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.

Robinho had this illusion that he’s as great as some of the greats who have played for Real, and expected the same respect and treatment. Respect has to be earned by performances on the pitch and a genuine love for the club. Certainly not by barking in the media. Ask McManaman how to behave.

All this talk of leaving the club because he didn’t feel “wanted” and get a salary increase is fuckin’ crap. Even under Capello, he threatened to leave the club sighting lack of playing time and said he was contacted by AC Milan. He gave a glimpse of his childish behavior and whinging, ar that time we were just too patient. I’m pretty sure the thumb-sucking cunt grabbed the mafia money thrown at him with both his hands and penis. So, don’t try to play the victim here, you money hungry whore.

Even if you forget the everyday crying, calling a press conference hours before the kick-off of the first match of a new season – an away game at Riazor – is just unpardonable. How self-conceited you must be to do that to your teammates with whom you have played for the past 3 years? You must be a money grabbing cancer who needs to be licked on the ass daily and likes to celebrate a victory with 40 condoms.

Thanks for the 42 million. After all, a disease can be cured. Los blancos are cured of this disease.

The first chance fell to Deportivo when Álvarez turned Marcelo inside out and sent in a low cross. Mista beat Casillas with his shot, but not the crossbar, and we were lucky to be not a goal down. There were no clear chances for either teams, but Deportivo certainly kept the ball better than us. Just when we were slowly getting into the game, finding our passes, Deportivo went a goal up. Guardado was heading nowhere chasing a long ball, but Pepe fouled him needlessly and Mista scored from the resulting free kick. The marking was truly awful, Heinze seemed to think it is OK to leave a Depo player unmarked. It was neither zonal marking nor man marking, it was confusing. Casillas had absolutely no chance to block that.

Robben showed what he can do when he got the ball, but kept cutting inside far too often. Real got a counter attack going when Van-the-man put Robben through with a delighful pass. Robben should have really done better with it. His first touch was very good but his annoying tendency to shoot ONLY with this left foot meant there was no power becuase of the angle and the Depo keeper deflected it for a corner. I wonder if he can shoot a Pepsi can with his right foot!

We lacked the technique and finesse in the last third of the pitch. It was like watching a third tier English team, with Heinze pumping in long balls. Can’t blame him though, sometimes it looked as if we were playing 4-2-4. Marcelo came up with a Figo-esques cross cum shot which hit the crossbar and surprised everyone. That was the best we could offer, it really summed up our first half performance.

The All Whites got the equalizer as soon as the second half started through who else? Van the man scored the sort of goal he’s famous for. Raul’s shot took a deflection (thankfully!) and fell in front of RVN, who did well to be there and finish it. Deportivo soon restored the lead through another set piece. The corner was delivered into the box and Lopo outjumped Pepe and headed to leave Casillas with no chance to save. Again, the marking wasn’t clear. It was a bad mistake by Pepe to allow Lopo that much space. Right after Depo’s goal, Depo’s keeper made an excellent save to prevent Diarra’s header from going in. That is the closest we would come to scoring in the second half.

Casillas did well to keep us in the game by making a smart save off Verdu(I think). Depo sat back in the last 10-15 mins to protect the lead. Schuster sent in De la Red and Drenthe for Raul and Guti (bizarre he didn’t make it earlier!) for the last 10 mins, but that equalizer would never come from Real. So, we start the season with a defeat at the Riazor.

Higauin was totally absent from the game, hardly made any contribution, rarely got the ball to do anything. I thought it was a bad move to start him on the left hand side. Just becuase he’s average in his natural position, you dont go play him out of position and say he’s bad! What formation did we exactly play? And what’s up with midfield of Higuain-Diarra-Guti-Robben?? I would have preferred De la Red instead of Higuain with Guti pushed to the right. Guti needs to play further up the pitch to create any sort of impact, to make the trademark killer passes we know him for. Playing him in the center nullifies his attacking game, that too against Sergio and De Guzman. Ramos although solid at the back, was pretty average going forward. Maybe he needs more time with Robben for them to gel well. Pepe was good except for the two goals, but thats the worst thing, isn’t it? As a CD, you can’t afford to switch off. Please I want Cannavaro back soon, Heinze sucked! Marcelo was one of the best players for us, except when he was skinned early on, he was pretty good at the back, and made some good runs forward. He lacked the support from Higuain who was wandering all over the pitch. Robben was hounded by Felipe and Guardado whenever he touched the ball, but the fact that he lasted for 90 mins is a good sign. Raul worked his socks off, but you expect more form a forward. I was suprised that Schuster didn’t take him off earlier. It is becoming awfully clear that we have two slow coaches up front. I hope VDV comes starts the next game, we seriously need some long distance shooters. And one person whom I missed the most was Sneijder (who gets the number 10, yay!)! sigh! Get well soon Wesley!

Schuster has two weeks time to reflect on this, and do the needful. Here’s hoping that all our internationals come back injury free!

Till next time, cheers! Hala Madrid!

Goalkeepers: Lets start at the back. We’re very well equipped here. Casillas is an automatic selection here, he has been the No 1 since that final. I thought Dudek would leave, but he hasn’t. I would like to see more of Codina this season, a good run out in the cup would be nice. Casillas has been one of the best keepers in Europe, if not the best, for the past two or three years. And the euro win would have done a world of good for him. No problem here, it’s an area of strength for Real.

Defenders: This was an area of concern after Hierro, but it has settled down well in the past two seasons. Cannavaro is coming off an injury after 85 days, I don’t expect him to start the first few games. Pepe is starting to repay the money we put on him. He’s been solid at the back and I expect him to start every game. Well, what can I say about Metzelder? He hardly played for us last season, spent most of the time at the treatment table and then plays a very good euro for Germany. He makes up with his positional sense what he lacks in pace, but still can be caught by young pacy forwards. I only see him as a squad player. Heinze will start until Cannavaro starts playing regularly. I know not many people like him, but he is an excellent hard-worker, he may be clumsy, but he never pulls out of a challenge. The problem with Heinze and Metzelder is that they need a pacy defender beside them. Garcia has been unlucky in the preseason, I hope he is handled well by Schuster, and not left to rot on the bench like Soldado last season. No problems with the RB and LB positions. We have the best RB in the world, no wonder Maldini rates him so high. Critics may point at his habit of picking up cards at the drop of a hat, but he will learn with time. Marcelo has improved leaps and bounds since the time he came here, he should continue with the same. Torres will do the usual thing of covering Ramos and Marcelo. Torres hasn’t entirely fulfilled the promise he showed when he came into the first team, but he has played mostly on the left side which is not his natural position. He truly loves the club, and a more than an adequate sub. It is really satisfying to see the defence settle in nicely, it used to be a perennial problem for us after Hierro left. Salgado should never play again, I want to have good memories. And oh, we have a truly exceptional defender waiting to take the place of Pepe’s partner next season. Yes, Garay.

Midfielders: We’ve a glut of midfielders. I can say with confidence that Schuster surprised everyone by playing Diarra and Gago together, when we all thought it was either Diarra or Gago. They gelled fairly well towards the end of last season, with both willing to go forward quite regularly. It will be interesting to see how Schuster accommodates Diarra, Gago, De la Red, Guti and VDV. I feel really sad about Sneijder, he started to come off his own towards the end of last season. His dead balls skills and ball retention ability is truly exceptional. De la Red has been decent in the preseason, nothing too great, nothing too bad. I expect Diarra to start every match and it’ll either be Gago or De la Red beside him or maybe even Guti if Robben plays on the right. I thought we would buy a right sided midfielder, we didn’t buy anyone AND we sold Balboa. He could have been the right-winger we were looking for. The point is the width on the right side has to come from Ramos unless Robben plays on the right. VDV has always played as an AMF, mostly behind the striker. I think Schuster would give him the left hand side, a free roaming role. This is the season where Robben should make the winger place his own. When he is not injured, he really is the flying dutch. He has been in terific form this preseason, coupled with Robinho’s antics, he should start the first few games. As reg. Robinho, leave him out of the squad for a few games. He’ll know Madrid don’t need him and let him earn the place.

Forwards: This is a tricky area. Our first choice forwards are splendid. Van the man is as good as you can get. Raul was excellent last season. The problem is with the over reliance on RVN for goals. Our bench is not exactly weak, but it’s certainly not an area of strength. Saviola is very good player on his day, but for some reason, he hasn’t gelled with our play. Higuain needs million chances to score one and he hasn’t exactly shown the skill of a 14 million euros striker. God knows what he was smoking the night before the  Bernabeu trophy, he scored TWO goals!! I was extremely sad to see Soldado leave, but it’s just a sin to waste him on the bench. Good luck to him.

We certainly look solid on paper. And the preseason has been great. My only gripe is the lack of width, Ramos and Marcelo may well be the most overworked players in the squad. Except Robben, sometimes Robinho, noody gives us the real width. We’ve enough bench stregnth in defence and midfield to cover for injuries and fatigue. It is an important season for Raul. He is not as prolific as RVN, and both are slow. I would be tempted to play VDV or Robinho there as the season goes. I dont know if Schuster will have the guts to replace him. Ofcourse, there wont be any problem if he continues like last season. We will battle it out in la liga, it wont be as easy as last season, but we should not have many problems. It is for us to lose. Our chances in Europe? We will get the past the group stages. We over rely on a few players, and it may well prove costly.

Till next time, cheers!