The idea of the Primera Division being a predictable two-horse race right from the opening week has gone straight out the window.
After three rounds, it has been anything but straightforward.
Two teams who were expected to struggle, Valencia and Sevilla, are currently leading the standings, albeit the latter are only ahead of Real Madrid on goal difference.
Sevilla’s capitulation in the Spanish Super Cup to Barcelona, coupled with their shock exit in the Champions League play-offs suggested that they would labour to challenge for the top four spots in the table after failing to sign any high-profile players in the summer.
And indeed it looked as though it would be a long arduous campaign for the club when they were frustrated at Deportivo La Coruna last weekend before crumbling to a 1-0 defeat at home to PSG in the Europa League midweek.
It was looking bleak again on Sunday when they went behind early on against Malaga in the Andalucian derby. But they showed their fighting spirit and rallied to snatch a 2-1 win, thanks to Barcelona outcast Martin Caceres. Nothing like a derby to get the juices flowing.
Valencia were almost all but written off in pre-season following the sale of their two biggest stars, David Villa and David Silva. But many forget that even without the duo, they have a wealth of talent in their ranks, and that’s not counting some low-key but intelligent signings the club made in the summer. But it was three of their old guards, Mata, Pablo Hernandez and goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez who ensured Unai Emery’s side become the only team with a 100 per cent record after three rounds.
They were a bit fortunate, though, against mighty Hercules in another derby, the Alicante derby. They had to play the second half with just 10 men after defender David Navarro was sent off and had to rely largely on Cesar to keep them afloat, as well as the woodwork to deny David Trezeguet from equalising for the promoted outfit.
If Valencia’s perfect start to the season has been completely overlooked by the Spanish press, there’s a reason for that. Well, two actually.
The big news – and game – over the weekend was Barcelona’s 2-1 win at Atletico Madrid, Pep Guardiola’s first win at the Vicente Calderon as first team coach of the club. The fine result for the Catalans was overshadowed, however, by Lionel Messi’s injury. ‘El Mesias’ will feel extremely lucky that the crunching, cynical tackle by Tomas Ujfalusi late in the game did not result in a more horrendous injury. First viewing on the TV replays showed that Messi may have just sprained his ankle after getting his studs caught in the turf, but blown up, close-up images in the Spanish papers show just how gruesome the challenge really was.
Messi’s ankle was completely bent the other way, and it’s a mystery how he escaped with just a ligament sprain, which will sidelined him for only 15 days. It’s a tackle that could’ve easily resulted in a broken ankle – not unlike Antonio Valencia’s cringing break for Manchester United against Rangers in midweek – and the Argentine could’ve been out for most if not the rest of the season.
Even though it’s just a two-week lay-off, questions will quickly be raised about whether Barcelona will miss their talisman. After this Wednesday’s midweek game at home to Sporting Gijon, they face two daunting road trips: the first to Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, and then it’s off to their new-found European nemesis Rubin Kazan in the Champions League. It’s not so much just the absence of Messi that will be of concern to Guardiola, but the fact that he does not have the strongest of squad depths.
A lengthy Messi absence would’ve been an unimaginable blow to the player himself, to Barcelona and to the beautiful game, and Ujfalusi could’ve become the most hated man in football.
One superstar who knows all too well about being hated, and one who is not winning too many admirers at the moment, is Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese’s mediocre form continued against a feisty Real Sociedad on Saturday and he was extremely lucky himself to have at least finally found the back of the net to earn Real Madrid a 2-1 win up at the Basque country in what was one of the most enthralling matches so far this season.
Ronaldo had another wayward game where once again, nothing he tried came off. He did get on the scoresheet – according to some at least – after drilling in a typical freekick which ricocheted off the back of team-mate Pepe and sailed into the top corner of Claudio Bravo’s net. It could just be the slice of good fortune he needed to direct his form back on track.
Spanish sports daily AS, nevertheless gave Ronaldo a scathing review after his “individualistic” performance at Anoeta. Based on the stats, of the 35 passes he received from team-mates, he only returned five. He pelted the Real goal with nine shots in total, but only three were on target. He has amassed an incredible 37 shots in four games (three in the Primera Division and one in the Champions League) and he has yet to score a clean goal. Looks like he is still being haunted by the Jabulani.
For the record, while some sources – including AS, Marca and Real Madrid’s official website – have credited the winning goal to Ronaldo, the LFP [Liga de Futbol Profesional] has given it to Pepe. Maybe Cristiano wasn't that lucky after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment