Real Madrid central defender, Pepe, also known as La Liga’s most carded player has found himself in yet another fight with players of Levante, in their most recent match. Apparently the Levante side and Pepe perceived the reff as biased and giving preferential treatment to Real Madrid. Apparently, Pepe made arrogant gestures and smirks towards Levante players resulting from these calls. Levante’s Sergio Ballesteros had enough and the issue was addressed in the locker room after the match. It’s not confirmed who threw the first punch, Levante claiming it was Pepe, and the Real Madrid side accused Levante of being sore losers. Prior to this flare up, Cristiano Ronaldo took an elbow to the eye resulting in a bad cut and stitches, but still managed to score the first goal shortly after. To make matters worse, the entire game was played in torrential down pour.
Now for some good news! Like most large clubs, there is something called the youth team, many players like Lionel Messi grew up with his team Barcelona by initially being recruited into Barcelona Youth, then advancing to the 2nd team and finally, through displaying exemplary skills when given the opportunity to play even 5 minutes for the 1st team, they are then given a spot to become a substitute or permanent player and make a name for themselves. This was the case for young Alvaro Morata, at only 20 years old he grew up in the Real Madrid youth system, and during the Levante match, Morata came in as a substitute and in 2 minutes netted the winning goal for Real Madrid. It’s a proud moment for a youth player, because it provided not just proof of his own skill, but his potential to one day become the next Zidane or Gutti and all the other famous players who got their chance like Morata, with a little luck and a lot of talent. After his goal, the 20 year old received a celebration overload from his teammates, all excited to see the young player make a name for himself, and ultimately win the game. In a post-match interview, Morata expressed his delight and praised his coach, “It was very sweet,” he said. “I had been close to scoring my first official senior goal in other games and I managed it today. I had chances to leave but I am at the best club in the world, with the best coach in the world. Mourinho gives me advice and help, I try to absorb them to become a better player.”
Morata celebtating his goal with teammates
Before I get into Champions League, I must first report the easy win Real Madrid had against Athletic Bilbao with a score of 5-1. Unfortunately Bilbao really got off to a bad start, when their player Aurtenetxe scored in his own goal which initially was attributed to Benezema but after watching the game during post-match analysis showed that the goal came off the foot of the defender attempting to stop him putting his own team behind from the beginning Real Madrid followed up with a successful header from defender Sergio Ramos who scored his first goal for Real Madrid, right after scoring for Spain during a friendly against Panama. Benzema later redeemed himself scoring a goal which nobody could contend and showcasing his excellent form. The following goal came from a player who is a personal favorite of mine, and very much underrated play maker of Real Madrid Mezut Ozil. Ozil is also a stalwart for the German national team where he is heavily praised and highly regarded as one of the best midfielders, and really needed this goal due to his drop in form this season.
Match Day 5 of Champions League group of Death has come down to the wire for Manchester City who are bringing up the rear in the group in last place. After today the top 16 teams are ensured a place in the next round of the tournament, but the team with the least points are out. So this match is basically survival for Man City who need a win to stay alive, while their opponents Real Madrid need a win or a draw to move on the tournament as part of the 16. But luck was not on the side of really either team as Real Madrid exhibited a drop in form, and Man City could barely keep up until the final minutes. Right off the bat Benzema netted an easy goal for his team, but it would be the only one from Los Blancos. Real Madrid seemed too comfortable for the rest of the game, never taking full control and failing to guide the ball on target. Man City was able to score in the second half and then gained momentum for the rest of the match working tirelessly and aggressively to score a winning goal before time ran out. But it was too little too late and the score remained the same, allowing for Real Madrid to move on by the skin of their teeth, and an exit for Man City from the Champions League. The result of this match could be viewed as a positive for Man City despite the media and press undermining coach Roberto Mancini’s performance because as of right now City is ahead in the English Premier League and can now concentrate on that tournament and winning the title.
(Manchini after Man City’s loss)
Well,the excitement of the UEFA Champions League continue with very interesting results this time around. The “group of death” aka Group D, leaders Borussia Dortmond took on Real Madrid for round two of the group stages. Madrid having lost to the German team in their last match are out for revenge now that they are on their home field, and will attempt to re-take the lead spot in the group. The match proved to be exciting with both teams setting a fast and furious pace, but for the most part the German side commanded the field with a 2-1 advantage for the majority of the game until Real’s star midfielder and German international, Mezut Ozil scored late in the game. The tie left the group standings as they were with Dortmond leading with 8 points and Real behind by one point, followed by Ajax with 4, and Manchester City with 2.
Manchester United are saved by an outstanding performance from Mexican forward, Chicharito. After warming the bench for much of the season, the young player can boast a stellar come back performance deserving of coach Sir Alex Ferguson’s praise as a ‘hero’. He scored 3 goals, two were come backs against Braga, sealing their place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
For all Champions League details visit,http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2013/standings/index.html
The most shocking result of this round of the tournament must be rewarded to Scottish team Celtic who managed to be the first team to defeat Barcelona since both the Champions League and La Liga began! The overwhelming amount of pride felt by the Scottish fans and Scottland itself can only be matched by my own personal satisfaction in knowing that Barcelona has finally lost a game. The final score of the match was 2-1 with Celtic goals from Wanyama and Watt at the 21st and 83rd minute respectively, and then Messi scored a final 9oth minute goal to salvage some pride for the Barecelona side. Caught on camera during the game was a tearful Celtic fan, Rod Stewart, exhibiting just what kind of emotions the beautiful game can evoke.
Celtic fans and Rod Stewart
Sergio Ramos of course. The star defender is lending his athleticism and looks to the new promotional campaign for Assassins Creed 3. Images and behind the scenes footage have been released, revealing Ramos in front of a green screen with a soccer ball showing off some crafty moves for the camera, then taking pictures with fans on the red carpet.
Below is an image of Ramos on the set
It’s also exciting to report that his team, Real Madrid has completed two clean sheets in a row with a score of 5-nil against Mallorca, and 4-0 against Zaragoza. In the Mallorca match, both Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain scored 2 goals, and later substitute forward Jose Callejon added further insult to injury against Mallorca with a late goal. The demolished Mallorca team were simply outclassed by Los Blancos. The momentum of this decisive victory carried over to their next La Liga match with Zaragoza. The match got off to an early lead by Madrid, with goals from Higuain and Di Maria at the 23rd and 25th minutes respectively, but for the remaining 65 minutes the game seemed as though it was being slightly more dominated by Zaragoza who put forward a resounding effort to prevent Real Madrid from getting comfortable and score themselves. Unfortunately for Zaragoza the final minutes – even seconds, were proud moments for midfielders Michael Essien and Luka Modric. Essien, on loan from Chelsea, and Modric, Real Madrid’s newest and most talked about transfer both found the back of the net in the final minutes, both scoring for their first goals for the team.
The third day of games for the 2012/2013 Champions League proved disappointing for Real Madrid, as they were unable to defeat German champions Borussia Dortmund for the first time in club history. In all previous matches between the two clubs Real Madrid has either tied or beat Borussia Dortmund even away from home. This time Borussia’s home field advantage proved to be too much for Madrid. The 2-1 result of this game bumped Real Madrid down from leading Group D to second place. Dortmund came up with a surprising first goal at the 36th but the game got interesting when Ronaldo matched Lewandowski’s goal a mere 2 minutes later. But Madrid’s lack luster performance allowed Smelger from Dortmund to score the final and winning goal at the 64th minute. In addition, rumors continue of Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho continuing to class with Spain’s star players like Serigo Ramos and now even goalie Iker Casillas. I have a feeling that lack of brotherly love or just the level of discontentment inside the locker room is no doubt a factor in Real Madrid’s sub-par performance this season.
Ajax defeated Manchester City 3-1. City’s deffence is leaves much to be desired as we again witness their keeper, Joe Hart making superbly impressive saves, but their fullbacks not doing enough to keep the ball out of their box.
As per usual, Barcelona won again, beating Scottish team Celtic, but Chelsea the reigning Champions lost surprisingly to Ukrainian team FC Shakhart Donetsk.
Below is an image of Marcel Schmelzer after scoring the winning goal for Borussia Dortmund
As nothing is happening in La Liga or The Champions League until later this month, I thought it would be a perfect time to comment the on Spain, only team that matters to me in the World Cup Qualifiers. The world cup isn’t until 2014, but the first round of qualifying matches have already begun. Spain, being the reigning world Champions have a lot to prove, and a lot to lose heading into this game. One being their perfect shut out streak in the last two Euro Cups and World Cup qualifying rounds, and also Spain’s goal keeper Iker Casillas’ own shut out record. In the 25th minute my own personal dreams came true when center-back Sergio Ramos scored a close range goal, literally 2 seconds after attempting to head it in, but the ball hit the post. The ball rebounded to a fellow player who shot on target but was poorly handled by the French keeper. When the ball got away from him Ramos seized the opportunity to redeem himself kicked it powerfully into the back of the neck. He celebrated his goal with a crowd pleasing double back flip, and equally enthused praise an hugs from his teammates. The 1-nil score held for the entire game until after the 90th minute three minutes of stoppage time was added. Well past the 93rd minute mark and within the 94th the ref had still not called time and France came back to score a game changing goal right before the whistle blew. So the Spanish team’s unheard of shut out streak of 24 matches came to an end, and we discovered that Iker Casillas and his teammates are human after all. After winning the last World Cup and two consecutive Euro Cups Spain is still the favorite to win the World Cup in 2014, but it that only means that every team will work even harder to beat them. Ties are usually bittersweet, but for France this was all sweet glory, for Spain, it just sucked.
Its a rivalry game older than the Red Sox vs. Yankees, Lakers vs. Celtics. During a Clasico match, most of the soccer spectating world stops to see the most famous, skilled, and exciting players go head to head. This time Real Madrid will have to battle Barcelona in their home field Camp Nou, as they fight without any other option but to win against their bitter rivals who are leading them with and 8 points and a perfect winning streak. The Spanish giants, Barcelona are for the first time during the Liga season at a disadvantage, truly needing this home team advantage to contend with Real Madrid’s rapidly improving team, due to their two star defenders, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol being out due to injury. In addition to the excitement of the games rivalry, is the fact that Leo Messi and Christiano Ronaldo, number 1 and number 2 best players also go head to head to prove to the world who is better. And the game proved to be the perfect spectacle of why these two players derived such notoriety. Both scored a pair of goals, the only four games of 2-2 draw, breaking Barcelona’s winning streak, but keeping them at 8 points about Real Madrid. The three points Madrid desperately needed were not attained even by Cristiano who has scored a remarkable 8 goals in three games. Although in my opinion, a win for either team would have been a preferred ending, I believe the fans got what they wanted out of it thanks to the Messi and Ronaldo show.
In other news, Chelsea still leads in the Premier league with 17 points, Manchester United trailing by 3. You can sense my enthusiasm.
To my absolute delight, Real Madrid did not leave Sergio Ramos out of there starting 11. The game was against Rayo Vallecano and was dubbed a must win for Real to get points to move up in La Liga where they were shamefully ranked at 12. Despite their 2-0 victory over Rayo the team still appeared to be struggling and in poorer form than what they exhibited in the Champions League opening against Manchester City and in previous seasons. Ramos was asked about his exclusion from the Man City game and how he felt about being back in his position and starting in the game. He basically explained that he didn’t know if he was being punished by coach Jose Mourinho, but that these matters are meant to be kept within the “family” or the team. He did not mention the rumors about Chelsea considering signing him in the January transfer season. Other players believe that there is still plenty of time to rack up points and move up in standings before the season is over which is months and months away. Barcelona, Real Madrid’s arch rivals are still leading the pack at number 1 with the 15 points maximum. The truly interesting part of this game is what it was postponed a day, do to alleged vandals cutting the power. As a result there was not enough regulation lighting for the game to be played, and the problem could not be fixed until the next day. This image perhaps best displays the overall sentiment of the players and fans: 
In Premier League news, Chelsea still remains at #1 with 13 points, followed closely by Manchester United with 12 points.
The second round of Champions League matches start October 2
Recent developments surrounding my favorite player Sergio Ramos are in my opinion truly heartbreaking. Rumors about why he was left out of the line up in the Champions game against Man City have all been the pointing at a move for Ramos if he can’t reconcile with manager Mourinho. When asked about Ramos, Mourinho said it was only for footballing reasons, and why is nobody complimenting the 19-year old player, Raphael Verane, who replaced Ramos in his first game for Real Madrid. But this had not stopped the majority of sports news sources and bogs from claiming that Chelsea FC might put in a bid for the defender in January, who is said to be worth 40 million euros. A move to the English Premier League would be interesting, especially if he did move to Chelsea to join his long time ‘BFF’ Fernando Torres, the duos bromance is even dubbed ‘Sernando,’ (google it)- but this would probably ruin the already fragile framework of the current state of Real Madrid, which is far from fine and dandy. Recently mega-star, Cristiano Ronaldo who holds the record for the biggest tranfer price from Manchester United to Real Madrid for 80 million euros, is sad at Real and did not celebrate his two goals against Getafe. This is rumored to be because he considers himself to be at least one of the top two greatest players, while he barely cracks the ceiling of the top ten highest salaries. In addition, Iker Casillas, arguably the best goalie in the world who plays alongside Ramos at Real and also the Spanish National team where he is a two time Euro Cup winner and World Champion, did not celebrates Ronaldo’s rousing last minute goal winning the game against Man City where Ramos was absent. This just adds fuel to fire of rumors surrounding Real Madrid and their unsettled players.
Above is an the cover of a Spanish magazine, entitled “Tension in the Locker Room of Madrid”