Blog 31--Soccer: Real Madrid vs. Athletico Madrid: Real Madrid Controlled the Game

by Soccer Coach Albert M. Luongo

On Jan. 20, 2008 Real Madrid had a victory over Athletico Madrid. The score ended Real Madrid 2 Athletico Madrid 0. While Athletico had several chances to score during the game, most were saved by Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Castillas. He had made many spectacular saves, giving an indication that his defense was somewhat wanting. But, Real Madrid out passed and preformed Athletico. Real Madrid also worked the ball up field with much better passing than the opponents. The results were that there were more coordinated attacks by the former and only sporadic attacks by the latter. The final score ended about right.

The first goal came when Robinho passed the ball to Raul from the left wing area. Raul unimpeded by any defenders scored at 40 seconds into the match: Just prior to the goal, a defensive error by an Athletico defender caused the ball to not clear properly enabling Robinho to place the ball in front of the net and to Raul. Their second goal came when Ruud Van Nestelrooy scored from a corner kick. He side volleyed it with his left foot with no chance for anyone to defend against it—making it 2 to 0. No further goals were scored.

The referee, in my opinion, made a serious bad call by giving a yellow card to an Athletico Madrid player who made a perfect legal slide tackle to Robinho at 35 minutes into play. Robinho went down after the tackle, but the tackle was perfectly legal. He should have also awarded a penalty kick against Athletico Madrid at 12 minutes into the second half when Atletico’s player took down Real Madrid’s Salgado--kicking the back of his leg in the penalty area. After that the game got quite rough. It was apparent to me that the referee lost control of the game.

Review:
It seemed obvious to me that Athletico needs to be in better physical condition in order to reduce mistakes on the field and to better compete with a team of the caliber of Real Madrid. Near the end of the match, Athletico made passing and trapping errors that could be generally attributed to exhausted players.

Both teams could use improvements in their defense.

Even though these two teams are rivals, there is no excuse for their fouling. Athletico’s roughness exceeded that of Madrid. The referee should have had better control of the game following the FIFA Laws of the Game.

Note 1. At the FIFA web site it is necessary to scroll down to read it.
Note 2 : I do not give out the referee's name for their own security.


All of the above information is the author's opinion. This article in no way is meant to degrade, discredit or defame any team or person. Its sole purpose is to improve the skills of young soccer players, coaches and the game itself.