Half full bottle. I already know that Rayo, an admirable team led by Iraola, ended up putting Madrid in their area and that they even had a chance to draw if it were not for Kroos’ saving leg over the line. But it wouldn’t have been fair. For almost 70 minutes, Ancelotti’s team was superior, had a better staging and left us football moments for the newspaper library. Apart from the two goals (that of Kroos was a marvel with a beastly shot to the squad and that of Benzema, a killer of the pure area) I am left with the Maradonian play of Vinicius in the second half. He dodged rivals as if they were cones and eluded Dimitrievski with a shot that was on his way to glory. But Catena did her duty and avoided what would have been the goal of the year. A plethora of individual action available only to the chosen ones. Tite must have had tremors when he saw the maneuver of the player who he had initially left off the ‘canarinha’ list. Only Firmino’s injury has kept Tite from being discredited for the remains. And then another fantasy play came, with two heels included by Mendy and Vini, which almost ended in a goal from Karim. Those were the moments where the ‘tiki-taki’ of Madrid shone and you could see the 3-0 coming at any moment. But…
Falcao appeared. The but put it the entrance of the Colombian to the field. He is so good that even physically depleted he is a torment in the area for the rival defense. His header goal, although he had the involuntary help of Alaba’s heel, evidenced the quality of this Tigre de Vallecas that has no expiration date. His muscular injury left him out in that final arreón of the Rayo. A relief for the 43,000 madridistas who came to the Bernabéu, who already saw an inopportune puncture coming after what had happened in Vigo …
Blades ‘quality’. Actually, Madrid-Rayo started several hours before. Real Madrid enjoyed Celta’s heroic comeback, capable of equalizing 0-3 at halftime. The fans arrived at the stadium like a motorcycle, aware that the opportunity to leave Barça definitively knocked out of the fight for the league title was at hand. This is how the Vikings from the Peña Iluro de Mataró and my friend José Manuel Moreno López, from Vélez-Málaga, confessed that at 19 years of age he lives the merengue feeling as if he had been born in front of the Bernabéu. That agonizing goal by Aspas was celebrated as much or more than those of Kroos or Benzema al Rayo. Logical. The possibility of leaving Koeman-Sergi Barjuán-Xavi’s Barça to 10 points is priceless. In fact, it is something that has not happened for almost 30 years (1991-92 season, as reported in Carousel). The communicating vessels of the Aerial Bridge work like this and the white fans arrived at the sanctuary of La Castellana with an exaggerated euphoria that was on the verge of breaking if Kroos’s leg does not appear, which avoided near the end the 2-2 by taking out bass sticks a shot from Oscar Valentin. The German, to whom we sometimes attribute a certain scenic indolence despite his quality, must be honored. Between his goal and the one he avoided was the great savior of the leader, who went to bed alone waiting for what the Real Sociedad in Pamplona does this afternoon.
Chapeau by the Ray. I insist on the fashionable joke. “Do you know why they call Barça the thunder? Because it goes behind the Ray ”. Iraola’s team is so good that despite their defeat at the Bernabéu they still get three points from the Catalans. Iraola is a young coach with method and ambition, which reflects his team with a commendable attitude. With 2-0 he did not give up and he put fear in our bodies with an incredible final grip. This is Vallecas.
#Barça #points