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Archive for March 1, 2009

Post-match comments

Juande Ramos and Sporting Director Pedja Mijatovic shared their views on the match with the press. Marcelo and Higuain were happy with the victory and said the team will never stop fighting for the league title. Both captains pulled rank against Espanyol and scored the two goals that gave the team three crucial points.

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Juande Ramos

We knew the game wasn’t going to be easy because Espanyol’s spirits were high after their victory over Barcelona last week. They wanted another victory tonight before their fans. The first half was very tight, but they left more open spaces after Guti’s goal and that enable us to have more chances.

There are many games left in the competition and anything can happen when things are so tight. Tonight’s three points are very important; it was important for us to win a game after our defeat against Liverpool in order to go back to how we were before Wednesday.

Both sides wanted to win in the first half and the match was a bit crazy. Both teams played tighter in the second half and we benefitted from using Guti. We had two strikers positioned in front of Raul, who had to act as a link between them and midfield. I think his performance was magnificent and he sealed it off with a goal.

We’ve earned several good results in the past few weeks. The team was extremely excited about this before the match with Liverpool, which hurt us. We’ve tried to go back to normal in the last couple of days and that’s why tonight’s victory was so important. But we shouldn’t forget what I said about the Champions League tie being 180 minutes long. The result of the first part was 1-0. Real Madrid is capable of winning at any stadium.

I’m not worried about tomorrow’s Atletico-Barcelona match. It is our duty to win and we did that tonight.

Pedja Mijatovic

The team played a great game. We knew Espanyol would be strong after their victory over Barcelona, but we managed to calm them down tonight. We must now prepare for our next match.

Robben is a very important player for us and for all Madridismo. It’s always nice to see him play and I’m sure he will help us achieve our goals. Juande is very happy with him.

Faubert had some muscle problems a few days ago and we want him to recover well.

Guti has a contract with the Club and he proved just how important he is for us with that amazing goal. We all know he is a quality player.

Higuain

We are very happy because it was very important to win tonight. It’s good for us to make Barcelona aware of  how close we are and let them know we won’t give up the league title. We are having a great streak and what happened on Wednesday shouldn’t distract us. We must now prepare for the derby and move on.

We used to be twelve points behind and we had to fight hard to make a comeback. All these games have been equally important. We should never lose faith and hope.

We are proving we can win the title. It isn’t easy to win ten consecutive games. We must remain calm. I think Barcelona know they can’t afford to make mistakes because we are currently just four points behind them. We will put pressure on them while we still have mathematical chances of winning the title. Wednesday’s defeat was a harsh blow, but this team is good enough to win in Liverpool.

Marcelo

I feel fine and I am training very hard to play for this team as much as possible. I think pressure is stronger each day, but we keep a cool head and we know we simply have to take all the points we can. That’s why it was so important to win here tonight.

The team is playing well. We’ve always believed we can catch up with Barcelona. We are closer to them now and I believe they must be a little nervous. I think we are doing a good job away from home.

We are fighting hard. We have to take three points in every game. It will be great if Atletico lend us a hand tomorrow.

Raul

Since our defeat in Barcelona we’ve achieved our goal in every game; taking every point to cut distances short between us and Barça. We are in a good position to make things difficult for them now.

We kept up a great pace tonight. The team played very well in every position, which is impressive having played a tough match on Wednesday. We will now rest and enjoy this. We’ll watch the Atletico-Barcelona fixture on TV. We shouldn’t forget Barça are a great team. They have a great coach and every game against them is difficult.

Guti

We are very happy with the game we played tonight. I scored when we needed a goal. Raul’s strike allowed us to relax a little. We are calm and we also hope Atletico win tomorrow.

March 1, 2009 | Categories: Post-match Comments, Spanish Primera División | Tags: , , , , , , , | 11 Comments »

Espanyol 0-2 Real Madrid

Real Madrid achieved their goal of taking three points in Montjuic against Espanyol, who made things difficult for them by defending well until Guti scored from a brilliant free-kick. Raul scored the second strike a few minutes later and sealed the victory for the Whites.

espanyol-0-2-real-madrid-cf-5

Both sides presented somewhat different line-ups to those of last week. Juande decided to use Sneijder in midfield due to Gago’s injury, while Pochettino played Roman Martinez and Moises Hurtado also in midfield.

Espanyol were fiercer at the start of the clash and De la Peña looked for an opening from which to hurt Real Madrid, whose defence stood firm to thwart all of the locals’ ventures in attack. De la Peña served balls to wingers Nene and Luis Garcia. Espanyol had their first chance on goal on the 5-minute mark when Roman Martinez tried to head in a corner kick, but Iker Casillas saved the day. The Whites soon began to dominate the match thanks to Lass, who marked De la Peña closely and stole many balls from him. The French midfielder was supported by Raul, who fell back in order to get the ball from him and therefore became Madrid’s most creative man throughout the first half.

The captain created many of the best chances his team had. Robben came close to scoring from one of his passes in the 17th minute; he took a powerful shot facing the goal from outside the box that missed the left post by inches. Sneijder tried a similar shot a few minutes later but also missed. Real Madrid controlled the game but couldn’t find the way to break it, while Espanyol concentrated on trying to counterattack occasionally. None of their chances were dangerous save for a strong off-target shot by Nene that went over the crossbar.

The intensity of the match diminished before half-time and both coaches decided to make some changes to their line-ups. Guti and Marcelo came on for Sneijder and Higuain in the second half, and Tamudo replaced Ivan Alonso. Guti played a crucial role by scoring the game’s first goal from a free-kick on the 66-minute mark; the ball went through the top left corner of the goal.

A few minutes later, Raul scored from a powerful shot right outside the box that grazed the left post. The captain has reached Quini as the league’s fifth all-time top-scorer with 219 strikes. Raul sentenced a match in which his team took three crucial points that leave them just four points behind Barcelona, at least until the eternal foe faces Atletico on Sunday.

Lineups:

Espanyol: Kameni, Sergio Sánchez, Jarque, Pareja, David García, De la Peña, Nené, Moisés Hurtado (Lola Smiljanic 85′), Román Martínez (Coro 76′), Luis García, Iván Alonso (Tamudo 64′);

Real Madrid: Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Cannavaro, Heinze, Lass, Robben (Saviola 77′), Sneijder (Guti 60′), Raúl, Huntelaar, Higuaín (Marcelo 60′);

Goals:

0-1, 67′ - Guti;

0-2, 72′ - Raúl;

Referee: Mejito Gonzalez

Booked: Pepe, Wesley Sneijder, Raúl, Moisés Hurtado, David García;

Notes: Matchday 25 of La Liga

Played at: Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, Barcelona;

Attendance: 30,000.


March 1, 2009 | Categories: Match Reports, Spanish Primera División | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

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