So, there we go; thanks all for your company, enjoy what’s left of your weekend, and goodnight.
Full-time: Real Madrid 2-2 Valencia
That was a very good game. Madrid were slightly off it but still very good, Asensio in particular, while Valencia played more or less as well as they can, strong at the back and ballsy going forward. They thoroughly earned their point, and look a good bet for the top four.
90+4 min Mina wriggles through the centre-circle and suddenly the pass to Zaza is on! Mina finds him, and just outside the box he skips past Nacho, but fearing his lack of pace, he dives over Casemiro’s leg trying for a penalty instead of trying to shoot; the ref is not conned.
90+2 min What a save Neto! Carvajal finds himself with the ball on the by-line, back to goal, so feints right, spins left, and crosses. Benzema is in the middle! And connects with header, five yards out! But Neto leaps right and pushes the ball against the post!
90 min There shall be four added minutes.
88 min What a miss Benzema! Vasquez scampers down the right and crosses towards Asensio; he fancies himself a hat-trick, but Vezo blocks well and then, from eight yards, in front of goal, Benzema passes wide! He has missed four sitters tonight!
88 min Rodrigo departs; I didn’t quite see who arrived. Ah, it was none other than Santi Mina.
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87 min Asensio has been quiet this half, but my days he’s making up for it now. He leaps, flicks out a leg, and somehow transfers the ball from waist-height into his stride, streaks away down the left, and crosses low towards the near post; Benzema arrives and turns over the top.
86 min Looking at that free-kick again, Asensio hit just hard enough; the ball bounced almost immediately it crossed the line. He gauges distance, angle and power brilliantly.
84 min Soler trips Kovacic and is booked. Valencia must keep the heid now. Mayoral replaces Kroos, who’s had better nights.
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GOAL! Real Madrid 2-2 Valencia (Asensio 83)
Another brilliant hit! He smacks a sidefooter around the wall, just over the head of Soler who shows it his arse, and the ball speeds past Neto and inside the far post. What a talent this kid is!
81 min Kovacic eases away from Rodrigo, who trips him just outside the box; he’s booked. Free-kick, 22 yards out, right of the D; will it be Kroos or Asensio?
80 min Modric, given time on the ball, slides down the right to Vasquez, but his cross is cut out and cleared.
79 min Madrid don’t look like scoring, but they probably will because that’s what they do.
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-2 Valencia (Kondogbia 77)
Well! Another raid down the left, Gaya crossing low and hard, and when Zaza worried Nacho the ball broke to Kondogbia following up on the edge of the box. He composed himself and passed a left-footer low into the corner; that’s a fine finish, and well-earned rewards for Valencia’s discipline and enterprise.
75 min Change for Valencia: Vidal on for Montoya.
74 min Lucas Vasquez replaces Bale; he’s been disappointing, and won’t be in the side when everyone’s available.
73 min ...Parejo doesn’t waste any time, smacking a sidefooter towards the far top corner, which Navas flies after, palming behind. The corner comes to nowt.
72 min Carvajal is late on Gaya, and is booked; free-kick Valencia, 25 yards out, left of centre...
71 min Soler arcs a cross into the box, finding Zaza at the near post; he heads ineptly over the top, believe it or not.
71 min Carvajal slings over a dangerous cross, which Neto dives into; good keeping.
69 min Lovely ball down the channel for Rodrigo, and he’s got Zaza in the middle! He looks to pivot and square, but Casemiro does just enough. Valencia look threatening almost every time they attack; they’re just not getting to attack very often.
67 min Parejo looks to challenge Kroos, sticking out a leg from an upright position but with studs showing. This earns him a yellow card, which seems harsh to me; not in England, etcetera etcetera.
66 min Another delectable cross from Marcelo, this time picking out Bale. He soars into the air, looks for all the world like he’s about to score, then glances his header wide.
64 min Valencia send Madrid shuttling backwards and forwards. They’ll take that.
62 min Gaya crosses well from the left, Zaza can’t reach the ball, but Kondogbia can! He heads downwards, but towards his feet downwards, and has a right result when the flag goes up.
60 min Soler runs across Casemiro, who scissors him; he’s booked, which looks a little harsh. It was a foul, but not a dangerous one and 40 yards from goal.
59 min Kroos diddles Soler by the left by-line, so Soler ploughs through him; he’d already committed to the slide. The free-kick is aimless, and headed away.
58 min Madrid are all over Valencia now, but not creating much clear-cut. Which is to say that Valencia are well-drilled and composed; look, there’s Zaza heading yet another corner away!
56 min Brilliant from Modric, ghosting into the box between Lato and Kondogbia and collecting Carvajal’s pass on his chest before lashing over the top.
54 min Nacho is booked for jumping in the back of someone; my picture fuzzed out, so I didn’t quite see who, but you get the gist.
53 min As so often, Marcelo is Madrid’s outlet, and he arcs a lovely cross into the box which Benzema tries to allow across his foot so that he can guide into the far corner. He doesn’t judge it right, though, and that’s another chance missed.
51 min Marcelo wins a corner down the left, but again Kroos’ delivery is careless, the ball pumped into the box and headed clear.
50 min Casemiro ambles forward and with no one mithering to mither, hits a shot which hops and skips past the far post; Neto barely rouses himself to interfere.
50 min I think Kovacic replaced (Let’s All Have An) Isco.
49 min Marcelo races past Montoya who trips him; he’s booked.
48 min In the bit of time I didn’t have a picture, we learnt that Kovacic came on; I’m not quite sure who for, but bear with me.
46 min We start again, just as Sky dips out, skips some times and returns.
Half-time: Real Madrid 1-1 Valencia
That was a very nice bit of the old soccer, featuring two lovely goals. It looked a bit easy for Madrid to begin with, well though Valencia acquitted themselves, but the equaliser gave them a boost and an end-to-end game ensued. The second half should be just as good.
45 min Isco finds space on the right and lays back to Kroos who, from the edge of the box floats over a lovely cross for Benzema! He’s in bare hectares! But he takes his eye off the ball and glances wide!
44 min Somehow that Sky glitch which took about two minutes appears to have stolen eight minutes of football. Apologies.
43 min Bale shows up on the left and curls in a cross which Murillo goes to clear, missing; Benzema expected him to, though, so can’t adjust his feet when the ball arrives at them, kneeing wide instead.
35 min I’m sticking this in because my Sky helpfully cut out. I’m imagining an outside of the foot stroke.
Oh, that pass from Modric...
— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) August 27, 2017
32 min Madrid have upped it again, Asensio skating down the left and snapping a cut-back for Marcelo; he winds up big, wipes his foot across the ball, and smashes high and wide.
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32 min Nice from Isco, winning a corner off Vezo; Zaza heads it clear.
31 min Also, if Bale joined one of the top few Premier League teams, he’d turn whichever it was into champions.
31 min “Re: Bale. A fine player, but his greatest strength at Spurs was the regularity with which he could pop up in the 89th minute and pop a screamer in the top corner to win a game 2-1,” reckons Matt Loten. “Particularly in that final season. A wonderful skill to have, to be sure, but less of a necessity in his current team.”
That’s true, and he also needs space in behind, ideally - not so much of that, playing for Madrid. I’m sure he’d be better on the left, though, problem being the others in the road.
30 min I’d add a “parabolic” to this.
An Essay on the Geometric Majesty of Marco Asensio's Shots
— Robert Mtz (@elrob) August 27, 2017
28 min Marcelo slides a pass down the left for Modric, who crosses low, but can only pick out Neto.
27 min Valencia are a really quick, enterprising team, and they play with the conviction of youth. Can’t wait for the patter about which “bigger club” will ravage them first.
25 min “2009 Man United, the team that scraped a CL final penalty win, as the standard of comparison? The one that the next two times they reached a CL final were utterly outclassed by Barcelona? The Mods should scold you for trolling an MBM.”
So says Gene Salorio, who seems to have forgotten that they won three titles in a row when the Premier League was good, beating the Chelsea team who Barcelona only beat with the help of an avant-garde refereeing performance, beat an excellent Chelsea team to win the Champions League, reached three Champions League finals in four seasons, had Cristiano Ronaldo and one the finest defences that the competition has ever seen.
But I actually mentioned them because they were the team that Guardiola’s Barcelona beat to win their two Big Ears.
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23 min I’m not sure if this is permanent or temporary, but he has the makings of a player. I’m surprised United are letting him away; there’ll be games Herrera will get that he could’ve had.
Confirmed that Andreas Pereira is on his way to Valencia.
— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) August 27, 2017
21 min This is pretty nifty game now, and Benzema zips towards the box, left-hand side, and finds Bale by the penalty spot, whose one-touch return is guided into his stride. But the angle is tight, and he lashes high into the side netting.
20 min Madrid are annoyed, and Marcelo bounds down the left, crosses, and Murillo concedes a corner. Kroos’ cross is better this time, but Kondogbia heads away nonetheless.
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-1 Valencia (Soler, 18)
As I was saying, Gaya does really well down the left, moving away from goal then sliding a pass outside him to Lato. His cross is low and hard, allowing Soler to fly into the box, allow the ball across his body, and punch home the equaliser.
17 min Sometimes you see a team who are just so confident it’s ridiculous; I’m thinking of Arsenal at the start of 2002-03, when they just mullered everyone and everything they tried came off. That’s Madrid now.
14 min Valencia are trying their best.
13 min What’s incredible about Asensio isn’t just his technical ability, but his decision-making. And he’s so natural in possession.
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12 min I wonder for how long Asensio will accept not being first choice. Or who will make way for him.
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WHAT A GOAL! Real Madrid 1-0 Valencia (Asensio, 10)
Assensio is so, so good! He picks up the ball in midfield when Rodrigo makes an error, sashays inside Kondogbia, and with men either side, leans right and shoots with his left to smash-caress a curling sidefooter into the far corner that’s so perfect it almost looks like it’s missed.
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8 min Watching Bale for Madrid minds me of watching Tevez for Manchester United. He’s good, obviously, but technically he’s a level below his team-mates.
7 min Bale, who always looks awkward on the right, takes the ball off Modric and wins a corer off Montoya. Kroos’ corner is headed clear at the near post.
6 min Valencia raid down the left, briefly. Lato crosses, directly into the midriff of Carvajal, two yards away, and Madrid clear.
3 min Back to the greatest discussion I was having with myself, you judge a team in part by the standard of its opponents, and Madrid haven’t beaten anyone as good as the United of 2009 and maybe not as good as the Madrid of that era either.
2 min Asensio bothers Vezo, who knees the ball into his arm. He does very well to avoid conceding a penalty - I’d have given one, and what other standard is there?
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2 min So where do this lot stand in the pantheon? are they the best of the Champions League era simply by virtue of what they’ve achieved? I’d say not...
2 min Big news chums! Madrid are knocking the ball about confidently!
1 min Away we go!
And here they are pic.twitter.com/V8XChE9wya
— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) August 27, 2017
Ramos and Marcelo lift the La Liga trophy, this being the first hoe game since it was won; Mr Bolam or anyone else, does that work? Or is it the Liga trophy? I do not know.
Also, it seems that Kylian Mbappe is going to PSG. Who says romance is dead?
I just read that Liverpool are trying to buy Renato Sanches. He’s not really what they need - though I guess if he’s as good as he’s threatened to be he’s what any team needs - and he’s a lot of fun.
“Nuestros (plural, agrees with noun in both gender and number) equipos,” chides David Bolam.
I wondered about that, my Spanish being non-existent. Thank you.
Whenever I see Getafe written down, I think of this.
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Elsewhere, Sevilla have taken a late lead at Getafe.
You won’t believe it but it’s true: the only goal in that win was scored by Simone Zaza.
Valencia, who beat Las Palmas last week, leave out Vilda and Cancelo; they’re replaced by Kondogbia, freshly borrowed from Inter, and Murillo.
In the absence of Ramos, Zinedine Zidane shoves Casemiro into the back-four, allowing Isco to play in midfield rather than off the flank. In the absence of Ronaldo, Bale and Asensio fill those roles, so that might just be ok.
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Nuestros equipos
Real Madrid (4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, whatever they fancy): Navas; Carvajal, Casemiro, Nacho, Marcelo; Kroos, Modric, Isco; Asensio, Benzema, Bale. Subs: Casilla, Theo, Lucas Vasquez, Llorente, Mayoral, Kovacic.
Valencia (a Nevillian 4-4-2): Neto; Montoya, Vezo, Murillo, Lato; Carlos Soler, Parejo, Kondogbia, Gaya; Rodrigo, Zaza! Subs: Jaume, Garcia, Maksimovic, Vidal, Gil, Medran, Mina.
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Preamble
It’s been a quiet start to the domestic season, so of course we’re all even more amped than usual for international weekend. But before we surf our buzz, first we must harsh it; such is life. So eyes down for the small matter of the world’s best side, competing against a long-standing rival. These things are sent to test us.
Kick-off: 9.15pmBST
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