Most would agree that the whole world will be watching Real Madrid's first proper game of the season with the La Liga kick off. At the final whistle with a 3-2, the pundits and fans are divided by the optimism of continuous improvement and the omen of not living up to the expectations. Personally, for all the two hours I stayed up in the middle of an ungodly hour (there is a six hour difference between my country and Spain), I haven't enjoyed some decent 10 minutes or so of the match with the stuttering live streams from all those websites hosting it. Unfortunately, whenever I got a glimpse of the match, it was showing tons of proof that our defense is still loosely created without Pepe and Sergio Ramos to concrete it.
I watched the match highlights today for the sake of not wasting my sleep earlier; Kaka's magnificent pass between two players' legs absolutely nailed the proof that he deserved that transfer money let alone his humility itself would outshine any gaffe he could've committed during the match. The pressure for Cristiano Ronaldo was understandably onerous what with the dubbed highest paid transferred in football history. Unfortunately, the almost caught penalty kick will not suffice the fans' exigency for a golden ticket to the CL finals. Lass' goal was brilliant and I think with how he sliced the defense of Deportivo for several times showed that he's one of the best players in the match. The defense, from what you can glean of the 3-2 score, is obviously wobbly. That will not do if we are to face more difficult teams ie. Espanyol next week. Pepe is still under ban and Ramos is injured so it will be Pellegrini's job to stabilize the defense, which has been the team's problem since everything went downhill.
On another note, Bayern Munich's Robben and AC Milan's Sneijder served their revenge best cold to Perez with 3-0 and 0-4 victories over their respective matches. Robben hauled 2 out of the 3 goals with the help of Franck Ribery, who was rumoured to be in exchange for Robben's immediate transfer to the Bundesliga club. It's terribly unfair that Robben, who's got the speed of a bedeviled Ferrari albeit always prone to injury, would easily be disregarded for another player, brilliant or not. It should've been a fair exchange with Robben in Bayern and Ribery in Real Madrid now and not next season or next year. It's sad how the management is treating their transfers with half a mind from the inexplicable based on the players' statistics and the embarrassing tag prices. Real Madrid should be one of the leading clubs for usurious rates, what's the point of being a rich club if not for a little graft and/or corruption for well-deserved players?
Tons of Barcelona fans are already pointing out that even with tons of money utilized for the transfers, Real Madrid will not be able to beat them. Admittedly, there is some truth to those cocksure statements. Almost half of the squad are new and establishing good communication amongst the players will not be a cake walk. The good side of things is that with the good atmosphere built around the friendlies and a acceptable win against Deportivo, I'm all for the continuous progress of the team's performance. One cannot expect an immediate 5-0 victory just because it is possible once in a while. The promised beautiful play by Pellegrini is on the works from what Kaka, Lass and Xabi Alonso have shown. Fans are still going to breathe down Cristiano Ronaldo's neck and Benzema's consistent performance is a good foretelling of what can be achieved for this season.
So, Hala Madrid!
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