Real Madrid vs. Granada, 0-1

[flywoman]

Que injusticia!

Cristiano Ronaldo was definitely Man of the Match: he worked his ass off and scored the only goal. Unfortunately, he headed the ball into the back of his own net.



This was one of the worst matches I have ever seen Real Madrid play. Perhaps the absence of playmaker Mesut Ozil was to blame, perhaps tiredness after Wednesday's match against Barcelona, but they failed to create any chances at all in the first half against a team near the bottom of the league table. To be fair, Granada didn't have any shots on target either. Their goal came from a corner kick that Ronaldo tried to clear but only managed to launch past his startled keeper for an own goal, the first of his career. Obligatory rivalry joke: Let's see if Messi can score two of them tomorrow! (Or more likely Mascherano. Heh.)

Mourinho clearly agreed with me that the first half was horrible because when the match restarted, Gonzalo Higuain and Sami Khedira had been replaced by Karim Benzema and Jose Callejon. The changes paid off in that RM did create a lot more opportunities in the second half, keeping the Granada defenders and keeper on their toes. But they did not manage to equalize, even with four extra minutes on the clock.

Now, I'm sure that some folks will complain that RM were robbed of a corner - which they were - and that Ronaldo was wrongly reprimanded for pushing another player who had his arm wrapped around his neck. All I can say is, Modric could have been sent off with a second yellow when his clumsy tackle was followed by a handball, and Xabi Alonso should have been - the brute.

Comments

[sageharper.livejournal.com]

lol my dad just came in and said about that, we have mutual feelings on Ronaldo so that fun (between that and my dad's massive man-crush on Puyi clasicos are fun)
So, does that still count towards the pichichi or not? ;)

Wow that's pretty damning actually, given how many clasicos they've been thrashed in.
*sigh* if only they had San Iker. There's no excuse really; they should get him to prowl the touchline with a megaphone merrily swearing away.

OMG don't say things like that! the way we're going they probably will (legit question; has Messi scored an own goal?) because 'everyone else did it'. Maybe own goals are the new knocking her up then.
None the less am fairly sure right now the only person who feels comfortable when our defenders are defending is San Iker.
We'll be fine though, because unicef bribed the referee so we got an extra day to prepare. ;)

Well done Granada then. Real drew against Espanyol, and they're right down. It seems like before Madrid was seen as untouchable, but now they've faltered this season teams have more belief so they'll give it a good go. Interesting games are interesting.

Yeah when you tally everything up with fouls and stupidity then it probably all evens out so you can't really complain. Maybe I'm just jaded because y'know Barca not getting a corner just means we can't screw it up.

I'm really going off Xabi Alonso of late. He has this vicious streak under the charm. At least Pepe is just plain batshit so you know where you stand.