Project Status: Fail. No trophies, no awards, dumped out of CL by lesser side in second round.
Fast Forward one year. Even more money spent, a new manager who styles himself as "The Special One," a new pitch, and....same result.
JoJo Mourinho's "park the bus" footy is not going over well in Madrid. The fans are restless, as the goals are not pouring from the Kajillion-dollar feet of their prima donnas.
Add in a petulant winger who changed his number (much to the dislike of the Raul fans), and then promptly lectured the Madridista faithful on the finer points of fandom...do not whistle.
Poor Ronny found himself in the press again this week when Iker Casillas' "sports reporter" girlfriend Sara Carbanero ("Pastasauce" to the Kickette.com clan) was interviewed for a show in Italy and announced that Cristiano was an "egotistical and selfish player." Of course her boyfriend (whom she passionately kissed on the lips during an interview after Spain won the World Cup...don't get me started on the unprofessionalism rant here) came out and said she didn't really mean that, as did Mourinho and a few other players...of course ignoring the fact that she said this on videotape. A little hard to recant that, isn't it?
I can't imagine what the view from inside the Bernabeu is, but from the outside it's...well...let's ask the greatest manager in the world what he thinks:
Sir Alex Ferguson said this week,
“I’ve spoken to Jose a couple of times. He’s not managing a normal club. Sometimes he’s managing a circus."
After Barca stumbled against a lesser side, dropping all three points, the Madrid hopefuls saw an opportunity to finally vault in front of their nemesis, the one club who have thumbed their noses at Real's insistence that they are the One True Club in Spain.
They briefly took the lead (of course ignoring the fact that another club had played one fewer match) and the papers screamed of a new era for Madrid...*tires screeching*...until they took a trip to Levante.
Who is Levante? A newly-promoted side who are languishing in 17th place in the league, with no big names, a budget that would mirror Cristiano's yearly haul, a defense that had conceded 10 goals in their opening four games - the worst record in La Liga, and probably no hope of finishing in the top three...but apparently they have something that Real Madrid do not...heart.
They fought valiantly today, having to contend with the Professional Divers Association that is the Galacticos...shameful. For the last 30 of the match, the desperateness of Madrid became evident (helped along by a sternly pacing manager on the touchline) so they resorted to the only thing they truly did well in the match...DIVE. After Cristiano went down (unaided by the opponent who received a yellow card) I fully expected to see a groundhog emerge from a hole, giggle, then disappear again...that's how comical the display was. Mourinho seems to disagree with my assessment and said after the match that he thought 10 of the Levante players would be going to the hospital (since they were falling on the ground). I suppose the greasepaint has seeped into his eyes, because his tumblers and their three-ring act were world class! Despite the tragedy in two halves, not even a pimped-out clown car could have helped them...0-0.
Maybe he should put his thumb back in his mouth, like last week...
In two separate incidents, Cristiano showed no class at all. First, he shoved another player down while going for the ball (no card given despite the player having a cut on his lip), and then the ball was stripped from him and he went to the ground. When he realized he had lost the ball, he kicked out at the player (del Horno). The Levante players screamed at the referee to give him a red card, and as the referee approached, Mourinho was screaming things from the sideline. The referee scolded Mourinho (who was apparently yelling at the Levante players to shut up) but the circus ringmaster successfully diverted the attention away from Cristiano...who received no card at all. One of the Levante players said after the match that "Mourinho should be told to shut up; he provokes all the players." Maybe they should take a page from King Juan Carlos when he addressed Hugo Chavez, and tell Mourinho, "Por que no te callas?!"
Cristiano's behavior has not gone unnoticed by the Spanish press. Marca.com commented on "The Two Faces of CR7." They opined that his anxiety gets the better of him and he acts in a bad way. The incident with del Horno was particularly troubling to them and the Madridistas in attendance, calling his actions "absurd and unnecessary," and warned that he needs to "control his outbursts."
Madrid had 25 shots (6 on goal) to Levante's 4 shots (with 0 on goal). If we looked at this from a mathematical standpoint...I think you would see that Levante is the better deal. They managed to grab a point from Real Submarine on a shoestring budget...kudos to them!
The result of this match is that Valencia are now in the top spot (despite selling David Villa to Barcelona and David Silva to Manchester City), Barcelona has vaulted back in front of Real Circus, and Jose still thinks he's Special.
This week, the Galacticos took their annual team photo:
Circo de Bernabeu
I only have one photo of the match:
Cristiano oiling his RM clown car...the wheels have come off
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