Friday, May 18th, 2012
What a difference a week makes. Come midnight last Saturday evening Real Madrid were on their knees; fatigue an obvious sign as they chased Barcelona’s passing triangles in the final 20 minutes of a 3-1 defeat.
This week Madrid’s awesome athleticism on the counter-attack was back in full force and their much criticised main man, after his two game-changing misses in the Clásico, responded with his fifth hat-trick of the season.
Cristiano Ronaldo said shortly after full time that those who had criticised him could “shut-up” and “don’t understand football,” but despite his three goals Ronaldo wasn’t even the most influential Real player on show as they scored six at the Sanchez Pizjuan for the second successive year.
Instead it was Angel Di Maria, the Argentine spoiling Sevilla’s positive start to the game by finding space in behind the hosts’ midfield and playing a sublime through ball for Ronaldo to sweep home the opener on 10 minutes.
Moments later there was another defining moment as Jesus Navas’ cross seemed certain to be converted at the back post by Manu del Moral, yet somehow Iker Casillas got a hand to the forward’s shot to divert it off the post and away to safety.
Sevilla continued to press for the equaliser but were undone by two more pieces of quality before half -time. Di Maria’s pass for the opener had been his 12th assist of the league season and he had another on 37 minutes as his floated ball over the top found Jose Maria Callejon and he appeared to get the slightest of touches to direct the ball past the onrushing Javi Varas. The visitors had continued to exploit the space in and around Gary Medel in Sevilla’s 4-1-4-1 formation and Ronaldo was given acres of space four minutes later as he blasted a superb shot into Varas’ top-corner from 25 yards.
The only negative for Real after a clinical first period came in stoppage time as Pepe – not for the first time – got himself stupidly sent-off for blocking Alvaro Negredo as they chased a ball down the right. Negredo certainly made the most of the contact but there was no need for the Portuguese defender to even give Clos Gomez the chance to show the second yellow card that resulted in his sixth dismissal as a Real Madrid player.
Any hopes that Sevilla could take advantage of having an extra man were dispelled when Di Maria raced onto Karim Benzema’s pass on 66 minutes before cooly finishing past Varas for his fifth goal of the season.
Navas reduced the arrears three minutes later with a fine finish across Casillas from the edge of the box, but Gomez then also reduced Sevilla to 10 players as Manu was slightly unfortunate to be shown a straight red card for a foul on Alvaro Arbeloa.
With the numbers equalised Madrid’s speed on the counter was far too much for Sevilla to handle. Fazio brought down Benzema as he latched onto a Ronaldo pass inside the area and the Portuguese converted the spot-kick for already his 25th goal of the campaign.
Hamit Altintop then got his first goal for Real with a simple tap-in from Xabi Alonso’s cross before Alvaro Negredo rounded Casillas to make sure the scoreline from last season’s manic game between these two was replicated.
The final goal was insignificant as to the outcome of the game but was still a big goal for Negredo on a night that was made for him to showcase his abilities to Vicente del Bosque. The Spanish international could become a key player in Spain’s European Championship’s squad due to the injury to David Villa and his link-up play, particularly in the first-half, was very effective.
Not that Spain’s worries will matter to Real’s Portuguese duo of Mourinho and Ronaldo who ended a week of rare criticism in emphatic fashion. However those that really ‘do know about football’ will look beyond another Ronaldo hat-trick to the continued development of Di Maria a truly world class performer.
Sevilla 2 (Navas 66, Negredo 90) Real Madrid 6 ( Ronaldo 10, 41 & (pen 86), Callejon 37, Di Maria 69, Altintop 89)
Tags: Alvaro Negredo, Ángel Di María, Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, Sevilla
i honestly think dimaria can be as good as messi or is this too far fetched
Di-Maria had a great game but I’m not so sure he was the most influential player. Did you see Ronaldo in the first half head clear of his area a couple of times and also stop a couple of rushes by Sevilla forwards who were nearing the Madrid net?
And this is a forward that people claim doesn’t track back. Also you forgot to mention that the play that led to Di-Maria’s goal was started by Ronaldo again deep in his own half and the play that led to Altintop’s goal was started by Ronaldo’s pass to Alonso from the top of the box.
Figo early in the week said that whoever criticizes Ronaldo doesn’t know anything about football. Perhaps, Ronaldo was merely repeating Figo’s words if he did say what is claimed in the media. And what the Spanish media is reporting is that he said that his performance should silence those who criticized him. Your translation is rather harsh. Nevertheless, Ronaldo should be crticized for his performance against Barcelona, but he was not the only one who underperformed
With regards to Di-Maria, despite his great season, many people forget that Madrid lost points early in the season because of his histrionics. If he can get away from that type of behaviour he will be among the best in the world.
Another candidate for the most influential player was Iker Casillas. If it weren’t for his miraculous saves the game could have gone in a different direction.
Regardless of what people might think or say, Ronaldo is a good player, maybe lacking a little bit of madridismo. Was a bit dissapointed by his overal work-rate in the El classico and fully deserved the criticisms and boos from the madrisdistas but his statistics and numbers speak for themselves. Lets hope he’s either benched and comes in as a sub, or given a free role in the next clasico.