jerradpeters.blogspot.com

Tuesday Football
04 March 2008
by Jerrad Peters

Most compelling viewing
Atletico Madrid 4-2 Barcelona

In dramatic style, Real Madrid extended their lead in La Liga to five points on Saturday. Still, their second-half clawback at Recreativo Huelva, however rousing, was somewhat less inspirational than their crosstown rivals’ defeat of Barcelona at Vicente Calderon Stadium. For while the Meringues struggled to overcome a relegation-threatened outfit in Andalusia, Atletico Madrid overwhelmed a Blaugranes squad at the height of its power.

It was a decidedly improved performance from a side which had bowed out of both the UEFA Cup and Copa del Rey in recent weeks. And with each of Espanyol, Racing Santander, and Sevilla lurking just beneath them in the ledger, the three points could not have come at a better time. The fact that they came against surging Barcelona will likely only serve to bolster the confidence in the team. Confidence, it must be said, which looked to have all but abandoned the Rojiblancos in the run-up to Saturday’s kickoff.

But for Sergio Aguero’s quick reply to Ronaldinho’s brilliant opener, Atletico’s self-doubt would surely have been compounded for each moment they trailed the visitors. As it happened, the 19-year-old Argentina international lashed a thunderbolt from the edge of the box which struck defender Carlos Puyol and left goalkeeper Victor Valdes in a lurch. Just six minutes after going behind, the hosts were level. And they did not look back.

Aguero’s equalizer canceled a superb bit of interplay which produced the initial score for Barcelona. On the half-hour, Xavi’s cross found Ronaldinho lurking 16-yards from goal. The two-time World Player of the Year, rather than cradle the awkward pass with his chest, flung himself upside-down and delivered a spectacular bicycle-kick past Christian Abbiatti.

Atletico might have been stunned; but Aguero grabbed his teammates by the shirt collar just moments later. His 10th league goal of the season was followed by Maxi Rodriguez’ go-ahead marker just prior to the interval. Again it was Aguero making things happen. His pass across the face of goal found Maxi who had only to tap the ball past Valdes. Just like that, the hosts had turned the tables on the hottest club in Spain.

They didn’t let off after the restart, either. In the 62nd-minute, Aguero’s run into the box was halted by a Carlos Puyol foul. The Barcelona captain was cautioned with a yellow card and Diego Forlan converted the subsequent penalty. Nine minutes later, Puyol cost his team yet again when he surrendered the ball to Aguero on 40-yards. The former Independiente marksman then proceeded dink past Gabriel Milito before driving a curling effort beyond the reach of Valdes.

Samuel Eto’o pulled one back for the visitors in the 73rd minute. But the damage had already been done. And, combined with Real Madrid’s 3-2 win over Recreativo, Barcelona found themselves five points short of the pace. Atletico, meanwhile, pulled to within three points of third-place Villarreal.

Notable results
Recreativo Huelva 2-3 Real Madrid

Both sets of supporters at Vicente Calderon Stadium burst into applause, Saturday, when the early score from Nuevo Columbio was broadcast throughout the ground. Martin Caceres had tallied an early goal for Reacreativo Huelva. And visitors Real Madrid looked to be on the cusp of another disappointing performance in La Liga.

As a matter of fact, Caceres’ opener could well have been Recre’s second goal on the night. Moments before the Uruguayan defender had deflected a free-kick past Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, Carlos Martins had coaxed a superb save from the Spanish number-one. The run of play was headed in one direction. And it did not look good for the champions.

Had they built on the early lead, Recreativo might well have secured the three points by the interval – such was the apathy of the visitors. But, as it happened, Royston Drenthe produced a seeing-eye cross in the 28th-minute which found the head of Raul. Just like that, it was a level scoreline.

From there, it was the Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez show. The referee made three dismissals in 16-minutes after the restart. Beto was assessed a straight red-card for a challenge on Gabriel Heinze. Sergio Ramos was shown two yellows in the space of five minutes and departed the field in the 55th. And Quique Alvarez, after a late tackle on Arjen Robben, was ushered to the exit in the 68th-minute.

Even with the mad advantage, Madrid could not muster enough energy for a go-ahead until Robinho’s arrival with just over a quarter-hour remaining on the clock. It took the Brazilian just 30-seconds to get acclimatized. His 13th-goal of the season came in the 74th-minute and he added an insurance policy by chipping Stefano Sorrentino in added-time.

Juventus 2-3 Fiorentina

Apparently, La Viola are not a one-man team after all. Even with the absence of the talismanic Adrian Mutu through injury, Fiorentina delivered the goods in a critical encounter with Juventus at Stadio Olympico on Sunday.

Massimo Gobbi opened the scoring for the visitors after a neat one-two with teammate Martin Jorgensen before stroking the ball tidily underneath a diving Gianluigi Buffon in the 19th-minute. But Juve would equalize before the half, as Cristian Molinaro created his first of two goals for the Bianconeri. The 24-year-old left-back swung an arching cross into the area which Fiorentina goalkeeper struggled to punch away from goal. His effort was poor; and Mohammed Sissoko struck his first tally for Juventus when he met the clearance with a brilliant bicycle-kick.

The hosts, with a newfound purpose after the break, briefly took the lead when Molinaro’s cross from the left was met by a timely Mauro Camoranesi volley just short of the hour-mark. The advantage was short-lived, however, as La Viola striker Papa Waigo pulled the guests level after taking advantage of poor defending with 15-minutes remaining on the referee’s watch. And the 24-year-old Senegal international created the winner as well when he crossed to the oncoming Pablo Osvaldo in the second minute of added time. Osvaldo took off his shirt in celebration and was sent-off after being shown a second yellow card.

Napoli 1-0 Inter Milan

The race for the Scudetto was blown wide open, Sunday, as leaders Inter Milan were dealt their first loss of the domestic season away to 11th-place Napoli. Marcelo Zalayata scored the lone goal of the match when he ran onto an Ezequiel Lavezzi pass after the latter was put through by a superb through-ball from Walter Gargano in the 3rd-minute. Lavezzi, himself, might well have doubled the lead just five minutes later.

As a whole, Inter were pitiful. Christian Chivu’s blast just after the half-hour was his side’s best chance at goal. And with draws against Sampdoria and Roma and a loss to Liverpool in the Champions’ League over the past two weeks, morale is sinking among Roberto Mancini’s squad. Needless to say, if they bow out of Europe on Wednesday, the free-fall will be in full swing.

Hamburg 4-1 Eintracht Frankfurt

Bayern Munich may have a four-point lead atop the Bundesliga at the moment; but it would be foolish to anoint them as favorites at this stage of the season. After all, after Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 jostled for pole position through much of last winter, Stuttgart came from nowhere to win the league on the final day of the campaign.

If there is to be a similar finish to the 2007-2008 edition of the Bundesliga, Hamburger SV may be the club to provide the excitement. In third-place after shelling Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend, Huub Stevens’ side have considerable momentum as the schedule nears its climax.

Rafael van der Vaart is a major reason why. The 25-year-old midfielder has carried Hamburg on his shoulders this term. Against Eintracht, he created three goals for his teammates and was the dominant figure on the pitch. In fact, it took the Dutchman just five minutes to make an impression when his cross found the head of Jose Paulo Guerrero.

Frankfurt had scores of chances to equalize before the break, however. Both Christoph Spycher and Michael Fink, in particular, might well have pulled the 7th-place side to level terms had they been more composed in front of goal.

As it happened, the hosts were 2-0 up before the hour-mark. It was an all-Holland move as Nigel De Jong dove to meet Van der Vaart’s free kick with his head. And although Sotirios Kyrgiakos beat goalkeeper Frank Rost to narrow the gap on 70-minutes, it was only a matter of time before Van der Vaart struck again. This time, he blasted at Oka Nikolov and Guerrero had only to tap the rebound behind the Macedonia international. Guerrero became the provider in the 83rd-minute when he fed a streaking Mohammed Zidan inside the area.

Key contributors
Markus Rosenberg

Werder Bremen kept pace with Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich, Saturday. And while 13th-ranked Borussia Dormund came into the match as massive underdogs, Thomas Schaaf was taking nothing for granted. After all, with midfield maestro Diego suspended and each of Tim Borowski, Frank Baumann, and Torsten Frings absent through injury, the Bremen manager knew that someone was going to have to rise to the occasion in order to secure the points.

That man, as it turned out, was Markus Rosenberg. The 25-year-old Sweden international notched his seventh and eighth league goals of the campaign against Dortmund on either side of the interval. The first, a spectacular back-heel from an Aaron Hunt pass, appeared to have been offside. But there was no disputing the second, however, as he drilled the ball past Marc Ziegler from 16-yards.

Wendel

For the first time in seven years, the title race in Ligue 1 is living up to its name. Of course, a good part of this season’s tiny gap atop the table comes down to Lyon’s frequent streaks of indifference. Six championships on the bounce are rather unlikely to feed the hunger at the Gerland. But, something can also be said for Bordeaux’s superb run of form and persistence in pushing the holders for all their worth.

It was with no small amount of emphasis that the Girondins closed Lyon’s lead to three-points at the weekend. The hosts ran out 3-0 winners over Paris Saint-Germain. Though, in truth, the scoreboard might well have read “Wendel 3-0 PSG.”

The left wing-back was dominant on the night. He struck three goals before the hour-mark – each time using his teammates to fluster the visiting backline. He converted Johan Micoud’s pass on 33-minutes into a low, hard drive which beat goalkeeper Mickael Landreau for the opener. And he left PSG’s defense dumbfounded again in the 49th-minute when he played a one-two with Marouane Chamakh before volleying his second. Just two minutes later, he connected with an Alejandro Alonso pass to head past Landreau and complete the hatr-trick.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

Ajax took advantage of trip-ups from Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven to enhance their title chances in the Eredivisie at the weekend. Their decisive 4-0 mauling of Excelsior pulled them to within nine points of leaders PSV and catapulted them over arch-rivals Feyenoord in the standings.

Thanks to the prolific Klas-Jan Huntelaar, Godenzonen were two goals ahead by half-time. The 24-year-old Holland international tallied his 28th-goal of the season when his volley beat Ronald Graafland for the opener. And his haul was increased to 29 after heading George Ogararu’s cross in the 40th-minute. Huntelaar has scored 29-goals in 31-matches this season and is likely to be among Europe’s most sought-after commodities in the summer transfer period.

Man of the weekend
Sergio Aguero

Tim Vickery, the renowned journalist based in Rio de Janeiro, was recently asked to choose between Sergio Aguero and Alexandre Pato. Vickery, you see, is one of the few football commentators to have watched both maestros from their formative years. He was aware of Pato’s genius long before the AC Milan forward tantalized the world at the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan; and he has fervently upheld the 18-year-old as one of football’s future greats.

It came as something of a surprise, then, when Vickery picked Aguero from the two. His choice was vindicated, however, when the 19-year-old Atletico Madrid striker scored two goals and created another later that same afternoon.

His second was particularly special. After stripping Barcelona captain Carlos Puyol of the ball at 40-yards in the 71st-minute, he ran past fellow Argentina international Gabriel Milito before launching a rocket past a helpless Victor Valdes.

With less than two, full European seasons under his belt, the former Independiente forward is already one of the continent’s most dynamic talents. He has brought Atletico from the wilderness into contention for the Champions’ League. And if the Rojiblancos can qualify for Europe’s most prestigious club competition, Aguero will have another stage to make a name for himself.

Your questions

Football fans, and North American footballfans in particular, are often left puzzled by many of the sport’s quirks andpeculiarities. In upcoming editions of my weekly column for theWinnipeg Free Press, I will be answeringyour questions directly. While only one or two will be printed in the newspaper,I will do my best to respond to each query sent my way. You can email yourquestions tojerradpeters@gmail.com.