Real Madrid hosted former coach, Manuel Pellegrini, and his Andalusian side, Malaga, in a match where only one team showed up. A hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo, a brace from Karim Benzema, and singular goals from Angel Di Maria and Marcelo were enough to extend their perfect home record with a 7-0 win.That wins means that Real Madrid still has a 100% home record. Maximum points have been collected at home. However, the win still means that they trail by seven points behind a Barcelona side that came out with a 1-0 victory over Valencia the night prior to this game.
As a side note, Manuel Pellegrini admitted after the match that he had rested some of his first team players for that game because they had played on Monday, and will host Osasuna on Sunday. Apparently, he was complaining about the same thing that somebody else had complained about just some days ago, and was almost crucified for it. It really is a "hypocritical" world we live in.
However, in all the hullabaloo that was the 7-0 thrashing, Cristiano Ronaldo had to be taken off the field and into the dressing room because of an injury he sustained when he completed his hat-trick for the night.
The team's official website then came out with an announcement this morning:
"A magnetic resonance done at Sanitas La Moraleja Hospital has determined Cristiano Ronaldo has a Grade I muscle injury on the left biceps femoris muscle. The player will miss 10-15 days. His recovery is being monitored."
This new development now means that the Portuguese will definitely be out of this Sunday's clash with Racing Santander, and could even possibly miss the second leg tie against Lyon two weeks from now. Bad news.
It doesn't come as a complete shock, however, considering how many minutes he has played this season. Jose Mourinho has put so much trust in the Portuguese winger this season, that before the match against Malaga, he had played a total of 3771 minutes out of a possible 3780 minutes in this season. He also happens to have scored 43% of the team's goals.(He has scored 28 goals his season according to Marca). That's a lot for one player, and one could have easily anticipated this injury a while ago.
That said, with or without Ronaldo, the team should be able to produce results. Now Mourinho is tasked with the duty of tweaking the squad/formation a little to adapt to Ronaldo's absence.
I'd hate to be in his shoes now, but with the number of squad members on the team (25), there should be quite a few options. He could do a like for like replacement, and give Pedro Leon a shot on the wings, or move Ozil to the wings, and slot in Kaka in the middle. Or he could switch to a 4-3-2-1 formation, and play with three central midfielders and a lone striker. He could even go for a 4-2-2-2, with Adebayor and Benzema in front.
Also, Fernando Gago has been reported to be out for three weeks due to a knock he had during training. This is particularly interesting because Lassana Diarra is suspended from the trip to Racing on Sunday, and Sami Khedira is still out due to the injury he sustained against Lyon. This leaves Xabi Alonso as our only natural defensive midfielder. The team has played with at least two holding midfielders so far this season, so this could be a game were Estaban Granero will be trusted to partner Alonso.
On the whole, we will be seeing a lot of changes to the line up in the coming week. It will be interesting to see how Jose Mourinho approaches the next few games, but I do hope Ronaldo gets back in time for Lyon match. That might just be our most important match of the season.
Speaking of Ronaldo, if you're a La Fabrica enthusiast, and want to know about our future (and hopefully better) Ronaldos, read Deepak's piece on how they've fared so far.
I would also like to welcome our newest writer, Pamela. She has agreed to help us in keeping the blog active.
As always, you can follow us on Twitter: @Muna_092 , @rmcanterano and @Pamela_.
Hala Madrid!
Muna
He'll probably have another one of those miraculous recoveries. I doubt he'll miss the Lyon clash. I think Mou'll use Benzema to cover Cristiano's position with Adebayor as the lone striker.
ReplyDeleteI really hope he recovers in time for the Lyon match. That game is important. Using Benz to cover Ronaldo's position is very likely, but that'll mean he really doesn't trust Pedro Leon one bit.
ReplyDeleteEver since that draw against Levante, I think we can all tell Mourinho doesn't trust Pedro Leon, which is sad because a player with his qualities deserves better treatment and more minutes.
ReplyDeleteHaving talked to Bassam on the Real Offside, I am pretty sure Pedro Leon being dropped has nothing to do with his performances on the field or in training, the reason of him not using Pedro Leon is because of Mourinho's big ass ego and the fact that Leon is a Valdano signing. Poor Leon is being mistreated because he isn't the expensive second winger that Mourinho wanted.
ReplyDeleteThat's sad.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds a little bit too ridiculous to be true- the kind of thing you only see in the movies. No, Mourinho was consulted before that signing was made, so it was never done without his consent. However, Valdano made that signing simply to increase the number of Spanish players on the team rather than footballing reasons. If he really wanted a Spanish signing, he might as well have signed one the coach needed. Leon wasn't a required signing, and his space would have been given to Juanfran from the castilla instead. I think he's mature enough to play in the primera division.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Muna your pro-Mou bias is looking obvious. Mourinho obviously has ego issues, everyone knows it. You are playing down Valdano's reasons to sign Pedro Leon because he had a tiff with Mou, Valdano had seen Pedro Leon play before, it wasn't just to "increase the number of Spanish players." Valdano may talk stupid sometimes, but he isn't the one who'll do any harm to the club or make an uninformed signing just to add up the numbers.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with us not needing Leon, if you want a successful season, you need to have depth in your team because the team has to play a LOT of games. Leon's signing seems unnecessary now because he hasn't been used properly.
"If he really wanted a Spanish signing, he might as well have signed one the coach needed"—I said it already he wanted someone expensive, we didn't have the money. And it's not like Mourinho said no, to Pedro Leon, you just said it at the start of the comment too, you're just being hypocritical here.
Plus I highly doubt that Mourinho would have given a rat's ass about who Juanfran is. You saw him whine for a striker, you would have seen him whine for a winger in the winter as well.
Have to disagree with you there hermano. Like I said, these things only happen in the movies. Why would Mou have something against Leon just because he wasn't expensive? Correct ne if I'm wrong, but the only expensive player we bought last summer was Angel Di Maria. After that, the second highest was Mesut(about 16 million). Leon, on the other hand, was bought for 10. Not much of a difference if you ask me. If Leon was needed, Mou will play him regardless of what the amount of money he was bought for. But Valdano came out once and made comments about how Madrid was not going to sell any of its Spanish players. Good news? Yes, but it also meant that all the talk of Barcelona having more players in the world cup winning Spanish NT, and Real Madrid being a foreign team, was getting to him and the club. I have absolutely nothing against Valdano, and in fact, I was happy we signed Leon, but in hindsight, it was a mistake.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, Mou doesn't need expensive signings, and that's why he'll rather keep Adebayor for 15 million, than sign Llorente for 40. But I bet you that Llorente might still be acquired for the singular fact that he is Spanish. In la liga, Spanish players a favored over foreigners. Is it a bad thing? Maybe, maybe not, but that's the way it is.
The truth of the matter is, Leon came to this club with the wrong attitude. It started with the pre-Auxerre happenings, to fighting with Gago, and just a few weeks ago, AS reported that Leon showed up late for training twice in one week, which is weird considering that he trains on his off days. Anyone would know that coming late for training under any coach never ends up well, and doing it twice in one week with Mou as your coach, is just stirring up a hornet's nest.