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CL Action…

March 10th, 2009 | By: Jan | 25 Comments »

It can be hard, watching football at 6.30 am… Tea instead of a beer. Yoghurt and blueberries instead of chips. But when Liverpool plays Real Madrid in the second leg at Anfield, it only takes 60 seconds to be fully awake and on the edge of your seat.

Liverpool (starting four Spaniards versus three at Spanish champs Madrid) seemed to have forgotten they were leading on aggregate, 1-0. Madrid may have expected a cagey and tight Pool, but instead they got the full force of the Reds’ football machine, looking for a goal from the first second. Wonderful chances for Torres and Mascherano didn’t bide well for the Merenguez and within 15 minutes Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt punished the two center backs in white to score the 1-0.

A disastrous start for Madrid. Robben and Sneijder couldn’t show anything in the first 30 minutes, while the Real defense added howler to howler. The Belgium ref made a very harsh decision against Heinze, who handled the ball with his shoulder in the box: penalty. Gerrard put that one away (2-0).

Madrid needed to up the pace and after the 30 minute mark, Wesley Sneijder hit a cracker of a free kick and Higuain got a free shooting opportunity. A classic match already, by now.

A tremendous first half by Liverpool, who did everything right. They played like a team, worked like a team, only one thought dominated their minds. Win. Put pressure on. Challenge for every ball. Score. Real Madrid definitely allowed Liverpool their game, playing poorly again, both individually as teamwise, but kudos to Benitez’ men for an impressive first 45 minutes.

Late in the first half, Sneijder and Raul (twice) did get some chances

Juande Ramos’ decisions elude me a tad. Yes, Arjen Robben didn’t create anything in the first half, but he’s the type of player that can change a game in 10 seconds. Ramos took Robben off for the second half. But he leaves Diarra (who played ok) and Gago (invisible) on. I think Ramos should look at taking Heinze, Gago, Pepe and Cannavaro off…

And with the fans barely on their seats for the second half, it was Babel’s shimmy and cross from the left allowing Gerrard to score his second goal of the night: 3-0. Game over.

Gallery play doesn’t go well with effective football, but the Reds proved that statement wrong in this game. They did everything right and created their own luck, scoring the 4-0 late in the game and almost scoring the fifth in the last minute.

Ramos brought Rafael van der Vaart to reclaim some prestige at Anfield for Madrid, but their efforts paled compared to Liverpool’s superior game.

How did the Dutchies do… Well, Robben didn’t play, basically. Sneijder wasn’t dominant in Madrid’s side, but that wasn’t so much his fault. He tried, he had some attempts, but no brilliance. In the second half, an agitated Sneijder tried to force something from all angles, failing to do any damage. Ryan Babel threatened Real constantly and had a wonderful assist for the 3-0. Dirk Kuyt played his decent game, not outstanding, but doing exactly what he needed to do, with an assist as well for the 1-0. Rafael van der Vaart showed some of his vision and footwork but Raf needs a team around him to be effective.

Tags: Group C, Kuyt, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Robben, Ryan Babel, Sneijder, Vaart

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Comments

By Van Basten | March 10th, 2009 at 4:55 pm

Well done Babel, Kuyt!!!
Even more fantastic, excellent job Hiddink! Hopefully this is Chelsea’s time to win the Champions League.
When is Ajax playing?

Posted from United States

By sonneveld | March 10th, 2009 at 4:56 pm

robben huntelaar van persie

van der vaart de jong sneijder

bouma(fit) mathijsen van bommel heitinga

stekelenburg

VAN DER Vaart looked so good in his short time against liverpool that I feel his inclusion is a must along with sneijder van persie robben huntelaar.

The big problem with out previous 4-3-3 was that only one midfielder would help out defense in build up inlike two in the 4-2-3-1. But now that van bommel is in their he can pass the ball acurately so we only need one midfielder (de jong) in the build up.

By finnster01 | March 10th, 2009 at 5:31 pm

Well after tomorrow when the Arse and United move on it will be proven without a doubt which league is the most powerful in the world. The only non-English team that has a chance is Barca. In fact they may actually be the very best, but they suffer from a lack of form at the moment.

Liverpool really schooled Real today. If they only played like that every Saturday?

I want to see them play Barca in the final. Right Ferenc? That would be something. By the way, where is the final this year anyone?

By Mario | March 10th, 2009 at 6:11 pm

Well I agree that the Premiership is the best league at the moment. It was a terrible game for Madrid because they made such silly mistakes that they seemed an amateur team…Cannavaro, Raúl, Heinze, Marcelo, Gago have nothing to do at Real Madrid anymore. Sneijder needs to recover his form urgently or he´ll be shown the door very soon. It shows the stupidity of Juan de Ramos by picking Diarra instead of JKH. I mean, Real Madrid only had Raúl and Higuain as strikers today but none in the bench and Raúl and Higuain are not killers like Ruud and Huntelaar are. Of course Raúl is doing ok in the Liga but he is not the Raúl of five years ago. Real Madrid needed goals today but instead of that they selected Diarra instead of Huntelaar for CL. Madrid played without passion and intelligence and Liverpool just capitalized that punishing Madrid. Babel played great and Kuyt worked very well during the whole game. Robben was invisible but he had to remain in the pitch for the second half but instead he was replaced at halftime by Marcelo. Sneijder is clearly out of form and van der Vaart had some good things when he entered but the game was completely over when he replaced Cannavaro (who is finished by the way).

I really think some of the Dutch players need to leave Madrid this year and I am thinking in Sneijder, van der Vaart and Drenthe…we´ll see!

By Michel-Olivier | March 10th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

rio is back

i still can’t believe ramos pick lasagna over hunter

Posted from United States

By ferenc | March 10th, 2009 at 7:12 pm

oranje should forget sneijder for the moment. he’s no more the guy we saw at euro 08. van der vaart played well because liverpool didn’t want to play after 3-0. agree with Mario that som,e of them should leave madrid. robben was ridiculous. he’s only good against bad teams. i’m happy that babel was excellent.

Fin: i hope that barca will qualify tomorrow without puyol and abidal. i wouldn1t like to meet liverpool before the final. not because the reds are better but because tactically they are the most perfect team in europe.

Posted from Hungary

By ferenc | March 10th, 2009 at 7:17 pm

Mario: marcelo did much more in 5 minutes than robben in 45.

Posted from Hungary

By finnster01 | March 10th, 2009 at 8:07 pm

Just checked it out, Champions League final this year is in Rome on 27th of May. Interesting. Could be a home game for Roma if they take care of Arsenal and get a lucky draw, but I doubt it.

Any team with my fellow countryman in it, Jon Arne Riise, is extremely unlikely to make it. Although having said that, he won it with Liverpool against AC Milan (but he also put Chelsea through to the final last year..)

Hopefully tomorrows games will be as fun as todays. How bad has Divaldo’s old team, Sporting Lesbians become? Bayern posting baseball scores. Are they really that good? I don’t watch Bundesliga anymore. Are Bayern real, or is it just a sad case of a very poor Portuguese team?

By Mario | March 10th, 2009 at 8:48 pm

Ferenc:

Agree with you in everything except the comment that Robben only plays well versus bad teams…He has scored in many Champions League games, European Championships and in the World Cup, also vs Barcelona, France, Villareal, Arsenal, etc. He has had great games in tough matches but the problem with him is that he sometimes disappears when he is supposed to be the star like for example tonight. Also his issue with injuries and about Marcelo he did quite a few stuff (yes, more than Arjen)but nothing really productive so overall he did not added something better than Robben, Arjen was extremely well marked and Madrid´s creation was non existing and because of that he barely touched the ball. I´m not justifying him, he played pretty bad, just as all his teammates.

By Mario | March 10th, 2009 at 9:13 pm

Finnster:

Portuguese teams are not prepared for Champions League Football just like Dutch teams at the moment. You saw what happened to PSV in the first round of the competition. And yes, Bayern has a very strong squad: Ribery, Klose, Tony, van Bommel, de Michelis, Podolsky and others. Klinnsman wants to win this tournament and they humiliated Sporting because the Portuguese team is not a Champions League contender. That´s is why I think that the 6+5 rule can be a good decision because it can help teams to develop new talent and not be smashed in that fashion by teams that sometimes have more foreigners in the field than players of the team´s country. For example, Chelsea and Arsenal always have more foreigners than English players and obviously they have many stars becuase of the budget they manage so teams like Sporting will hire some Brazilians, Spanish or any other foreigners but not top players so the competition is not balanced since the Bosman rule…When that rule was taking place Ajax was a great team and in two years all Ajax´s players from the mid 90´s were gone to bigger clubs. It would be a good decision to let the 6+5 rule take place because new talents will have a chance to develop their careers and the competition will not be so unbalanced like today is. Sporting is just an example of that.

By Kevin | March 10th, 2009 at 9:50 pm

Agree with Mario about Robben. I know sometimes he’s very selfish but this time what he can do and who will perform well in the Madrid team? Also the way Ramos used VDV is not right. He expect VDV to lead the team but how can he do that if he barely play and cannot understand his teammate, also I saw that he didn’t receive many passes from his mates even if he was in a good position. Sneijder looks bad now, he cannot control the ball and he’s very slow. He should leave to get playing time at another club to regain his form.

By bobotoh | March 10th, 2009 at 11:07 pm

Maybe Sneijder should move to Hamburg? Or, Man City?

Posted from Indonesia

By Andrew | March 11th, 2009 at 12:56 am

Sneijder was pretty good in the first half…but Ramos has no business playing him on the ouside; not his game. But that is quibbling: Liverpool was a team of substance, and they pushed RM around…OT: congrats to the Netherlands’ baseball team in the WBC. They eliminated the Dominican Republic (one of the favorites) in a fabulous extra inning game, coming from behind in the bottom of the eleventh.

Posted from United States

By Miguel Rosado | March 11th, 2009 at 1:02 am

You can’t take off a player like Robben after only 45′ when you are losing and leave 2 holding midfielders instead!!!.

Playing Marcelo in the 2nd half was a good decision but he should have taken off Gago. You need to score and if you play 2 wingers the field will be more open and therefore you could have more goal opportunities. Real missed Ruud and Huntelaar very much.

I’m happy because Babel played a great game and Kuyt always annoying defenders.

Juande played a defensive team. Heinze and Gago can’t produce anything in attack, I’d have played Marcelo as left back and Guti instead of Gago.

———casillas——–

ramos-pepe-canavaro-marcelo-

——-guti–diarra———
–sneijder——–robben-

——-raul—higuain—-

By Jan | March 11th, 2009 at 3:03 am

Agree Miguel. I think Ramos should go quickly. His whole body language and facial expression says it all. The man is in pain. Taking Robben off when he’s fit is ridiculous. Madrid couldn’t cut it as a team, he should have gambled on Robben’s individual qualities. Real had three good chances in the first half: Sneijder distance strike, Sneijders shot in the box after Heinze’s cross and a Raul opportunity (he mishit it…). With luck and another ref, the penalty wouldn’t have been given (I say it was a shoulder, not the arm) and it would have been 1-0. With a bit more luck, Sneijder’s strike could have been a goal. 1-1 at halftime. What would have happened next?

Again Ramos played Gago and Diarra centrally. Unbelievable. Diarra was ok this game, but Gago was useless. As was Heinze. Raul needs a point man (Huntelaar) and Sneijder can’t impress with all those brainless runners around him. Pepe, Heinze, Diarra and Gago are clueless in possession.

I do think Liverpool would have gone through and I think Liverpool played great football, but…things did go their way. Real Madrid mistakes and a helpful referee. But, you make your own luck.

Raf did well, coming on but as stated by one of you, Liverpool wasn’t too fussed when the score was 3-0.

Real has a huge problem and need to make a couple of big decisions re: Ramos, re: Mijatovic and re: several players…

By Jan | March 11th, 2009 at 3:07 am

Liverpool on the other hand, is a team and a fighting footballing machine. Every players knows what the other player does. The running lines of Torres, Kuyt, Babel, Gerrard. It’s so well oiled. Too bad Benitez doesn’t play like this all the time! Why not? Mascherano was priceless and the center backs outstanding!

If Liverpool can keep this up, they’re a fave for the title.

My Top 4 teams: Chelsea, Liverpool, Barca and Bayern…

Bayern vs Barca would be a tremendous fixture to watch….

By Carlos | March 11th, 2009 at 6:13 am

Watched the whole game (whilst flicking to Chelsea game too) but really it was like Ajax of 95 demolishing Bayern. Pool could have had 5-6 goals in if it wasn’t for Iker. Kuyt (that name again) was very good, Babel even better, but the whole team looked like they wanted to win more. Saw so many stray passes from Gago and Diarra ??? Wesley at least sprung a few surprises. Sorry but it was a VERY poor show and altho I advocated very much that Diarra was a better choice, Unfortunately lastnight they needed Klaas not Lass. No one gave Robben a decent ball ?

Posted from Singapore

By finnster01 | March 11th, 2009 at 6:19 am

@Mario: The 6+5 is a decent idea. Although I think it will never happen. If it does happen, you will have one of the Big 4 or Big 18 (or whatever the number is) suing UEFA/FIFA under EU Labour Law immediately. It will be another Bosman ruling type and FIFA/UEFA will lose. I don’t think it is winnable for UEFA unless an exemption is passed for football in the European parliament. Just will never happen.

It is interested to see as Jan pointed out that Liverpool started with more Spaniards than Real Madrid yesterday…Same with Arsenal. You take Theo Walcott out of that lineup, how many English players are left?

6+5, yeah right. Will never pass the legal challenges.

By Caleb | March 11th, 2009 at 9:15 am

I watched the Real vs. Liverpool game last night… what a depressing game for us Real supporters! There was certainly no luck in Liverpool’s win this night – well, the first goal could have been called a foul, and the penalty was obviously no penalty, but Liverpool just dominated the game so much that I can’t complain.

But WTF is Ramos doing lining up that same double defensive-mid line up?!? They created absolutely nothing in the first game at home, would they all of a sudden start creating while away at Anfield?? Real needed goals, and in order to do that they needed some creativity! Sneijder was a start, but he can’t do it by himself with two useless defensive players beside him. Lass was decent defensively, but tried to do too much offensively and often lost it (I think Jan mentioned the same thing last game, but it was even more obvious this time), Gago was invisible.

Anyone else notice how much better Real started to play in the last 30 minutes or so when Sneijder and VdV were both on, and later when Guti was also on? Of course Liverpool was already 3-0 up, but the domination completely stopped from that point and it was actually Real pressuring Liverpool for most of the last half hour. Ramos should have started with only Diarra, and included both Sneijder and Guti, or Sneijder and VdV. I mean seriously, they needed to go and score, not defend!! Just ridiculous, the tactics last night!

Other than that, Liverpool played very well as a team, fought hard for the ball and made Real look very amateur. Real also missed Ruud and Huntelaar, they really could have used one of them.

Posted from Canada

By Caleb | March 11th, 2009 at 9:21 am

Oh yeah, I’m also not worried about Sneijder. Players go into slumps all the time, that’s normal. He also showed signs of coming out of the slump last night. Still not peak, but getting better. It’s ridiculous to say that he should leave to another team, he’s one of Real’s best players. Stop overreacting guys. What really needs to happen is Ramos needs to play him week in week out so he can get the rest of his form back. Unfortunately I’m not sure about Ramos’ tactics anymore…

Posted from Canada

By finnster01 | March 11th, 2009 at 10:22 am

@Caleb: I honestly always thought Ramos was overrated. He may have done well back in the day in Spain with limited resources. But the fact is he took a Tottenham team that had finished 5th in the Prem and destroyed it. The players hated him, he was arrogant, never talked to the players etc. He never got along with the other management there either.

Now Rafa’s game tactics in Europe is spectacular. There is nobody better. However his mysterious rotation system in the league that he is the only one able to understand properly is one of the main reasons ‘pool hasn’t won the league since 1990. I still have no clue what that is all about.

I guess it is like taking a medicine. Most come with side effects. In Rafa’s case, we’ll never win the league but will always be in the mix for the CL. It is just the way it is. If the Prem was played back-to-back home & away games, he would win the league every year. Instead, we can beat Man U and Chelsea at home, but get spanked against Middlesboro etc. Just another day in the life of a Liverpool fan

By Andrew | March 11th, 2009 at 11:56 am

@Finn, Re: Liverpool in the league. The eleven they put out yesterday is a match for anyone, anytime. But I think the league is a money thing, as in money equals depth over 60-70 games a season. When Sir Alex goes to his rotation (and he does)or someone gets hurt (lets say Rooney or Ronaldo at the beginning of the year) he’s bringing in Tevez or Giggs or Park or Scholes, guys who have all excelled at the highest levels…Liverpool can’t match that over the course of the season and inevitably drop points in games they’re clear favorites. I’m a big Liverpool fan, too; since the 70’s, but as you say a day in the life…

Posted from United States

By finnster01 | March 11th, 2009 at 2:28 pm

Nice to see Arsenal are not starting a single English (or British) player as usual.

6+5? hahahahaha

Something tells me which club will be the first to sue over that.

By Kevin | March 11th, 2009 at 6:42 pm

@Caleb: I agree that Sneijder is world-class and all players have some bad time. But I think Real is now in crisis and he has a bad time so if they wont change the coach soon, I think Sneijder should leave because this team won’t help him to regain his form. Anyway the best three attacking midfielders right now should be Robben, Babel and Kuyt. I hope that Sneijder, VDV and VPS will come back soon.

Posted from United States

By finnster01 | March 11th, 2009 at 8:20 pm

So as expected, we are left with 4 English, 2 Spanish, 1 German and 1 Portuguese team.

With perhaps the exception of the master divers from Portugal, that is about right in terms of reflecting the correct weightings in terms of the quality of the European club game at the moment.

I would have expected an Italian team still to be left, but their club football is really in a complete tailspin, and the results reflect that.

Man Utd vs Inter was men against boys.

Depending on the draw, I predict 1 English team (either Man U or Liverpool) against Barca in the final. Should be a complete cracker. Can’t wait for Friday’s draw (11 GMT I believe)

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