Filed under: Game annalysis | Tags: Madrid, Barcelona, Schuster, Villareal, Real Madrid, Mallorca, Real Mallorca, Dauden Ibanez, Robben, Guiza, Refs
This evening held what some might call a normal outing for Madrid. The Ono Estadi was almost at capacity awaiting the start of what promised to be an electrifying game. Madrid was to play Mallorca. At a glance you might think that Madrid was favored to win but Mallorca had the vote of all the La Liga junkies. Mallorca had ousted Madrid from the King’s Cup earlier this season and gave Madrid a game to remember in the Bernabeu. So all in all this was a pretty exciting game knowing what was on the line for Madrid and the hidden promise Mallorca brought to the pitch (not so hidden to Schuster). Poor Dauden Ibanez blew his whistle and the two teams went at it. Mallorca took the game to Madrid and proved themselves to be a dangerous team to be overlooked.
The reason I say “poor” Dauden is because it seemed as if he was watching a different game. He annulled a legal goal by Fernando Navarro, his linesman called back a clear one on one play Basinas vs. Casillas, the strange thing being that Basians was in his own half of the field when the pass was made to him… and then the “involuntary” Cannavaro hand ball inside the box was, well, involuntary? you guessed it, no call. I’m not one to complain about refs but tonight was a sham, even the pro-Madrid sports paper Marca admitted it was a bit over the top, if you can read Spanish I suggest you take a look. And all of this in the first half! When Madrid went ahead in the 42nd minute thanks to a beautiful slalom by Robben and a nudge by Sneijder it wasn’t much of a surprise. The leaders of the Spanish league are known for taking advantage of the few opportunities they make for themselves. But Mallorca wasn’t about to throw in the towel. The second half was a more intense version of the first minus Dauden’s poor judgment. Mallorca came our swinging and it became quite evident that Schuster’s boys were going to have to buckle down if they were going to take any points away from the Ono Estadi. In my humble opinion they shouldn’t have. A dominating Mallorca saw themselves rewarded by a glorious shot into the upper ninety courtesy of Balero. Unfortunately Guiza couldn’t put a definitive 2-1 on the board when his open net shot pinged off the cross bar. The game ended in a 1-1 draw no thanks to Mr. Dauden Ibanez.
I mentioned that this was a normal outing by Madrid earlier, let me explain what I mean. Throughout the whole 2007-2008 season Madrid have found themselves rewarded by juvenile reffing, I’ll go as far and reference Almeria, the first and second Mallorca games, Recreativo, and so on. Don’t get me wrong Madrid is not the only one with special treatment in La Liga, Barcelona have had their “fair” share of help as well. I just have to wonder what the standings and the level of play would be like in Spain if the refs didn’t favor the big teams, Villareal might be at the top of the table. Who knows?
I encourage you to watch the Barcelona vs. Getafe game tomorrow. It promises to be just as electrifying as tonight’s game, if the ref allows it.
