90+I’m gonna do a live blog of a match for the first time. After a comfortable victory against Sporting where we didn’t seem to miss Guti much, this would provide a sterner test for the injury ravaged squad.
Here is the lineup:
Starting XI: Casillas, Pepe, Marcelo, Heinze, Ramos, Diarra, De la Red, VDV, Robben, RVN, Raul.
Subs: Dudek, Drenthe, Higuain, Garcia, Torres, Saviola, Metzelder.
I don’t like to see Heinze in the middle, would prefer Metzelder even though he’s slower than a snail. But you can be assured about getting 100% from Heinze, the perfect squad player. Our trip last season wasn’t something to be proud of, lets hope for 3 points today! Stay tuned!
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0′: Real kick off and give the ball back to Betis.
1′: Pepe misses a header but recovers well to thwart Betis
3′: arghhh… Heinze commits a silly foul. He’s very very clumsy… escapes an yellow there. lucky! Pepe clears the free kick, no danger there.
5′: Btw, Robben has started instead of Higuain. He dazzles his way into the box and pulls it back for RVN whose shot is blocked. nice play there by Robben, as if the ball is glued to his legs.
6′: We win a corner, and Pepe heads above from a tight angle. a touch chance. No real width for Real. Marcelo is staying back, wonder if he has been instructed to stay back.
8′: A great chip from De la Red (think so), but the linesman whistles for an offside against RVN, who puts it wide anyway.
9′: FUCK! Real breaks away from a Betis attack and De la Red is through whose left footed shot is blocked well by the keeper! very close there.. it was on his weaker side but he could’ve done better.
13′: No real rhythm to either side. giving away the ball easily, both the teams. and what’s up with Casillas’s distribution these days?
15′: Betis is making some nice hard tackles. Garcia vs Ramos is gong to be real interesting.
17′: Robben draws a foul near Betis’s box. lets see if we can do something from the freekick
GOALLLLLLLLLLL!!!! VDV delivers a perfect cross and Heinze gets a header and he doesn’t miss them!!!! Real take the lead againts Betis. Betis 0 – 1 Real Madrid
23′: Wonder why Van Nistelrooy is playing so deep, allowing Raul and even VDV ahead of him.
26: Betis have nothing much to offer going forward. My fear of our midfield being bullied by Beti’s is coming true.
28′: De la Red takes an exquisite touch and smashes the ball from outside the box, nice save by the keeper although it was close to his body. nice run there by Marcelo to set De la Red.
30′: some nice passes release Robben who dances around the ox and the balls breaks to VDV whose shot is straight at the keeper. Betis break from there but Garcia just can’t beat Ramos
35′: The game is real scratchy. Misplaced passes, bad tackles seem to dominate the game right now
Mari takes a nice shot but goes above the bar. good pressure from Marcelo to close him down.
37′: VDV gets booked for a foul on Capi and no danger from the freekick. Betis has been turning it on for the past 10 mins and the crows is getting behind them. We need close them down quickly
39′: Now Marcelo gets booked for an high foot, needless one! no danger from the freekick. for all their pressure in the midfield, Betis have nothing to offer in the last third of the pitch.
42′: A short corner form Real which comes to nothing. I say no short corner unless you’re setting up Sneijder or De la Red
43′: Raul gets fouled and De la Red sends a poor ball from the freekick
44′ Garica the cunt fouls VDV… the idiot kicks VDV after he passes the ball. deerves the yellow. cunt
45′ Garcia gets away from Ramos for the first time but his cross is poor and Emana’s shot is blocked by Casillas. it hits the post and comes back to him. Great save there by Casillas, it takes something special to beat him in the near post!
Half-time: It’s been a really really scrappy affair. We had one good chance and we scored from that. De la Read had a couple of good shots but not much from Real. The midfield is struggling to keep hold of the ball. Betis do well to come near the box but they fluff it after that. Casillas wasn’t needed until the final min of the half and he came up with a very good save.
It was strange to see RVN drop deep at the start but he has gone back to his favoured position.
46′: Betis kick off and no subs for both the sides.
50′: Nice shiedling from De la Red and he passes to Robben, who after a coupla of dance moves, send in a chip across the box and RVN send a weak header which the keeper tips over the bar.
53′: FUCKKKK Marcelo needlessly fouls in the box and gives away a penalty. it was a ridiculous foul. with that Marcelo gets his amrching orders (he was already booked and he was the last man). it is a stonewall penatly.
54′: Casillas saves the first shot, but Garcia the cunt puts the rebound in. The game is now tied.
58′: RVN is stripped off the ball and Pepe does well to thwart the counter when it was 4 against 3!
60′: Torres comes in for Raul. Schuster sacrifices Raul to nullify the loss of Marcelo.
68′: oooohhh.. Torres makes a terrific tackle in the box to deny Betis. It was top notch.
Now Garcia comes in for De la Red. Schuster realises we need to shore up the midfield. De la Red was decent, nothing too great. It would be interesting to see how Garcia fits in.
72′: Nice bit of play by Real and Robben’s cross just misses RVN. We can’t afford to sit back and defend. they look like they’ll conced any moment. A draw would be a good result at this point. It would nice if Higuain can get a run for 15 mins or so.
74′ Babis comes on for Monzon for Betis. Ramos is putting an extra shift to make up the loss of Marcelo.
76′: Ramos leads a counter, and Robben sends in a nice cross but RVN is one step behind Robben.
78′: Casillas collects a header from Aurelio as Drenthe comes in for VDV.
80′: Garcia robs the ball from Heinze near the touchline and Torres fouls Garcia near the box. very close… few inches otherwise it was a penalty. Ramos clears the freekick(on the line!!) and Drenthe breaks for Real. It was 2 on 2. Drenthe was speeding when Garcia the cunt brings him down. Garcia knew he could never catch Drenthe and brought him down. He gets the red and deserves every bit of it. It was cynical to say the least.
87′: Pepe does very well to block the cross from Nelso as Mari would’ve been one-on-one!! great work from Pepe
90′: arrghhhh….. Great play by Robben and RVN sets up Torres but the keeper comes out and does well!!! it was so closeeeeee… aghhhhh
90+’: GOOOAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!! great pace by Robben and puts RVN through and RVN buries it in the far post across the keeper!!! RVN scores from his only chance of the game. Great great work by Robben RVN. What a finish by RVN!!! have we won it??
Full-time: Yes, we’ve won it!!!!!! Bravo to Real!! we never gave up and what a counter attacking lesson we gave them. 3 points to Real, 3 important points in that! The game wasn’t by any means spectacular, it was ugly and scrappy. But we’ve come out with 3 points in the end and that is what matters.
Tags: la liga 2008-09, Real Betis vs Real Madrid, Real Madrid blog
