Jornada 20: El Derbi Madrileño at El Vicente Calderón
Posted by atleti on January 18, 2008
Is this the season that we finally win Mandril at home, after so many years? PLEASE GOD PLEASE. Not only would it be incredible for our Champions League aspirations, but it would give long-suffering supporters all over the world something to remember for years to come.
Since returning to the top flight in 02/03, it hasn’t been pretty fixture of us: 4 painful losses and 1 draw. That one draw was last season, by the way (1-1).
This Sunday will be another tough test for los colchoneros, but you know what? It won’t be a lop-sided affair this time around because we have a strong squad (compared to previous seasons). I really feel like we can take something out of this game, whether it be the full 3 points or even a point. We’re playing at home, our key players are fit and feeling confident & motivated.
Here’s the current league table:
1 Re*l M*drid 47
2 Barcelona 40
3 Atlético 37
This appears to be the starting 11: Abbiati, Luis Perea, Pablo, Eller, Antonio López, Maxi, Raúl García, Motta, Simao, Agüero, Forlán.
SUBS: Falcón, Valera, Pernía, Cléber, Luis, Reyes, Mista.
PERTINENT DETAILS
Injured: Leo Franco, Seitaridis, Jurado, Zé Castro(?)
Yellow Cards: Maxi & Reyes are one yellow card away from serving suspensions.
———-
Here’s Re*l’s Injury List (and it’s a long one!): Metzelder, Heinze, Soldado, Robben, Balboa, Pepe, Saviola, & Salgado. I think I read somewhere that Pepe & Salgado might be recovered in time for it. Any info on this, post it.
Re*l’s Suspensions: None.
Re*l’s African Cup of Nations Duty: Diarra.
Of all the players on their squad, I think van Nistelrooy, Higuaín, and Casillas will give us the biggest headache.
A few words from Forlán:
“I do not think that going out of the cup will affect Madrid. These things happen and they have had plenty of time to motivate themselves ahead of this game.”
A few words from Kun:
“I hope that I can score against Real Madrid […] Casillas is very good and it will be difficult to score past him, but not impossible […] It will be important to beat Madrid because we have not been able to for a long time. Sunday is vital, but our first priority is to play well and then win.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Maxi has boldly said that “We will win 2-0” with goals scored by Raúl García and himself. “…And, if you don’t win?” asked the interviewer. “Nothing will happen, we’ll draw.”
More from Maxi: “A derby is a special game, besides, it’s played with more heart than anything else […] Madrid’s strongest point is that when they attack they usually score and they play very well. I do not see any weaknesses at the moment.”
A few words from Raúl García:
“There isn’t a definite favourite and I believe that Atleti is fully capable of taking the 3 points.”
In terms of fatigue (cansancio), he said that he hopes to play all minutes up until the end of the season. “I’ll have time to relax at the end of the season, in the summer.”
Good man.
Bottom-line: Stay focused, remain tight in the back-line, maintain a strong midfield presence, and score score score!
Or, Win ugly! Just win!
VAMOS A POR ELLOS!!
ATLETI!
Pre-game: Any thoughts? Predictions? Who will play a large part in the game for Atleti, in your opinion? Anything missing? Share.
Atlético de Madrid 
Armon said
ATLETICO: 79, r*#l: 0
you heard it hear first, folks!
atleti said
haha!
This is the best Atleti has played & been positioned in the league in a very long time…This has got to be the season we finally end the losing streak at home to Mandril.
My prediction: 3-1…two goals by Forlán & 1 by Simao. Higuaín goal for them.
baluarte rojiblanco said
2-1 Forlán, REYES! and Van Nistelrooy
We supporters deserve it: Atlético win for us!
Derek said
You seem afraid of Higuaín, Atleti. But I’m sure he won’t play, Real will play with 4 defenders, then Gago, Sneijder and Guti/Baptista in midfield and Robinho, Raúl and Ruud up front. Surely Higuaín can be dangerous from the bench. His goal last year still hurts eh :(
Btw, I hope Raúl García has something to do this summer, he deserves at least a spot in the Spanish selección for Euro 08
atleti said
I’m afraid so…I hate ‘super subs’.
Yes, on Raúl, too good not to play for his national team (then again so is Arteta?)- as long as he isn’t injured.
Ram said
The important players would be the midfield duo of Raul & Motta.
day1star said
Can’t see Reyes scoring, last time he talked a lot and did nothing. It’ll be the same 2morrow. Aguero will score for sure.
Hal said
2 – 1 for Atléti!
Kun & Simão score, as well as Nistelrooy in the last ten minutes, for an exciting but unhealthy for those with cardiac problems match ;)
Cheers mates, Atléti FTW!
day1star said
This is how i think Atleti should play this game. Come out of the blockholes very fast straight for the jugular, don’t let them settle or find any sort of rhythm, disrupt their moves, after all we are the underdogs, and the great thing is that most people don’t expect us to win, so when we go out there the pressure is all on them not us. We have to dictate the play and not lose our concentration for even a second, and the rest will be our luck, coz i can see us winning this match quite well.
day1star said
And Atleti i think that Pepe will be playing, that’s the latest i’ve heard on that matter, but 1 good stamp on that foot should see to him ha ha ha….!
atleti said
I agree- we need to go out in full force. Ideally, establishing a 2-goal lead before half-time!
fernando said
Mi pronóstico:
At.Madrid 2
R.Madrid 0
Goles de Agüero y Maxi.
VAmos a ganarrrrrrrrrrrr
un abrazo.
Leivinha said
Careful with Robinho…he can play terribly for 3/4 of the game and then create magic at the end to put the game away like he did against Zaragoza (of course that was in the Bernabeu). This is why we need to put away our chances early!!!!!
2-0 goals by Motta (my long shot) and Kun.
A por los Vikingos joder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
atleti said
Hate Robinho; I hope he is sent off.
Ringo said
I guarantee a Re*l win.Which with my record meansAtletico will win with no problems.Mohammed said
It’s almost impossible to predict such a game. We have such a bad history with Re@L. Even when we were so close from winning (last season), the ref denied us what’s rightfully ours, a goal!. Refs and luck seem to always stand in our way when we play Re@l, but this time, hopefully, we will win.
It’s time to show them whose boss. It’s Payback time… I hope :)
day1star said
I have a good feeling about today, and i think you’ll find that the luck will be on our side. I was reading Mijatovic’s take on the game, he says Real will win either 0-1 or 0-2, in his dreams of course.
atleti said
I fixed your comment, RINGO!! ;)
Ringo said
Ta ,glad you got my point!
And I am watching this one ,LiveFooty willing.
AUPA!
Ram said
I have this match live on TV here. We have started well in the last meetings also, but the key is to have a goal ot two within he first 30 minutes.
atleti said
I’ll be watching it on TV here, but it looks like there should be at least one video feed on livefooty broadcasting the game. To be sure, I’ve just checked: livefooty channel 1 is working very smoothly at the moment.
About 10 minutes to go– we’ve talked the talk, now it’s time to walk the walk.
Ringo said
Good luck y’all!
atleti said
WORST START EVER.
Ringo said
How the hell is it 0-2?
Atletico are by far the better team ,it’s only the woodwork and Casillas keeping Re*l in it.
atleti said
Motherfucking Casillas.
VAMOS ATLETI
3-2, PLEASE.
Mohammed said
GOD DAMN PABLO!!!!
My grandmother can play better than this stupid ***
Luck will never smile to us instead it’s laughing at us.
atleti said
They’ve had some fantastic opportunities to bring the game level– Casillas has kept them alive.
UgHHH, bring on the second half!! 45 minutes to change things around.
Mohammed said
It’s a hard loss to take.
Ringo said
That was disappointing to say the least.
And I thought Reyes showed his true colours ,white.
Today’s game aside ,I don’t see why a top four finish isn’t possible ,and you have to like your chances in one or both of the cups.
Don’t let it get you down.
Leivinha said
The way this game began reminded me of the Derby from a a few years back where R Madrid scored within the first 30 seconds of the game with 6 different players touching the ball off of the kick-off and Ronaldo scoring. Raul scoring on us is also tradition (why don’t we mark the old man in the box? he scores on us in the air, with his feet, we make him look like a superstar with his ridiculous goal celebration). What was Pablo thinking? Two mistakes on the same play. Poor pass and then poor defending after losing the ball. For us, It’s kind of the “curse of the Bambino” from baseball. We just don’t have it in us to beat this team. Unbelievable.
Having said that, I witnessed live Casillas beat Zaragoza a few weeks back in Madrid. His performance today in the 1st half was very similar. He is 75% of R Madrid.
Why did Simao leave the game? Did he get hurt? Too bad. We needed him to attack the left flank against the weak Salgado. We didn’t take enough advantage of that. I have never seen Reyes so out of form in my life.
Only 1 chance in the 2nd half (Aguero). I wouldn’t have taken Motta out no matter how tired he was. His 1 touch FORWARD (not backwards like Cleber) passing in the mid-field was the only thing we had to break down their defense and get our runners the ball in the open field. Then our substitutions never bring any energy off the bench because there is nobody to get guys like L Garcia, etc the ball.
I hate to say this but I am kind of getting used to this type of result in the Derby.
Armon said
why don’t i see my damn comment posted!
Armon said
Goddammit. Here are the 4 reasons why we lost:
1) Pablo es un hijo de puta sin ninguna abilidad para defender. Both goals were thanks to him just giving it away to robinho and leaving ruud wide open. I can say with confidence that I’m a better defender than him.
2) Casillas is incredibly good. So good that even when he didn’t make a play, the announcers would say he did a magnificent job getting in aguero’s head.
3) The refs hate us, it’s official. Any time we got within 1 ft of a real player the ref called the whistle. It was extremely tough to stomach all the times I saw a re*l player with his arm around the ref as if they were best friends. And I don’t remember who it was, but one of our players made a flawlessly timed slide to poke away the ball, and not only did they call a nonsensical foul on that play, but they GAVE A YELLOW CARD!!!
4) what, the FUCK, was aguirre thinking subbing out one of our better performing players in simao, for reyes, and only 30 minutes in the game. I can’t think of a single good contribution reyes has made to our team, absolutely disgusting.
On the bright side, it was a joy to watch the calm and class that Motta played with. Unfortunately, the woodwork made sure that was the only joy we can get out of this atrocious game.
The worst part is now we need to cheer for r*@l to beat villareal. Today was a difficult pill to swallow, let’s just never talk about it again. ever.
Armon said
Goddammit. Here are the 4 reasons why we lost:
1) Pablo es un hijo de puta sin ninguna abilidad para defender. Both goals were thanks to him just giving it away to robinho and leaving ruud wide open. I can say with confidence that I’m a better defender than him.
2) Casillas is incredibly good. So good that even when he didn’t make a play, the announcers would say he did a magnificent job getting in aguero’s head.
3) The refs hate us, it’s official. Any time we got within 1 ft of a real player the ref called the whistle. It was extremely tough to stomach all the
Armon said
times I saw a re*l player with his arm around the ref as if they were best friends. And I don’t remember who it was, but one of our players made a flawlessly timed slide to poke away the ball, and not only did they call a nonsensical foul on that play, but they GAVE A YELLOW CARD!!!
4) what, the hell was aguirre thinking subbing out one of our better performing players in simao, for reyes, and only 30 minutes in the game. I can’t think of a single good contribution reyes has made to our team, absolutely disgusting.
On the bright side, it was a joy to watch the calm and class that Motta played with. Unfortunately, the woodwork made sure that was the only joy we can get out of this atrocious game.
The worst part is now we need to cheer for r*@l to beat villareal. Today was a difficult pill to swallow, let’s just never talk about it again. ever.
day1star said
Right, whatever, these things happen, and luck is with us coz Espanyol lost which means even though we lost we’re still in the top four.
My take on the game, Pablo two bad mistakes = two gifted goals. And Abbiati was terrible, why o why couldn’t Falcon have played in this game. Aguero was great but then so was Casillas. Reyes was rubbish as normal, why was he taking the freekicks? When Simao had to go off Luis Garcia should have replaced him not Reyes.
Aguirre said that he would decide after this game whether we needed any new signings, the answer to that is definitely, we need a better central defender and we need a new goalkeeper or Leo Franco back.
As for the rest of the season if we play the way we did today with the exception of the mistakes by Pablo there’s not many games that we would lose.
day1star said
Simao got injured that’s why he had to be subbed. And the player who got yellow carded when it wasn’t was i think Antonio Lopez, who i have to say had a good game as did Perea in the defence.
day1star said
Sorry’ it was Motta who got y/carded by a blind ref.
atleti said
Hey, Armon. No idea why WordPress thought your comments were spam– you didn’t have any links in any of them at all. Strange. I de-spammed the original ones.
atleti said
Absolutely disappointed. Not much else to say.
Agreed with a lot of comments made.
Reyes played his worst game ever. I hate to buy into conspiracies, but it almost seemed intentional. Seriously, why is he continually given playing time? HE’S AWFUL.
atleti said
I’m still stunned by it all. Seriously, why did PABLO feel the need to fiddle around with the damn ball against Robinho in a dangerous area? ALL HE NEEDED TO DO WAS KICK THE DAMN THING OUT OF THE AREA. Crap defending at its best.
day1star said
Do you know that’s the second big match that we have lost in a pretty similar manner, the first was the Barcelona match due to shit Abbiati and this one thanks to stupid defending by Pablo and bad goalkeeping on second goal and poor clearances by Abbiati. None of the defenders are confident with him at the back. Even at 0-1 we played really well, but the second goal seemed to get rid of any real fightback. We tried in the second half but we seemed to resign ourselves to defeat as the half progressed.
I don’t think it’s sunk in yet but i’m sure it will by tomorrow.
U know i’ve always said that we lack a strong central defender to hold the defence together and also to get rid of the jitters that some defenders feel early on in matches, someone like Puyol
or Ayala, someone who doesn’t panic because our defence is prone to panic attacks especially against big teams.
Pablo aside all the rest of the defence played pretty well.
atleti said
Yes, I really felt that we were going to equalise when it was still 0-1. That second goal destroyed morale a lot.
Perea wasn’t all that great, I thought. Had the ref been harsher, I think he could’ve easily sent him off for some of his challenges.
Forlán’s passing was just terrible.
atleti said
Agreed: we need a strong centre-back, fullback, & creative central midfielder.
FUERA YA/shown the exit (this summer most likely): Reyes, Cleber, Ze Castro, Pablo, Pernía, Valera, Mista.
AT LEAST four of them must be shown the door. None of them are Champions, much less UEFA, quality.
Mohammed said
I think Reyes is intending to play this way to force the club into selling him since he is not getting a regular place in the team. The worst performance ever.
Pablo must leave, period.
Anyway, what happened has happened. I just hope this defeat does not affect our morale for the game.
Armon said
ya a couple other things bothered me about the game. I was watching and for the last 20 minutes it seemed that Forlan among others just didn’t have any fight left in them. The 2 players we have that I feel have the most heart and passion for the team are Aguero and Raul Garcia, who also happen to be our 2 most consistent players. As childish as it seems, I think that if the whole team felt the red and white in their hearts like these players, it would have a dramatic positive effect. We should never let r#$l push us around and should always fight to the end (like against Panathainikos). Also, Abbiatti’s goalkeeping was definitely bad, but I feel like it was largely because he felt shellshocked after being scored on after 30 seconds thanks to stupidass pablo. I mean theres been plenty of times throughout the season that he’s showed pure class, even with the defense playing at its worst.
Transfers: I definitely want to get rid of deadweight (reyes, cleber, pernia, pablo), if only they at least had a good recent run so we might sell them for a higher value. Ideally, I wish our lineup would consist of this:
defense: antonio lopez, eller and/or perea, and 1/2 quality bought defenders (obviously at least one in the middle)
as far as the rest of the lineup, I dream of having quaresma and simao on the wings with forlan and aguero, and a midfield of raul garcia and maxi/motta. Maxi could be motta’s cover. I mean I know he’s our captain but this lineup would be so spicy, and I don’t like maxi as a wing, every time he’s got a 1 vs. 1/2, he seems to lack creativity. Quaresma would probably be way too ambitious of me though, so I guess I’ll be happy if we just get 1/2 solid defenders, but that is a MUST. Anyways, I guess one good thing out of today’s game is it puts the pressure on Aguirre to come out of denial and face the fact that our defense needs revamping, so i geuss we’ll have to wait and see. Sorry for not being brief haha
atleti said
We’re a squad riddled with rubbish players. It’s one thing to have one poor performing player, it’s quite another to have a laundry list of them. If management wants us to start winning silverware, they MUST address this issue and quit with the ‘we’re not signing any new players’ bullshit.
We need 3 or 4 new defenders, 1 new central midfielder, and 1 new striker. We’ll probably do most of the squad rebuilding in the summer, I’m not sure how much we can realistically do this January. Frustrating.
Has anyone else been disappointed with Maxi? When he isn’t non-existent, he is ‘hard-working’, but his ‘hard-work’ hasn’t produced much recently. He doesn’t ACT like a captain of a team either. A true captain steps up his game and motivates the team, pushing for the win. I get the sense that he has a difficult time in a leadership position. To be honest, I’d make Raul captain.
We lack a quality striker to give Kun and Forlán a rest from time to time.
Motta was excellent. The one bright spot of the game.
Ram said
Forlan did not give enough in the last 20 minutes because he did so much of coverage during the first 70 minutes. He tracked back a lot (including Kun) and that had its toll on them I suppose. I dont like the idea of strikers coming back often to help the midfield. That helps the opponent to squeeze us a lot and allow them to reorganise.
day1star said
The reason that you didn’t see very much of Maxi in the midfield is because he spent most of his time in our half defending, which he wouldn’t really have to do as much of if our defence was upto scratch. I thought all things considered Maxi had an ok game. As for the captiaincy, part the thing is it’s easy to lead from the front if you’re playing your true position because Maxi is an attacking midfielder/winger, but it’s very difficult to motivate when you’re having to do the defenders job as well as your own, and Maxi was up and down that pitch along with Raul and Forlan and Kun, trying to help out the defence, it’s one of the reasons we didn’t concede any more goals.
This is why i keep saying the balance of the team is not right, because instead of doing something about the defence like bringing in new players, we’re sacrificing our attack.
We should all be really proud of the players because apart from one or two the rest really gave it a good try, we were unlucky and the ref was a sod as well.
day1star said
Did anyone see that punch/elbow to the face that Kun took off Ramos, he should have been red carded, that’s not the first time that Ramos tried that, he did the same in the first match but he didn’t connect then, we should put in a complaint.
atleti said
There so many blatant fouls that the ref missed. That one, the penalty, and a couple others that escape my mind at the moment. It certainly doesn’t help to have a blind ref.