Standard Liege 1-1 vs. Real Madrid - Full Time Report; Spanish Giants Falter in Their Last Pre-Season Friendly
Real Madrid did not live up to the hype created before the match; it was expected that the Spanish giants would destroy their Belgian counterparts, Standard Liege, in their last summer pre-season friendly, but the final score read 1-1. It was an unexpected score-line, especially going on Madrid’s and Standard’s last six fixtures: Madrid winning most of theirs, while Standard settling for draws.
Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho had named his line-up yesterday, confirming that he had no intention of starting any of the new signings. The new signings included Angel di Maria, Ricardo Carvalho and Sami Khedira, who would have most likely made a difference in tonight’s match. Mourinho, however, said that he preferred to play his previous line-up in the last friendly, stressing that he was confident in their ability to secure a confident win.
Sadly, this was not to be as the Spanish giants stumbled to an embarrassing draw, when everyone expected them to win. The scoring opened when Rafael Van der Vaart took a free kick and converted it in his usual fashion, hitting the back of the net. The kick was taken right outside the penalty box and the inch perfect curling made it impossible for the Standard goalkeeper, Kristof Van Hout, to save. It did however, cause him to dive for a very comical attempted save.
Fifteen minutes later, Standard were certain they had equalized, but before they could start celebrating, the referee decided that the goal had been offside. Eliaquim Mangala, the Standard all-rounder, managed to get his head on Sebastien Pocognoli’s free kick, which ended at the back of the net. However, unfortunately for Standard, the referee and the linesman agreed that the Frenchman had been offside and that the goal did not count. Madrid breathed a sigh of relief; they had not expected to lose their lead and were grateful for the second chance at a clean sheet.
The offside goal seemed to have a positive effect on Standard, and the revitalized Belgian side’s performance improved noticeably. Madrid were struggling at this point, and the only player that Madrid manager Jose Mourinho can be proud of would be Karim Benzema. Benzema was endlessly on the move, unlike Mourinho’s previous star striker at Inter Milan, Samuel Eto’o. The Frenchman lived up to his pre-match claims as to how he wanted to perform better.
The French striker had admitted that his previous season had been somewhat of a failure and how he hoped to learn from that and improve. His dedication showed, as he ran the length of the field, creating chances and waiting to be presented with some, which never came. Madrid’s squad seemed incomplete; the defence seemed hollow, the midfield had holes and the strikers weren’t menacing enough. Mourinho’s need to bring in both experienced and younger players is starting to make sense now.
Despite knowing that his team was not performing up to their normal standard, the master tactician made changes in the second half which significantly turned the game in Madrid’s favour. Sergio Canales was the star of the second half for Real Madrid. Another youngster who impressed was Daniel Opare, the former Madrid player. He held his ground and refused to be intimidated by Madrid’s star player, Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, the Belgians were not to give up that easily. They equalized with about 12 minutes to go, and by then the exhausted Madrid could do nothing about it. Christian Benteke, the young Belgian international, scored for Standard. Another header, and this time it was not offside. For the Belgians, this was a good result, for Madrid, not so much. Madrid start their League campaign against Mallorca in 12 days, and will hope to do better than they did tonight.
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