Angel DiMaria (Argentine) had a very nice showing last Saturday at home against Valencia in Madrid's 2-0 victory
Madrid badly needed this win for their morale. After Jose Mourinho sat silently last week on the Madrid bench watching his teams and supporters hopes and dreams fade away, we all knew there was no way he could let the next one get away. Right? You better believe it. And Jose’s fellow countryman CR7 also had some pent up frustrations and aggression which needed to be released and he found the perfect target. The beneficiary? It happened to be the 5th place Valencian squad who timidly rolled into the Bernabeau fearing this possibility, albeit without a few starters including goalkeeper Cesar. With Gonzalo Higuain injured and Sergio Ramos and Ricardo Carvalho suspended from the Barca match, Saturday’s squabble against Valencia started off slow. Madrid relied on Lassana Diarra, Raul Albiol, and Alvaro Arbeloa who all saw significant time and made decent contributions. Former Getafe star and current Valencia player, Soldado, had a decent match, however, Albelda was sent off with a second yellow card after an apparent handball. CR7 was definitely the man of the match and ended up scoring in both the 73rd and 87th minute. Overall possession and shots on goal throughout the match were mainly even but Valencia’s backup keeper (Vicente Guaita ) seemed a bit shaky at times. Casillas came up with some great saves, including one off of a magnificent strike by former Madrid player, Juan Mata. Other notable performances include Valencia’s Banega (Argentine) who had a nice game as well as Ozil and DiMaria who contributed on the Ronaldo goals.
“Los Blancos” will have their final group stage Champions league match tomorrow against French Club Auxerre. Madrid have already clinched 1st in group play and will play without Ramos, Alonso, Casillas, and Mourinho. Karim Benzema (may be on his way out in January), Pedro Leon, Jerzy Dudek and some of the other players from the Valencia match will all get more opportunities in this upcoming CL match. It’ll be curious to see if any of them will impress Mourinho. As the transfer window approaches, I’d also be curious to hear all of your opinions. Who should go? Who should Real Madrid sign? What rumors do you believe to be true? For now, let’s enjoy this victory against LosChe until the King’s team heads to “manoland” this weekend to play Zaragoza and hope for a big win against Auxurre in tomorrow’s action.
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Written by Timothy Ashe Jr.
Tim was born and raised in Downers Grove, IL (a suburb of Chicago). He graduated with a degree in Political Science and Spanish from the University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign and also holds University English Language Excellence certificates. He's fluent in Spanish and teaches both English and Spanish in his spare time. He's a Real Madrid and Chicago Fire aficionado and is partial towards the EPL and LFP. His hope is that the game of soccer can continue to grow in the U.S.A. and for our men's national team to eventually win the World Cup.
