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| Monday, 20 August 2012 08:20 |
Real Madrid’s title defence off to shaky startReal Madrid 1-1 Valencia Just three months removed from their record breaking 2011/12 season, Jose Mourinho and co. made a rather unconvincing start to their La Liga title defence as they drew 1-1 with last season’s third placed side, Valencia. Portugal full-backs Fábio Coentrão and João Pereira were the pick of the five Portuguese players on the pitch.
The match was littered with Portuguese talent on both sides with Ronaldo, Fábio Coentrão and Pepe all starting for Madrid while Ricardo Costa and new signing João Pereira lined up for the visitors.
Playing in front of a packed house, Madrid looked to get on top of the match early but weren’t quite firing on all cylinders in the opening minutes. Valencia too showed some nerves, and with neither team able to string many passes together, goalmouth action was in short supply.
That changed in the 9th minute however, when Higuain found himself alone in the penalty area after a cross over the top of the defence from Di Maria. In somewhat comical fashion, it took three attempts before the Argentinean striker was finally successful in driving Real Madrid’s first goal of the new season into the roof of the net.
Coentrão-Ronaldo combinationsThe home side slowly improved in possession, with Coentrão and Ronaldo diligently fine-tuning their overlapping runs. The former Benfica man in particular was having a decent first half, and it took a timely intervention from Pereira to prevent him from teeing up a better shooting opportunity in the 35th minute.
Though Madrid looked to be in control, the visitors levelled the score a few minutes before the half-time break. An Alberto Costa free kick from the right eventually met the head of Jonas, who managed to arrive just before a nasty collision between Iker Casillas and Pepe.
After a hasty bandaging from the Real Madrid medical staff, Pepe returned to the match and Valencia were able to comfortably see out the remaining few minutes of the half.
José Mourinho was forced to replace Pepe with Raul Albiol after the break, as the Portugal centre-half continued to struggle with a head injury. A combination of João Pereira and Ricardo Costa continued to subdue the threat of Ronaldo, with the Portugal captain cutting a somewhat frustrated figure out on the left.
Woodwork denies HiguainBenzema entered the fray in the 61st minute at the expense of Lassana Diarra as Mourinho opted to work with a two-striker formation. Minutes later, Di Maria’s excellent cross from the left was met powerfully by Higuain, leaving Diego Alves helpless to watch as the ball smashed against the woodwork.
Ozil was next to test the Valencia keeper, who did well to parry the ball out for a corner in the 68th minute. The Special One looked visibly impatient for the winning goal to arrive and promptly introduced Jose Callejon.
Real Madrid continued to pepper the visitor’s goal, and Benzema narrowly missed to the left after being teed up by Coentrão, who was having a cracking game at left-back. Ronaldo did manage to get loose down the left in the 82nd minute and the resulting cross found Benzema, whose rasping drive was pushed over the bar by Alves.
Pereira’s positive debutIn the end it was a case of the good, the bad, and the ugly for Mourinho’s side. After enduring a somewhat disjointed first half, Los Merengues managed to put together some flowing moves and create decent chances, but with no end product. Perhaps more worrying was how uninvolved Cristiano was in the proceedings, although João Pereira did a fine job of corralling the mercurial winger, who also looked short of full match fitness.
Real Madrid will be in action once more on Thursday in the season’s first Classico as they meet Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup at the Camp Nou.
by Nathan Motz
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Anyway more positively it was great to see Fabio Coentrao in his favored number 5 jersey and absolutely flying up and down the wings for Real just as he does with Portugal. He was rampant and really looks like he's confident and seizing this left back role and showing his full game attacking side as well. We all know he is the better defender but last season he didn't attack as much. Now he looks fully motivated to stake his claim as the complete package in defense and attack!