By S.Aravind
January 11 2007

Valencia vs Real Madrid.A fixture watched by 52000 at Mestalla and millions all over the world and yet it is very much under-rated in terms of its rivalry and the drama these 2 teams produce everytime they meet.Maybe fans are more bothered about the football on show and rightly so this time around. 0- VALENCIA: Cañizares, Miguel, Albiol, Ayala, Curro Torres; Joaquín, Pallardó (Tavano, 72’), Baraja, Silva; Angulo and Villa (Vicente, 14’).

1- REAL MADRID: Casillas, Salgado, Ramos, Cannavaro (Mejía, 45’), Roberto Carlos; Reyes, Diarra, Emerson, Robinho (De la Red, 68’); Raúl; Van Nistelrooy.
GOALS:

0-1, min.51: Raul.

The Referee : Luis Medina Cantalejo is one of Valencia’s more favoured official, as they have not lost under him while it was the opposite for Madrid as they have won only 2 out of 8 games under Cantalejo. Maybe Raul was thinking about the same stat as well while posing for the photograph with Baraja and the officials as you could see that with his wry smile he had some plans to change that stat for starters!

First Half :

Within the first 10 minutes, Valencia had 3 corners piled in on Madrid mainly due to the highly rated David Silva and his wizardry on the ball. With so much height in their team, Valencia didn’t make most of their corners but. On the other end, Raul signaled his intentions very clearly as he headed over the bar from Robinho’s cross. Amidst a busy opening, the Referee managed to keep a cool head as he allowed advantage to be taken after Cannavaro axed Villa just in front of the penalty box and when the possession was wasted by Angulo resulting in a goal kick, Cannavaro was rightly booked.

In the 16th minute, things looked down for Valencia with Vicente coming on for a struggling unfit Villa. The former had immediate impact as his cross was tipped over by Casillas. It was all Valencia in terms of possession and intent in the first half as they clearly out-worked, out-muscled and out-thought Madrid’s midfield but they couldn’t find a way past Madrid’s back 4, who were having a very disciplined outing so far.

Pallardo and Baraja were winning their battles with Emerson and Diarra while the wingers of Valencia were showing Robinho and Reyes how it’s done. The pick of the bunch was David Silva as he was a notch above others on the pitch with his dribbling and the quality in his passes and deliveries. Vicente slotted into his left wing position with ease and gave Salgado a tough comeback game.

To Madrid’s credit, it looked like they expected this burst in the first half from Valencia and played their cards accordingly with a counter attacking game through Robinho and Raul. Ruud van Nistelrooy barely touched the ball in the first half and yet he managed a good save out of Canizares from an acute angle. Madrid was happy to sit deep and absorb the pressure while Robinho and co plan a siege once in a while on the ever-present Ayala’s backline.


Second Half :

Valencia picked up from where they left in the first half with the possession domination and efficient wing combination on the same flank by Silva and Vicente. But then, in the 53rd minute, the God’s of Football taught Valencia a harsh lesson when they sent their prodigal son, Raul Gonzalez running through the middle only to capitalize on a triangulation passing from Reyes and Carolos in the left side of Valencia’s box. Raul finished with aplomb and class with his golden left foot and continued to stamp his revival of fortunes this season all over La Liga.

If lessons are meant to be learnt, then Valencia on the day were a really bad student as right after Raul’s goal, Angulo spurned a sitter in front of an open goal by taking an extra touch after Casillas padded a shot from the classy Silva. Clearly, Valencia missed Fernando Morientes and his predatory skills inside the box as Angulo is not a prolific scorer .

Coach Quique Sánchez Flores could only watch with amazement to an extent as his side continued to get hold of the ball but rarely penetrated the Madrid defense even when the latter had lost Cannavaro due to a strong twitch of his right thigh hamstring muscle and was promptly replaced by a confident looking Mejia.

On the other hand, Capello, added to his counterpart’s woes by taking off a pale Robinho and bringing on the all action central midfielder De la Red just to give some steel to their suffering midfield. The move worked very well as Diarra and Emerson got their work cut out with De La Red and his exuberance.


Verdict :

Valencia’s performance clearly justified their mid table position as it was all huff and puff but for Madrid, class prevailed in the end in the form Raul Gonzalez .Let me finish the review with Thierry Henry’s quote on Raul –

"When he plays, in his mind there is only the goal; it's the football essence. Every time they do something, you stand up over your seat".


That’s a statement which summed up the evening as Mestalla stood up to fend the balls from Valencia’s strikers while in the end it had to stand up finally to applaud Raul and the epitome of a legend.