Real Madrid: Championship Form in 2007-2008 Spanish La Liga Season
2006-2007 Spanish La Liga Champions Real Madrid look to be in championship form as they hope to become back-to-back champions of the Spanish La Liga. Real Madrid just recently won their 3rd consecutive match of the season against Almeria, and remain undefeated in the Spanish La Liga 2007-2008 season.
The match of Real Madrid against Almeria at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid was a very slow start for the Los Galacticos home side probably because Real Madrid’s players were still recovering from their recent stint in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers where most of the squad had to fulfill their obligations for international match play with their respective countries. Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas and defender Sergio Ramos had to play for the Spanish National team; striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy and midfielder Wesley Sneijder had to represent the Netherlands; defenseman Fabio Cannavaro had to play with 2006 World Cup Champions Italy; and defender Christoph Metzelder had to play for Germany.
Almeria, in its first season being promoted to La Liga from the 2nd Division in two decades, weren’t at all sluggish, and looked to pounce on Real Madrid early on. In fact, they had such a formidable defense that closed in on midfielders Guti and Sneijder to hold up any offense from the midfield.
However, it was Real Madrid who struck first when striker Raul fired a shot to the Almeria goal, and was deflected by Almeria keeper David Cobeno to the post. New transferee from Barcelona Javier Saviola was able to kick in the rebound to give him his first goal for Real Madrid.
There were many back-talks about Javier Saviola with Real Madrid critics saying that Real Madrid shouldn’t sign what Barcelona is throwing away. However, the fans were very pleased with Saviola’s goal and are expecting him to score more for Los Merengues.
“I was terribly excited when I scored because I dreamt about scoring my first official goal for months. I wanted to live up to the expectations the Club had of me. I am incredibly happy. It was very exciting to net that strike because it was a race to see who reached the ball that had ricoched off the post first. Luckily, I got there in time,” commented Javier Saviola at the Real Madrid website.
Real Madrid eventually tired out the Almeria defense, and looked very close to scoring the second goal of the match with cloes attempts from Sergio Ramos and Raul.
Real Madrid extended their lead to 2-0 in the 69th minute when Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder drilled a rocket of a free-kick into the Almeria goal from around 25-yards out.
Nigerian international Kalu Uche of Almeria was able to give the visitors a glimpse of hope with a goal on the 73rd minute. Alermia midfielder Fernando Soriano found Kalu Uche on the left side, and Kalu Uche had no problems slotting past Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas from close range.
Real Madrid sealed the deal finally with some Argentinian team work care of Gonzalo Higuain and Fernando Gago. Real Madrid substitute Gonzalo Higuain received a thru-ball from Fernando Gago, and Higuain lobbed it calmly over the head of Almeria keeper David Cobeno to give Real Madrid a 3-1 advantage.
Real Madrid’s victory give them the full 3 points, and they sit at the top of the Spanish La Liga with 9 points and are still undefeated. Valencia trail Real Madrid at the second spot wiht 6 points, earning a last-minute goal to give them a victory in their match against Real Valladolid 2-1.
Real Madrid will have to maintain their championship form as they host Werder Bremen in the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday September 18 in their first match of the UEFA Champions League group stages.
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Their next Spanish La Liga match will be against Real Valladolid when they visit the Estadio Jose Zorilla next weekend on September 23.
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