All of Madrid Celebrates

Its hard to be an Atletico supporter because you never know what you are going to get from your team. They are a mixed bag full of surprises. One day its all bad football and the next they play the game of their life. Thankfully against Barcelona they played their hearts out and delivered probably the best match of the whole season. 7 goals and a lot of drama, really nothing new to an Atleti-Barca clash, but this time all of Madrid cheered and celebrated with their victory.

Before the match there was the whole Messi vs. Kun debate on who would be the star of the match, and I think its easy to say that Kun was brilliant especially in the second half. No one from Barcelona could stop him. He was a mad man on a mission and stormed through all of Barcelona’s defence, cracked the backs of the Azulgrana, and pleased all of the Calderon with his goals. Mission accomplished Kun! While Messi with some sparks of individualism was able to fire some light into a lackluster Barcelona, there was no taking the spot light off of the brilliant Kun. However, Forlan must not be forgotten for he was also utterly amazing. His first goal simply left me speechless and his second goal left me without a voice after screaming my lungs out. Now if only Atleti could just fix their sorry defence which has been their Achilles heel for so long. I think the question on everyone’s mind is why Pablo still is featured on this team.

To the surprise of many Madrid are now only 4 points behind Barcelona and still there is so much more Liga left to play. So this is where La Liga becomes fascinating and where little details will define who in the end takes the prize home. To think these both teams still have to play Atletico Madrid (Madrid still has to face them), Villareal, Valencia (who’s on a free fall), Sevilla, and most importantly have to face each other in El Classico…oh what a finale awaits us.

Far From Over

I look at the picture above and I still cannot believe what may eyes are looking at. What seemed like an indestructible team had fallen in its own soil and no one ever expected. Barca was a solid block that showed no signs of breaking not a single crack. However, now the impossible looks possible and all thanks to their inner city rival Espanyol.   Espanyol took Barcelona off the high horse and brought them back to reality. No team is unbeatable. Once again Espanyol has been a torment for Barcelona and the demons of the 2006-2007 Liga seem to reappear for Barcelona. Madrid scored six goal but the Bernabeu celebrated 8 goals that night. What seemed like a comfortable cushion between them and their eternal rival is cut down to only 7 points and La Liga begins to sizzle. And although 7 points is still quite a distance one has to remember that just a month ago everyone was already handing Barcelona the title, but now the seeds of doubt are planted and one begins to question if Madrid can actually pull it off and bring down one of the best Barcelona teams in the history of their existence. I personally think that Barcelona still have it in them to win it, but I now have what I didn’t have just a week ago, and that is hope. We all know that when Madrid get inspired and injected with faith they turn into a machine that will destroy whatever is in their way to get at what they so desire. So not only does this bring hope that Madrid will obtain a hold of La Liga, but most importantly defeat Liverpool and take one step closer to reaching la decima.

A Silly Mistake Leaves Madrid Dumbfounded…

Madrid now only have a two point lead against an inspired Barcelona who trashed Levante on Sunday. Madrid have lost 7 points in the last five games and this would be their first lost game at home in more than one year. Madrids performance over the last couple of game has not been bad but there has not been effectiveness and consistency in scoring goals. This is their third consecutive lost for the merengues and even though I would not call it a crisis this defeat should be more of a wake up call. Especially after dominating the whole game and losing three points to an absurd error by the whole team. It was a spectacular counter attack by Belenguer, who took advantage of Madrid’s celebration, and an even better finish by Uche who is becoming accustomed to scoring goals against Madrid. The goal was a cold bucket of water to a foolish Madrid. Getafe planted themselves well on the field not letting Madrid’s creative players breathe and in the end were the better team. That’s football, folks.
Still, this is not the end of the world there is still much more Liga to play. Even if they only have an advantage of only two points it is still an advantage. Madrid must move on and look to the next game and return to winning ways because Barca sure have and are thirsty for that first place.