Realmadrid News

Deportivo 2-0 Real Madrid:Riazor still proves impossible to conquer

Real Madrid stepped onto the pitch at Riazor with Ramos as left back -replacing Roberto Carlos, who is currently injured- and Salgado on the right flanking Cannavaro and Helguera in the centre of the defence. Gago made his debut tonight running alongside Emerson, while Reyes and Raúl played down the wings. Guti was positioned as the team's playmaker and Van Nistelrooy was the only striker on the pitch for the Whites. On Deportivo's side the greatest novelty was the presence of striker Juan Carlos Valerón on the bench, who made it to the squad list for the first time this season after recovering from an injury he got in the pre-season.

Arizmendi puts on a show and Capdevila scores
As Caparrós said they would, Deportivo played a a very physical game. Real Madrid didn't find their pace to the match and soon found themselves behind on the scoreboard. The Whites missed many passes due to the cut up condition the pitch was in, which also made Guti trip and subsequently get injured as early on as the tenth minute. The midfielder twisted his anckle and had to be taken off the pitch and be replaced by Beckham. Deportivo's first goal came soon after when Helguera made a late challenge on Riki. Capdevila took the free-kick with his left foot, scoring a phenomenal goal, the ball grazing past Casillas' left post.


During the next half hour, Deportivo took control of the match, letting go only occasionally towards the end of the first half. The home side had a promising chance through striker Arizmendi on the 15-minute mark when the player faced Casillas alone, but couldn't stop the keeper from robbing him of the ball. In the 22nd minute, Riki crossed a ball to Arizmendi that went out of bounds. Soon after (30') Riki came in looking for the goal, but his shot grazed past the right post. Five minutes before the end of the first half, in an excellent pressuring play by Deportivo, Arizmendi made it into the box managing to get past Casillas single handed, but his shot hit the near post, increasing the striker's frustration for not scoring. This would prove to be the best chance in the whole match.

Real Madrid looked rather helpless as they never found the pace to the game. They were incapable of moving the ball around in an orderly fashion, they didn't start any plays and they were powerless to stop Deportivo from advancing. Their wingers weren't proving to be dangerous, their forwards weren't served any balls and their defence looked increasingly insecure when having to challenge the Deportivo attack. It seemed the best thing that could happen for the Whites was for the first half to end as soon as possible, particularly after a shot by Emerson -which was their best chance tonight- hit the crossbar and Ramos failed to finish off a corner kick beautifully served in by Beckham.


The match was sentenced early on in the second half
The second 45' didn't prove better at all for Real Madrid as Deportivo scored their second on the 10-minute mark. Arizmendi proved superior to Ramos and overcame him on the byline, passing the ball alongside the goaline for Cristian to score thanks to a sloppy Real Madrid defence that didn't have him covered. Capello looked to push his team forward replacing Salgado for Marcelo, allowing the Brazilian left back to make his debut with the first team. He also brought Ronaldo out for Gago, making Beckham, Raúl and Emerson responsible for bringing the ball in from the midfield.

Real Madrid improved slightly in the attack and had some chances through Ronaldo -who kicked the ball over the crossbar- and Beckham -who was close from scoring from a free-kick. As Real Madrid made more attempts on Aouate's goal, Deportivo regrouped in order to try and keep the Whites in check and taking few risks until the match ended. Both sides showed reluctance to get the ball into the box in the final minutes of the game, which ended with Real Madrid's third away defeat this season.

posted by khalidmrrakchi@hotmail.com @ 1:29 PM