember, if), then Alves has to be booked. Textbook yellow card: going to ground, missing the ball, preventing an attack. This is where everything unravels: the referee looked weak, and didn't back up his original call with a punishment worthy of the crime. Barça got the better end on this one.

Incidentally, the referees left everyone unhappy, which seems oddly fair. It'll be sad to see Albiol miss the Copa final (his punishment for his red card), but it was deserved; Barça will be counting their lucky stars that the same thing didn't happen to Alves.

Javier Soriano/Getty

Los blancos beat Spurs 0-1 on Wednesday to secure a spot in the Champions League semifinals that seemed preordained after their 4-0 thrashing of the London side last week. They'll move on to face arch-rival FC Barcelona for a shot at winning their record 10th European Champions League title.

But that won't be their first shot at Barcelona this month--the two giants are set to play four (that's right, FOUR) matches in the next three weeks: the Champions League semifinals, the Copa del Rey final, and have a regular-sounding Liga BBVA match this weekend. That's a lot of clásico.


A few notes from the Spurs game first:

• Madrid--and especially Raúl Albiol looked solid defensively. They'll need that in the coming weeks against Barça, so it's good to see him in such good form.
• Unfortunately, Ricardo Carvalho saw a yellow card and will miss the first leg in the Bernabéu--all the more reason for Albiol to step up.
• Cristiano's goal wasn't really his goal: Gomes, Spurs' keeper, bobbled a long-range effort that eventually squirted into the net. Bad error from a solid keeper. 
• For the second game in a row, Kaká looked good. He's running better than I've seen him run in years, playing with pace in his passing and his finishing. He had a curling effort barely blocked by Gomes on the far post that was particularly vintage Kaká. 
• While the tie was pretty much over after the first leg, CR7's really nailed it down--I kept doing the math in my head: Spurs needs to win 4-0 to force overtime, 5-0 to win outright; if Madrid score, the number jumps up to 6 goals. 

"Pulpo Iniesta" picked Madrid! C/O As.com

C/O Marca.com

Where on earth have we been? Our last post was about Ronaldo's injury, which seems like ages ago: since then, Madrid has dropped points in la Liga--all but securing our fate as runners-up once again--and dismantled Tottenham in the Champions League 4-0 at the Bernabéu. We have a lot to talk about, so I'll make this brief: Josh and I are both students at top-tier American universities, and because we are just so smart (sarcasm people), we decided to take on year-long projects called "senior theses" (imposing, I know). Over the course of the last two weeks, both of us had to turn in our theses--hence, why we didn't post. (I somehow managed to find time to watch los blancos thrash Spurs, though, which was a fantastic diversion from my tedious writing/editing/printing process).

C/O Marca.com

Cristiano Ronaldo has been struggling with a niggling hamstring issue for the last few weeks.  Mourinho decided to risk him against Lyon and for 70 minutes against Atléti, and managed to win both.  However, during the Atléti game, Ronaldo allegedly re-injured his hamstring and will be out for 2-3 weeks, likely returning for the Champions League quarterfinal match against Tottenham on 5 April. 

However, it seems like a number of people think this is a cunning ruse to get Ronaldo out of international duty with Portugal for the next two weeks.  Tim Sherwood, the former Blackburn legend and current Tottenham coach sent to scout the Madrid derby match, claims he doesn't think Ronaldo really suffered a hamstring injury.  Sid Lowe also doubts the injury, claiming that the idea is to allow Ronaldo to fully recover from his injury instead of going off to play for Portugal for two weeks and thinks that the Madrid player will skip the game against Sporting and return for the Spurs match as planned.

Of course, given our attitude toward international football (we don't like it), we think this is genius! Go Mourinho!

I'd wanted to write an article on the amazing rehabilitation of Karim Benzema over the last month or so when he had looked essentially dead in the water, but Sid Lowe over at the Guardian seems to have beaten me to it, so go read his excellent piece.

I am not particularly impressed by Lowe's purple prose style nor his habit of presenting Spanish culture in a vaguely imperialist manner (i.e. "Look at these silly Spaniards with their bizarre customs!  Isn't that absolutely mad?") but his work is certainly the best on Spanish football in the English language at the moment, and actually it is better than anything in the Spanish press I've seen.


Lowe's argument is quite interesting, particularly in light of the way we treated Karim Benzema's form earlier in the season.  Back then, Gabe claimed that we shouldn't lose faith in Benzema's ability and that he merely needed a change in mentality, which Mourinho could provide with some coddling.  As it happened, Mourinho didn't do this, giving Benzema opportunities to prove himself and then, having been disappointed, refused to place his trust in the Frenchman.  Lowe argues that this lack of trust was exaggerated as part of Mourinho's political ploy vis-à-vis Valdano and Pérez; for instance, Mou left Benzema on the bench and played with no striker at all in the draw against Almería.

Mourinho eventually forced a concession from the management and got his new striker, with the club bringing in Adebayor in January.  Adebayor is more of a Mourinho type striker - tall, strong, a target man who can play with his back to goal and barrel ahead with the ball - than the elegant, silky Benzema.  This loan signing managed to do what Higuaín's injury failed to do and galvanized Benzema into action, setting him on a phenomenal scoring run and a seismic change in his style of play.

Lowe claims that Mourinho is going to receive the credit for reviving Benzema with his incredible player psychology, and it may be that this is the case (Benzema himself has come out and said this, although Mourinho attributed it to the player himself as well as Zinedine Zidane), but that essentially it has come from a combination of Higuaín's injury and Adebayor's arrival taking the pressure off of the Frenchman.  Mourinho undermined Benzema on a semi-regular basis in the press, perhaps as part of an attempt to shame him into a response, but now that he has served his purpose in getting Mourinho his striker and a win over the hierarchy at the club, the coach is simply picking his team instead of doing so with a particular agenda.  And right now, Benzema is the obvious choice to lead the line.

First half goals from the on-form Karim Benzema and Mesut Özil saw Real Madrid continue their remarkable run in the Derbi Madrileño despite a nerve-wracking final push by Atléti.  This is Real's fourth win already against los Colchoneros this season, with the city rivals having met twice in the league and in a two-legged match in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey.  In fact, Atléti have not won against Madrid in the league since 1999, and given their disastrous form this season overturning that record always seemed beyond them.

Mourinho opted to play a form of 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1, with Angel di María relegated to the substitutes' bench and Lass starting in his place.  Mourinho claimed after the game that this was designed to help his side control the game better given their low energy levels after their midweek exertions against Lyon.  Ronaldo inexplicably started despite clearly needing a little more time to reach full fitness, and the Portuguese never really looked back to his mercurial self.

Los Merengues started very well, with the first chance coming just six minutes into the game.  Benzema slid a superb ball through for Sami Khedira, playing him on against the young de Gea, but the German was unable to steer his shot past the keeper.

Early goals have often characterized recent derbies between the two sides, and this was no exception.  In the 11th minute, Khedira returned the earlier favor by controlling the ball on the break, taking one touch, and then sending a magnificent ball through for Benzema on the left side of the box with the outside of his foot.  The Frenchman, in incredible form as of late, made no mistake with a chipped finish over the keeper to make it 1-0 to the away side.

After Madrid had opened the scoring, however, Atléti began to take control of the match.  In the 20th minute, Kun Agüero picked up a pass on the edge of the box and lashed a low drive at goal, which Casillas tipped around the post.

Just as Atléti began to dominate in search of an equalizer, los Vikingos doubled their account.  On 33 minutes, Marcelo beat his marker down the left before cutting the ball back to Özil at the edge of the box, who curled his first-time shot into the roof of the net.  De Gea managed to get a hand on it, but was clearly surprised by the speed of the move which left him little time to react.

The Rojiblancos came out explosively in the second half, no doubt inspired by a vigorous team talk, and had a number of chances.  Casillas made a number of key saves, notably from Agüero one-on-one in the 54th minute.  Madrid had their chances as well, with Ronaldo and Benzema combining well before the Frenchman released the Portuguese one-on-one inside the box, but the ball was just overhit and Ronaldo only managed to hit the side-netting from the narrow angle he was afforded.

Atléti continued to attack until the bitter end, managing a goal in the 86th minute to make matters more interesting, with Agüero, the home side's best player on the night, playing a one-two with Koke before putting the ball past Casillas.  Madrid managed to see the game out without further incident, however, and took the three points on the night to keep them within touching distance of Barcelona, who had a poor game against Getafe despite their 2-1 win, and could well have drawn if Casquero's shot had been a foot either side of the keeper instead of straight at Valdes.  

The draw results are in, and los Merengues will play Tottenham Hotspur for a spot in the Champions League semifinals.  Real will play the first leg in the Bernabéu on 5 April before travelling to White Hart Lane a week later on 12 April.  The winner will play either Barcelona or Shakhtar in the semifinals, setting up the possibility of a mouthwatering two-legged Clásico next month, which would mean Madrid and Barcelona playing each other an astonishing four times in as many weeks: the potentially crucial Liga tie at the Bernabéu, the Copa del Rey final and the Champions league semifinal.

In my article before the draw, I ranked Tottenham 5th of out 7 in terms of our preferences for the quarterfinals, although I was perhaps being generous.  Certainly Real are heavily favoured by pundits and bookmakers alike to make short work of Spurs, whose rise to the upper echelons of European football has been commendable but are not thought to have the capability to beat a frankly unarguably superior Madrid side.  Madrid's roster is better in every position across the pitch, including on the dugout, where Mourinho has beaten Harry Redknapp all five times he has played his teams.  Mourinho has only lost to Spurs once, beating them seven times.

I do think Spurs are dangerous, but it's important to realize that their form in Europe has been somewhat illusory and overhyped due to the fact that the team have not traditionally been top European competitors.  In the group stages, Tottenham conceded four goals in just 35 minutes in the first half of the match against Inter at the San Siro.  Spurs did manage to come back to within one in the second half against an Inter defense in shambles with a superb hat trick from Gareth Bale, and won their home game against the Italians 3-1, but frankly Inter are a shadow of the side they were under Mourinho, particularly in defense.  In the absence of Samuel, and with the shocking drop in form of Maicon and Julio Cesar this season, they constantly look vulnerable at the back.  In their game against an equally suspect Bayern team, Inter made a series of horrendous defensive errors and were extremely lucky to pull through.

Similarly, the win against Milan is hardly as impressive as it was cracked up to be.  Milan battered Spurs throughout the two legs and were extremely unlucky to lose.  This is a fairly dire Milan team we are discussing here, it must be noted, certainly the worst this decade if not one of the worst ever, filled with aging players who should have been unable to cope with the pace of Spurs.  Real Madrid generally dominated Milan in the two games we played against them in the group stages.

It is also the case that part of the success of Tottenham against the likes of Inter was that they were an unknown quantity.  No one had any idea of the explosive pace of Bale and teams failed to set themselves up properly to deal with it.  Mourinho knows the current Tottenham side very well now, and he likely won't be making the same mistakes.  With Ramos playing a more disciplined, defensive role under Mourinho, the Spaniard will be assigned to mark Bale, cutting off the spaces to run into and preventing him from sprinting with the ball at his feet.

In the end, I think it would be a shock if Real failed to progress to the semis.  The key will be to put the tie to bed in the Bernabéu, where a good result would put immense pressure on Spurs going into the game at White Hart Lane.  Redknapp's men would be forced to push forward for a goal, playing into the hands of Mourinho.  Any goals generated on Madrid's legendary counterattacks would add to our lead as well as counting for the away goals rule.  Should Madrid fail to score at home or go to White Hart Lane with a score draw, things will be significantly less comfortable.  However, Madrid have a 100% record at home in all competitions this season, are one of only two unbeaten sides in the Champions League, and have scored 19 and conceded just 3 goals in the entire competition thus far (Spurs have scored 19 and conceded 11).

Great news!  It seems that the surgery determined that the tumor on Abidal's liver is benign!  We wish him all the best but hope that he takes his time with his recovery...