http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/896740/real-madrid's-cristiano-ronaldo-out-for-three-weeks?cc=5901 Ronaldo facing three weeks out March 20, 2011 Cristiano Ronaldo faces a race to be fit for Real Madrid's Champions League quarter-final against Tottenham after suffering a hamstring injury in Saturday's victory over Atletico Madrid. A similar problem caused Ronaldo to miss two games prior to last week's victory over Lyon, and he complained of pain once again after coming off towards the end of Real's 2-1 victory in the derby at the Vicente Calderon. The 26-year-old was subsequently taken away for tests, with the verdict being that he could now miss up to three weeks of action. "Cristiano Ronaldo felt pain and had inflammation on the biceps femoris of his left thigh after the match with Atletico," a club statement read, before later adding that he will be sidelined for "between two to three weeks, depending on his progress". That would make him a major doubt for the first leg of the club's clash with Spurs, which takes place at the Santiago Bernabeu on April 5 - just over a fortnight away. He will definitely miss Portugal's two forthcoming friendlies against Chile and Finland, while the La Liga clash with Sporting Gijon in 14 days could also come too soon for him to participate.
Finally saw the highlights of the game and was somewhat pleased. That red card was weak as fuck, yellow and a penalty yes, red hell no, Villa flopped like a mother fucker. I just hope they keep making positive strides into the Copa del Rey and the CL. We need to get over the hump and win one of these, I think the players got some much needed confidence today.
Get the fuck outta here he just threw his arms up in the air and flailed like a faggit. I'll give you a yellow and penalty kick but no way that should have been a red
First, he hand balled it, then when he saw Villa was still going to get by him, he grabbed him around the neck to try and impede him, and then grabbed him by the shoulder. That's a red when you're the last defender.
The ball was handed but that wasn't what the red was for, their are a ton of handed balls in the box that are never called. Second is yes Albiol was trying to get around Villa, so he tried to reach around him and then Villa threw up his arms and went down way to easily, he basically hung himself on Albiols arm, a very, very weak red.
lol. It was a correct call on the red card. Not sure too many would agree with you on this one. Did you really just say Villa hung himself on Albiol's arms? Why the fuck would Villa do that? He was about to go free on goal but decided he wanted Messi to take a PK instead?
ozil is the only reason i pull for real madrid and by pull for, i mean i wish success on ozil, nothing more
It all makes sense now. Getting rid of Rafael van der Vaart, who went on to blossom for Tottenham Hotspur; benching Kaka, the second-most expensive player of all time; and making Cristiano Ronaldo, the most expensive player of all time, stick to the right wing or play up top instead of allowing him to drift into the middle. And the reason is Mesut Ozil, Real Madrid's pesky German playmaker. We've known he was good for some time now, since his days with Werder Bremen, since his World Cup this summer with Germany, and for all of this season too. But just how influential the 22-year-old Ozil really is has revealed itself over these first two games of the four-part fight to the death between Real Madrid and Barcelona. They've contested a league game and the Copa del Rey final and next will duke it out over the next two weeks to determine who will go to the Champions League final. In the Copa final on Wednesday, he was the best man on the field in the first half. He was, as always, creative, persistent and dynamic. But he was also, for lack of a more evocative explanation, Real's X-factor -- the way he has been in both games with Barca. In the first game on Saturday, Real looked devoid of ideas and hapless going forward until Ozil came on in the 57th minute after Barca had gone ahead. Ozil provided a desperately needed spark and helped the Merengues win an equalizer and a tie. On Wednesday, he was on for 70 minutes, during which Real was largely the better side, and certainly had the best chances. In the span, every decent chance Real got was of Ozil's making. His brilliant cross saw Pepe head it off the post, and several great balls through to Ronaldo, playing up top to stay out of Ozil's way, were for naught as the Portuguese star couldn't convert. Tweet, tweet Don't miss a moment of the latest soccer coverage from around the world. Follow us on Twitter and stay informed. Join » Once Ozil came off, Barca became the better team again, the way it always seems to when the German leaves the fray. Suddenly, the spark was gone. Real was no longer a threat and dumped back into its own half, defending and hoping for the best. While Madrid was able to scrape out a win on a marvelous header by the otherwise wasteful Ronaldo in the 103rd minute, it was Barca that had dominated that spell of the game. And that's what doesn't make sense. Real coach Jose Mourinho has been taking Ozil off prematurely all year. At first because of fitness reasons, but later as a tactical choice. Real is much the better side with Ozil on the field. Whenever he played, Real could compete with Barca, challenge for the ball, hold onto it, make strides in possession and create chances. But when it comes down to it, Mourinho, who bought Ozil from Werder, doesn't seem to trust him when his side is playing for all the marbles. Mourinho seems to have discovered a method for combating Barca's dominance over these past two games, by playing three holding midfielders and letting Ozil wreak havoc up front by feeding Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria. But if he continues to insist on letting Ozil play only a part of those games, he might torpedo his own method. And he might come unstuck in his grand plan for dethroning Barca in Europe. If Real is to make it to the Champions League final, it will have to let Ozil orchestrate its understaffed offense all of the time. And not a second less.
I need to start posting in here more as a Real fan. Yesterday's game was pretty fucken sweet and hopefully they can keep this momentum up for the next month. Would make the memory of the embarassing loss in November go away quickly.
Yeah more people should post in here, it was just me and Chilean for a while and he's been busy lately.
I think winning gave a lot of confidence to the team, hopefully they carry it over for the rest of the season
What kind of lineup do yall see TSO running with next Wednesday? With Carvahlo out, does Pepe slide back to CB aside Albiol with the usual 4-2-3-1? Or do you stick with the 4-3-2-1 with Pepe murdering everyone he approaches? Another thought, do yall see the strategy used by TSO yesterrday (hacking everyone in sight, breaking up the midfield) working Wednesday? I feel like Madrid really risk the chance that people get sent off. The ref really didn't want the game to be changed by sending someone off. Still surprised Ramos was never cautioned and Alonso not being sent off.
I'm pretty sure he'll run the 4321 we need the help on defense, i think they might move Pepe back but then their gonna need to stick somebody on Messi just like Pepe was doing, and people need to calm down nobody in that game deserved to be sent off. Their wasn't any malicious intent behind the tackles their just being aggressive. Every Barca fan thinks that every team is just going to sit back and let them pass the whole game, well Jose said fuck that and started coming after them, yeah, we fouled a lot, but nobody deserved to be sent off. I know after this post that Barca fans will come in here and say otherwise but I don't really give a shit. I don't see Jose changing things up to much from what he did last game other than trying to keep Ozil on the field more, because when he came of in the last game Barca really took control .
He'll probably move ramos inside and play arbeloa. I don't think he will want to change anything with how it has been working.
Real Madrid fouls vs Barcelona You can't watch that video and tell me Alonso didn't deserve to be sent off. And Arbeloa got away with plenty of cheap shots.
Madrid flop and roll around just as much as Barcelona. That's just Spanish football. It is what it is.
I'm not trying to start a pissing match. I honestly wonder if the hack-a-shaq strategy will work for yall when you have multiple people on yellow cards and a ref that isn't afraid to caution players.
1:28 deserves a red. I don't give a fuck about those fouls though. Madrid has always played like fags against us. Just look what happened to Messi when we were beating them 5-0.
Pep talk turns air blue April 26, 2011 Email Print By ESPNsoccernet staff Pep Guardiola has hit back at Jose Mourinho in a foul-mouthed rant ahead of the Champions League semi-final first leg between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Bernabeu on Wednesday. Pep Guardiola GettyImagesPep Guardiola has issued a strong response to Jose Mourinho's barbs • Iniesta ruled out • Mourinho channels Einstein • Valdes: Ref could play key role • Guardiola: Real are favourites • Maxwell injury sparks concern • Preview: Real Madrid v Barcelona In his pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Mourinho had referred to Guardiola's response to the officials' decision to disallow Pedro's effort during the Copa del Rey final, claiming he had created a new category of coach by complaining about correct decisions. "Up until now we've had two groups of coaches," Mourinho said. "[There's] a very small group who didn't talk about referees. Then there's a larger group, of which I'm included, of coaches that criticises referees when they make big mistakes. "And with Pep's statements we've come to a third group, which is a one-person group, who criticises good decisions made by the referee. I've never seen this before." Guardiola, at his press conference later in the day, issued a strong response. "Tomorrow at 8.45, we will meet each other on the pitch," Guardiola said. "Off the pitch he has already won. "In this room [press room], he's the f*****g chief, the f*****g man, the person who knows everything about the world and I don't want to compete with him at all. It's a type of game I'm not going to play because I don't know how. "I won't justify my words. I congratulated Madrid for the cup that they won deservedly on the pitch and against a team that I represent and of which I feel very proud. "Off the pitch, he has already won, as he has done all year. On the pitch, we'll see what happens." He added: "If you think that his allegation that I always complain about the referees is true after you've all heard from me over the last three years, well, there's nothing I can do. Off the pitch, there's nothing we can do to fight that." Guardiola does not believe the war of words between the coaches will have any influence on the players. "Do you think the players will run more because I've spoken to Jose through the cameras? It's the Champions League semi-finals," he said. "The players won't be motivated by this - they know what I think about everything associated with this game." He is mad as fuck
More like as fuck with these comments Pep is about as low key as they come. Never seen him get animated and honestly couldn't picture him throwing down f bombs on camera. Mourinho, on the other hand, is a world renowned bitch that always takes things to the media.
it's why EPL is so much better to watch. i see these el classico games and it just reminds me how the spanish league is filled with a bunch of whiny bitches.
literally no one in the history of the premier league has bitched after a match about referees, right?
He brings up a good call and TSO calls his ass out thats fuckin . Then they have the nerve to bring up that the ref for tomorrows match might be Portuguese so he says were going to get an advantage because our coach and top scorer are Portuguese, get the fuck outta here.