FOOTBALL Live

Saturday March 8, 2008 Finished

Real Madrid 2 - Logo 1

Real Madrid

  • Higuaín 42’
  • Raúl 71’ (pen.)

Espanyol

  • López "Valdo" 29’

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Real Madrid
    • Espanyol
    • 90+5 The referee sends Raul Tamudo off, showing him a second yellow for - politely as far as I can tell by my limited but passable Spanish lip-reading skills - asking why he was not given a free kick late on in that game. Now I'm not one for dissent but this ref has been a homer and that much is clear.
    • 90+4 Final whistle goes, Espanyol quite frankly robbed of a draw.
    • 90+3 The corner is sent near post AND KAMENI FLIES IN but he fouls Guti, who got it clear anyway so perhaps in blowing the ref has done Espanyol a mini-favour.
    • 90+2 A frustrated Raul Tamudo is booked for dissent after a corner and not free kick is awarded for a foul on him in the corner... late chance for Real... Kameni is up for this!!
    • 90' Smiljanic enters the book as Guti has a drive that spins just wide. Three minutes added time being played.
    • 88' Guti goes down heavily - I am reluctant to say "like a girl" as that would rather misogynistically imply that women footballers dive, which oddly they do less so than their male counterparts. He's trying to get Jarque sent off but the ref ignores him.
    • 86' Ramos with a mistake lets Ewerthon in but Casillas is wise to it and rushes out to hoof clear, milliseconds before the Brazilian gets there!
    • 85' Sneijder is in space on the left, with Drenthe down injured after flicking it on to his compatriot, but the ref waves play on and he has a crack but saved by Kameni!
    • 82' Marcelo gets the ball on the left, they back off him so ge takes a touch and fires a ferocious drive to the far post which fizzes just wide! Great effort, Roberto Carlos-esque.
    • 80' Espanyol almost work an opportunity in the box but Tamudo's touch lets him down.
    • 79' Good skill by Drenthe on the left to set up a quick move through the middle but Soldado cannot get on the end of Raul's flick and Espanyol clear.
    • 75' REAL SUB: Soldado on for Higuain.
    • 74' Long ball over the top and Drenthe goes down on the edge of the box, claiming Zabaleta fouled him, but the ref waves him up.
    • 72' Raul steps up to take it... and he makes no mistake, drilling it into the bottom right and sending Kameni the other way. 2-1.
    • 71' Raul gets the ball and runs towards the area, he's clearly tugged back by Jarque and the ref gives a penalty! That looked outside the box, and it was. Real get a dodgy penalty, life's tough when you're at the top...
    • 70' Riera with some neat footwork on the left and a whipped-in cross but Casillas is well-placed and saves.
    • 70' Tamudo almost bursts through on the right but, all alone, he is engulfed in a sea of white shirts and Real clear.
    • 68' ESPANYOL SUB: Valdo comes off for Corominas.
    • 65' ESPANYOL SUB: Raul Tamudo on for Jonathan.
    • 64' Guti finally to take then... but a poor effort, blocked by the wall and away.
    • 63' Free-kick to Real about 25 yards out, Guti stands over it as the wall takes its time to organise...
    • 61' Guti gets the ball from distance and tries a left-footed drive for the bottom right but Kameni gets down well to save low.
    • 57' Real break now and the ball is knocked down for BAPTISTA ON THE EDGE OF THE BOX but he drags the shot wide! Seemed to take a deflection, and Real are asking the question, but a goal kick is given.
    • 55' Corner to Espanyol... Casillas totally flaps at the ball, dropping it in the six yard box and the bodies fly in but Guti puts it behind for a corner! Shocking keeping from the Spain number one.
    • 53' The ball drops to Smiljanic ON THE EDGE OF THE BOX WITH A SUPERB SHOT THAT FLIES CENTIMETRES WIDE OF THE RIGHT HAND POST! Casillas was beaten all ends up, that would have been some goal!
    • 51' Real break and almost a chance for Higuain on the right but Torrejon gets back just in time to clear!
    • 50' Drenthe in the thick of things again, this time trying some kind of seal dribble that only succeeds in running the ball out for an Espanyol throw.
    • 48' Drenthe gets booked for mucking about on the sidelines while coming on it seems.
    • 47' Drenthe comes on for Robinho for Real Madrid.
    • 46' Second half underway!
    • 45' Half-time, an even match is even at the break, 1-1.
    • 43' Real come forward, Marcelo on the left cuts inside and out the full back and pings across a quite superb cross for HIGUAIN AT THE FAR POST WITH THE FINISH AND 1-1!! Almost an unbelievable save by Kameni, who somehow got across to block it, but the ball ricocheted in anyway.
    • 41' Luis Garcia is down on the halfway line after being "done" by Pepe. He'll live though.
    • 40' Real come forward, nice one-touch play just inside the Espanyol box but they can't get the shot away, touched to GUTI ON THE EDGE OF THE AREA but his shot is blocked.
    • 39' Free-kick to Espanyol some 35 yards out, he'll send a high one into the box... decent delivery but too close to Casillas who, despite there being no-one near him, makes a right pig's ear of it in diving low to punch it away. He is let off though as no-one is there to get on the loose ball.
    • 37' Free-kick to Real, just outside the area, slightly to the left, all set for Baptista to curl in right footed... and he sends a brilliant effort over the wall and into the top left but acrobatically tipped away by Carlos Kameni!
    • 35' Espanyol with a decent spell of pressure, first Luis Garcia and then Riera going close...
    • 32' Baptista on the right in loads of space taking the ball down and he hammers in a rising drive but it's well over.
    • 29' Free kick to Espanyol on the leftÂ… taken short and swung over by Luis Garcia and Casillas and Pepe flap and VALDO FLIES IN WITH THE FINISH AT THE FAR POST ROOF OF THE NET AND 1-0 TO ESPANYOL!!
    • 27' Spurs target Daniel Jarque is down injured after taking a knock from Heinze but he'll be ok to continue...
    • 26' Good defending by Pepe to nick the ball away from the head of Marc Torrejon - a fairly even opening to this match!
    • 24' Higuain on the ball, he plays Raul clean through and he must score but no, the flag is up, offside.
    • 18' Moises booked for a roughouse challenge on Pepe.
    • 16' Miguel Torres with a ball from the right but Higuain's header is easily dealt with by the Espanyol defence.
    • 13' Heinze on the left for Real, swings over an excellent ball AND JULIO BAPTISTA IS UNMARKED BUT HE SENDS THE HEADER OVER! Another great chance, for the hosts this time.
    • 10' Almost total disaster for Espanyol as a back-pass from Marc Torrejon catches Kameni out and it goes just wide of the far post! That would have been a quite comical own-goal.
    • 7' Luis García with a good ball to the far post but Valdo, on his own with a free header, sends it wide! Poor miss, should have been 1-0!
    • 2' Early scare for Real with Casillas forced into a save from Jonathan Soriano bursting through the middle and sending a drive on goal!
    • - Match underway at the Bernabeu!

  • Team Stats

    Real Madrid Stats Espanyol
    52% Possession 47%
    19 Shots 9
    7 Shots on target 2
    0 Saves 1
    3 Corners 7
    24 Fouls 12
    3 Offsides 1
    1 Yellow cards 5
    0 Red cards 1
    22 Tackles 24
    341 Accurate passes 294
    66 Bad passes 69

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Real Madrid
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Iker Casillas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 0
      3 Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 24 2 4
      12 Marcelo Vieira da Silva Júnior 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 27 10 4
      16 Gabriel Heinze 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 16 6 1
      22 Miguel Torres Gómez 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 40 1 5
      19 Julio Baptista 0 4 1 2 6 0 0 29 6 2
      14 José Maria Guti 0 5 2 1 5 0 0 60 12 0
      6 Mahamadou Diarra 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 53 6 3
      7 Raúl González Blanco 1 1 1 1 2 2 0 21 4 2
      10 Robson de Souza 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 18 8 0
      20 Gonzalo Higuaín 1 3 1 0 2 0 0 12 2 0
      25 Jerzy Dudek 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      8 Fernando Gago 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      9 Roberto Soldado 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1
      24 Javier Balboa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      23 Wesley Sneijder 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 13 1 0
      15 Royston Drenthe 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 17 7 0
      18 Javier Saviola 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    • Espanyol
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Carlos Kameni 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 8 1 0
      21 Daniel Jarque 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 31 5 2
      3 David Garcia de la Cruz 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 35 18 3
      19 Marc Torrejón 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 33 6 2
      22 Moises Hurtado 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 24 3 2
      25 Milan Smiljanic 0 2 0 8 2 0 0 47 11 7
      7 Valmiro Lopes Rocha 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 19 1 5
      24 Jonathan Soriano Casas 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 8 2 0
      8 Pablo Zabaleta 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 19 2 1
      11 Alberto Riera 0 4 0 2 3 0 0 19 10 1
      10 Luis Garcia 0 0 0 2 4 0 1 33 9 0
      20 Ferran Corominas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 0 1
      12 Eugen Anghel Ewerthon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
      27 Alberto Serrán 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      14 Ángel Martínez Cervera 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      13 Iñaki Lafuente 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      2 Francisco Chica Torres 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      23 Raúl Tamudo 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 1 0

  • Summary

    • 90+5 The referee sends Raul Tamudo off, showing him a second yellow for - politely as far as I can tell by my limited but passable Spanish lip-reading skills - asking why he was not given a free kick late on in that game. Now I'm not one for dissent but this ref has been a homer and that much is clear.
    • 90+3 The corner is sent near post AND KAMENI FLIES IN but he fouls Guti, who got it clear anyway so perhaps in blowing the ref has done Espanyol a mini-favour.
    • 86' Ramos with a mistake lets Ewerthon in but Casillas is wise to it and rushes out to hoof clear, milliseconds before the Brazilian gets there!
    • 85' Sneijder is in space on the left, with Drenthe down injured after flicking it on to his compatriot, but the ref waves play on and he has a crack but saved by Kameni!
    • 82' Marcelo gets the ball on the left, they back off him so ge takes a touch and fires a ferocious drive to the far post which fizzes just wide! Great effort, Roberto Carlos-esque.
    • 72' Raul steps up to take it... and he makes no mistake, drilling it into the bottom right and sending Kameni the other way. 2-1.
    • 57' Real break now and the ball is knocked down for BAPTISTA ON THE EDGE OF THE BOX but he drags the shot wide! Seemed to take a deflection, and Real are asking the question, but a goal kick is given.
    • 55' Corner to Espanyol... Casillas totally flaps at the ball, dropping it in the six yard box and the bodies fly in but Guti puts it behind for a corner! Shocking keeping from the Spain number one.
    • 53' The ball drops to Smiljanic ON THE EDGE OF THE BOX WITH A SUPERB SHOT THAT FLIES CENTIMETRES WIDE OF THE RIGHT HAND POST! Casillas was beaten all ends up, that would have been some goal!
    • 43' Real come forward, Marcelo on the left cuts inside and out the full back and pings across a quite superb cross for HIGUAIN AT THE FAR POST WITH THE FINISH AND 1-1!! Almost an unbelievable save by Kameni, who somehow got across to block it, but the ball ricocheted in anyway.
    • 37' Free-kick to Real, just outside the area, slightly to the left, all set for Baptista to curl in right footed... and he sends a brilliant effort over the wall and into the top left but acrobatically tipped away by Carlos Kameni!
    • 29' Free kick to Espanyol on the leftÂ… taken short and swung over by Luis Garcia and Casillas and Pepe flap and VALDO FLIES IN WITH THE FINISH AT THE FAR POST ROOF OF THE NET AND 1-0 TO ESPANYOL!!
    • 13' Heinze on the left for Real, swings over an excellent ball AND JULIO BAPTISTA IS UNMARKED BUT HE SENDS THE HEADER OVER! Another great chance, for the hosts this time.
    • 10' Almost total disaster for Espanyol as a back-pass from Marc Torrejon catches Kameni out and it goes just wide of the far post! That would have been a quite comical own-goal.
    • 7' Luis García with a good ball to the far post but Valdo, on his own with a free header, sends it wide! Poor miss, should have been 1-0!
    • 2' Early scare for Real with Casillas forced into a save from Jonathan Soriano bursting through the middle and sending a drive on goal!

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: César Muníz Fernández

  • Real Madrid

    Manager: Bernd Schuster

    On the Field

    • Casillas
    • Torres
    • Pepe
    • Heinze
    • Marcelo
    • Diarra
    • Guti
    • Higuaín Goal Substitution Out (73′)
    • Baptista Substitution Out (64′)
    • Robinho Substitution Out (47′)
    • Raúl

    Subs

    • 25. Dudek
    • 18. Saviola
    • 23. Sneijder Substitution In (64′)
    • 9. Soldado Substitution In (73′)
    • 24. Balboa
    • 16. Gago
    • 15. Drenthe Substitution In (47′) Yellow Card

    Injured

    • 21. Metzelder
    • 11. Robben
    • 17. Van Nistelrooy

    Suspended

    • 4. Ramos

  • Espanyol

    Manager: Ernesto Valverde

    On the Field

    • Kameni
    • Zabaleta Yellow Card
    • Jarque Yellow Card
    • Torrejón
    • García Yellow Card
    • Hurtado Yellow Card
    • Smiljanic Yellow Card
    • López "Valdo" Goal Substitution Out (66′)
    • Riera Substitution Out (81′)
    • Soriano Substitution Out (65′)
    • García Fernández

    Subs

    • 23. Tamudo Substitution In (65′) Yellow Card Red Card
    • 13. Lafuente
    • 16. Ewerthon Substitution In (81′)
    • 20. Corominas Substitution In (66′)
    • 2. Chica
    • 14. Ángel
    • 27. Serrán

    Injured

    • 9. De la Peña

    Suspended

    None