SB Nation - Michel Salgado

EL Clasico: Blast from the Past: Real Madrid 0-3 FC Barcelona: 'Ronaldinho's Ovation'

Arron Duckling — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:21:46 -0000

The Build-Up:

The year was 2005, and Barcelona were heading into the season as the defending champions with Frank Rijkaard in his third year at the helm of the Catalan club. The summer had brought considerable change in the playing staff, with some of the expensive "mistakes" left over from Gaspart’s era shown the door and only a few players being brought in. Santiago Ezquerro was signed on a free transfer from Athletic Bilbao while Dutch enforcer Mark van Bommel was brought in from PSV. Oh, and some kid called Lionel Messi was promoted from the B team.

Barcelona headed into the match one point ahead of their great rivals, and considering the location of the match, were slight underdogs. Sure, Barcelona were the Champions, but just one look at the opposition showed that this was going to be a tough match. For the record, Vanderlei Luxemburgo was in charge of the Spaniards, and his team on that fateful night was Iker Casillas; Michel Salgado, Sergio Ramos, Ivan Helguera, Roberto Carlos; Pablo Garcia, David Beckham, Raul, Zinedine Zidane; Robinho, Ronaldo. I understand that this was the Galactico era, but if I can spot that Beckham simply cannot play as a holding midfielder and that a lack of width was irresponsible (suicidal?), then why couldn’t Luxemburgo? Either way, that 4-2-4 was up against the 4-3-3 of Victor Valdes; Oleguer, Edmilson, Carles Puyol, Gio Van Bronckhorst; Rafa Marquez, Xavi, Deco; Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o. Unbelievably, just two of Real’s squad from that season are still at the club to this day (Casillas and Ramos), while that number increases to five for FC Barcelona (Valdes, Puyol, Messi, Iniesta and Xavi). How things have changed since 2005.

The Performance:

Despite the start of the match being marred by a pitch invader, Barcelona got right down to business, and within 15 minutes they went ahead. The ball was played central to Lionel Messi who was just inside the Madrid half and characteristically, the Argentine went on a little adventure with the ball. For whatever reason, Roberto Carlos did not move central, meaning Messi could venture some 20-30 yards with the ball completely unopposed. Clearly, Real hadn’t got the memo; this teenager was not to be underestimated. He skipped past the desperate challenge of Ivan Helguera and in the process, the ball found its way to Samuel Eto’o. The Cameroonian maybe shouldn’t have "stole" the chance, but this was one occasion were I was glad he pulled rank on Messi. Turning beautifully he left two in his wake and toe-poked the ball past the challenge of Roberto Carlos and into the back of the net. Wheeling away to celebrate, Eto’o patted the badge on his chest; he may have been a player at Real once, but now his heart belonged to Barcelona. What a mistake by Perez. His team was not only behind, but had a mountain to climb.

Then, exactly 45 minutes after Eto’o had opened the scoring, Barcelona had their second and it was a goal that modern day Real would be proud off. After two attempts to swing the ball into the box from Michel Salgado and David Beckham, Madrid were made to pay for their dismal crossing as Barcelona executed a flawless counter-attack. The clearance was prodded forward by Deco and Ronaldinho was in possession, just inside his own half. However, he wasn’t waiting around. Ronaldinho skipped past Sergio Ramos, exposing his lack of experience and quite simply bamboozled Ivan Helguera with a swivel of the hips before firing past Casillas at his near post. Sublime stuff by the Brazilian.

Just 15 minutes later, he was at it again. Sergio Ramos was left in his wake once more. Nothing could stop Ronaldinho, much like we see in Messi today, once he gets going with the ball at his feet, defenders run scared, the world sits on edge. It’s a thrilling experience, and this performance was amongst the most dominant of any Barca player at the Bernabeu since Johan Cruyff masterminded a Manita victory back in 1974. The Real fans were applauding, partly in admiration for Ronaldinho’s exploits, but more to show their displeasure at Luxemburgo’s reign. A couple of weeks later, Luxemburgo was sacked and Barcelona went on to claim a historic League and Europen double. What strikes me is that even if we saw a similar master-class from let’s say Messi, would today’s Madrid fans applaud? El Clasico has certainly changed since 2005.

The Match:

Real Madrid vs Barcelona 2005 " full match" (via TheLiiusa1982)

Blackburn Rovers vs. Newcastle United Game Thread

Robert L. Bishop — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:42:54 -0000

Football League Cup (Carling Cup)

Round Four

Blackburn Rovers FC

vs.

Newcastle United FC

Ewood Park, Blackburn

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

2000 BST (1400 CDT)

CHN Preview

BRFC: Bunn | Lowe, Samba, Givet, Olsson | Rochina, Petrovic, Pedersen | Hoilett, Yakubu, Goodwillie

Subs: Robinson, Formica, Vukcevic, Roberts, Hanley, Cotton, Anderson

NUFC: Krul | Simpson, Perch, Coloccini, Santon | Marveaux, Guthrie, Cabaye, Jonas | Ben Arfa | Ba

Subs: Elliott, Abeid, Gosling, Sammy Ameobi, Obertan, Ranger, Lovenkrands

Newcastle United FC

Out: Mike Williamson (ankle/arm), Shola Ameobi (hamstring)

Doubtful: Cheik Tiote (knee)

Projected XI: Elliott | Santon, Coloccini, R. Taylor | Ben Arfa, Abeid, Smith, Marveaux, Gosling | Lovenkrands, Vuckic

Projected Subs: Krul, Guthrie, Cabaye, Jonas, Sa. Ameobi, S. Taylor, Ba

Blackburn Rovers

Out: David Dunn (calf), Ryan Nelsen (knee), Vince Grella (hip), Scott Dann (calf), Michel Salgado (hamstring)

Questionable: None

Projected XI: Robinson | Olsson, Samba, Givet, Lowe | Hoilett, Pedersen, Formica, Vuckcevic | Rochina, Goodwillie

Projected Subs: Bunn, Dann, Hanley, Blackman, Petrovic, Yakubu, Roberts

Poll

Will the Toon progress to the Carling Cup quarterfinals?

Definitely, Newcastle by 2+

9 votes

Not as easily as I might like, Newcastle by 1

22 votes

It goes to penalties and Newcastle wins

1 votes

It goes to penalties and Blackburn wins

1 votes

Blackburn just nick it, Rovers by 1

2 votes

Blackburn goes nuts/Newcastle implodes, Rovers by 2+

0 votes

35 votes | Poll has closed

Royston Drenthe Has Choice Words for Real Madrid At Everton Presser

Timm Higgins — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 11:01:19 -0000

Royston Drenthe was brought to Real Madrid by former manager Bernd Schuster in 2007, and now in 2011 he's been sent out on a season-long loan to Premier League side Everton. Along with most Real Madrid fans, he hopes his stay is permanent, as he wasn't all that fond of his time at the Bernabeu...

How do we know this? He recently lashed out at his former club during his press conference at Goodson Park.

Drenthe said things went down hill at the Bernabeu after his first season, when Real Madrid started to install a turnstile system when it came to managers, and he found that his spot on the team kept falling from manager to manager.

According to the 24-year-old Dutchman, that's the reason that Real Madrid hasn't been able to keep up with arch-rival FC Barcelona, though he does admit that he learned a lot while playing in la Liga.

Some of his choice words after the jump..

And now, ladies and gentleman, we bring you the sour grapes portion of this program:

"My first year (in Madrid) was the best and nicest time," Drenthe recalled. "I learned a lot from players like Fabio Cannavaro, Raul, Michel Salgado, Guti, Robinho, Wesley Sneijder. Real Madrid had one of the best teams in the world with a mixture of young and old players and we were better than Barcelona."

"It changed a lot after that because team broke up," he went on. "They changed the trainer (Bernd Schuster), changed the trainer again and again – they change their trainers like candy. That is normal at Real Madrid but I learned a lot."

-Premiership Talk

Last year, as you may know, he spent the season on loan to Hercules. He had been linked to go places like either Benfica or FC Porto, but decided he wanted to make a move to the Premiership.

"Real wanted me to go to Benfica or Porto, teams like that, because they were prepared to pay a lot of money, but I did not want to go," he said. "When my agent told me I could sign for Everton I was like ‘Thank you God’. This is one of the best leagues in the world."

While he is correct that it's one of the best leagues in the world, this also means it has some of the best players in the world. There's a definite difference between la Liga and the English Premiership. Maybe he'll find some playing time at Everton, and they could use it. But at the Bernabeu, he was really nothing more than a spare part, and that's the reason they kept loaning him out.