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crinkly_earsMadrid Get Lucky, Mesut and Pipita Get all Bromantic: The Mesuty Real Betis Match Spam!
This time last year, Mesut was described in a Guardian Liveblog of the match at home against Villarreal looking "as though he could use a few hot meals." Reviewing
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andriy_7's gifs of the game one would have to come to the conclusion that not much has changed in a year!
Madrid travelled to Sevilla to meet Real Betis, the newly promoted team from the Second division which is doing very well in the table and has, as Mourinho put it earlier this year, "grown accustomed to winning" as winners of last year's second division. They gave Madrid a right old time of it at home earlier this year and your correspondent considered this a definite banana-skin game - which it nearly was!
Cuatro recorded the arrival - with Mesut in particular seeming to be popular with the fans.
From the point of view of a neutral this was a ripper of a game. End to end stuff, endless running, one team and then another on top, goals at both ends and dodgy refereeing.
Madrid also showed up in the red kit - again. This is not a favourite jersey of mine, every single game except the one against Sevilla having been a nail-biter in all the wrong ways. There is also the psychology of the colour. Fans of the German National team may remember that Jurgen Klinsmann was very keen to make red Germany's away colour, based on research that teams clad in red are more intimidating. A flip side to this is that games with the boys dressed in red seem more niggly and borderline violent.
Did I mention a netural would have enjoyed this game. From the point of view of a Madrid fan, it slightly more stressful - as this reaction from Albiol and Adan on the bench to Betis getting the first goal more than illustrates!
Farewell clean-sheet!
As I've noted before, Mesut doesn't even look very happy (or particularly healthy) when Madrid are ahead (Ray Hudson: "It's those eyes man. They always look sad!"). A goal down though and he always looks particularly breathless and miserable.
As it happens, Mesut was the one to get things rolling with a perfectly weighted pass to Gonzalo Higuain - a perfectly lovely assist!
Here's another view of the Pipita-Mesut connection - quick-thinking and accurate.
It doesn't do to celebrate equalizing goals - the boys never do - but Pipita was determined. He would hug his Mesut - even if Mesut only wanted a high-five! -
This however is my favourite view. Mesut's pass aside, Pipita's goal can only be appreciated from this angle because he hit it near-post from a wonderfully narrow angle, something that was not clear in live-time. And like all top-class strikers he kept his head down while he did it!
Meanwhile - and I'm sure this is why many of us are so in love with his playing - Mesut's trickery with his feet was on beautiful display (in a gif made by
andriy_7 to specifications and by request) - a pass of more than 40 yards, brought down with one touch as Mesut is actually running. The commentator I was listening to was beside himself and actually hoped that "there'll be a replay of that bit of Ozil magic." There wasn't. That is why I'm sure we are all grateful to andriy_7!
The Second Half
When the chips are down you can always count on Crispy Ronaldo to do something gorgeous.
Notice who is next to whom as it goes in?
A highly typical bit of CR7 magic!
Much happiness and many cuddles resulted with the go-ahead goal!
Including a (new) Portuguese/Brazilian dance, which made Mesut sufficiently nervous to slow down his entry into the group-hug (please note who turns to look for him and pull him into the hug though!) -
Within three minutes however Betis has equalized...
...Before Crispy Ronaldo did it again - with a bit of set-piece magic off Kaka's corner.
Again, much happiness...
...though Mesut chose to congratulate Kaka for his delivery -
One suspects that Mourinho would have liked to have made his substitutions earlier, with the game against CSKA Moscow on Wednesday doubtless looming large. Mesut played until the 87th minute however before coming off for Benzema - who was given a few minutes to get his pitch-legs back in order after two weeks of injury.
He received an enormous ovation from the visiting fans as he came off. The game ended 5 minutes later.
Mourinho was pleased as Punch. He checked up on the referee for the first half (who had played at being fourth official for the second once his ham-string gave out), he embraced the opposition coach (with whom he has a very good relationship) and he seemed to ask for permission to enter the field.
The game had been scrappy and difficult but very good-natured. There were plenty of kisses and hugs between the two sides. Mourinho seemed determined to just hug everyone.
After the game he said it had been a match that was impossible to control. It was impossible to tell who would win. A draw might have been fairer. Two or three or four more goals could easily have resulted. He praised Betis for their philosophy of playing to entertain their home fans, rather than to win, calling it "fantastic".
Press Reviews
Most press-reviews have focused on Madrid's two lucky breaks: Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos both handled the ball in the box. Both (probably) got away with it. Alonso's incident, which happened right under the fourth official's nose, was deemed unintentional. Ramos may or may not have got away with one. Even replay footage is unclear.
In the aftermath of the game, Kaka has said in an interview with BWIN (in anticipation of Wednesday's game) that "playing with Ozil is very easy for me because he's so clever. Whenever we move around the pitch he understands where he has to be to make use of the space."
Mesut's write-ups in newspapers and sports-blogs have been uniformly positive. All blame for the chaotic nature of the match being placed squarely on lax defending.
Butragueno, commenting on a team that has now scored an impossible 88 goals this season (that's nearly 4 goals a game) has claimed this could be the best Madrid side ever. With this in mind, Vincente Del Bosque's comments on Mesut and Sami Khedira this morning (as quoted in the German press) are particularly complimentary:
"Ozil and Khedira have benefited from the move to Real Madrid. But it has to be stressed that the team has benefited from these players too."
Meanwhile, Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona took to his Twitter to post "..." as his response to the game's result. He was banned of course for Sunday's game against Racing Santander after making a comment about "premeditated" refereeing. One of his wittier followers responded with "you forgot 10 points [the word for "point" and "period" being the same in Spanish]" - a reference to the over-night gap of 13 points between the teams.
As it happens, Barcelona won their game against Racing Santander. The difference in the table is back down to 10 points as a result.
Back to Work
With a game on Wednesday against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League the boys were straight back to work within a day. All the usual bromantic intrigue was in play.
Sami and Mesut were quite inseparable.
But Sergio Ramos was definitely in on the action too...
And when you're Mesut. life is just one endless balancing act on the bromantic front!
The boys play Moscow on Wednesday at 13:30 local time. Good luck Mesut, good luck boys!
Love, and love, and more love, to my beloved
andriy_7!.
.
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Date: 2012-03-13 10:31 am (UTC)*tickles*
X
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Date: 2012-03-13 12:57 pm (UTC)I could only watch the first half live but had a friend texting me the happenings of the second. I'm glad I didn't have to experience that stress... You know you're hooked when you have to be kept informed even when you're in the middle of an early St. Patty's Day party.
It's fine time for a Mesut goal, don't ya think? Crossing my fingers for Wednesday. I'm quite nervous.
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Date: 2012-03-13 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-13 04:59 pm (UTC)And it was...delicious :)
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Date: 2012-03-13 05:25 pm (UTC)Who'd be able to resist him, rly.
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Date: 2012-03-13 06:38 pm (UTC)Ah - Commentary!
Date: 2012-03-13 06:42 pm (UTC)Instead of "so and so on the ball."
"Look at Ozil OFF the ball. Look at his use of space and how he draws defenders away from the random person on the ball etc..."
And I don't normally run out of adjectives - not for our little play-maker anyway.
I have missed my calling...
Re: Ah - Commentary!
Date: 2012-03-13 06:50 pm (UTC)Re: Ah - Commentary!
Date: 2012-03-13 06:55 pm (UTC)I've just posted another - I prefer not to double-post myself - but there's so much lovely stuff comes out of the site on weeks with mid-week games.
It's just a little Samisut and a little bit of Kaka saying lovely things.
Enjoy <3
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Date: 2012-03-13 02:55 pm (UTC)<3
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Date: 2012-03-13 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-13 03:24 pm (UTC)Still - the boys look like swans in the white. Especially with the gold trim. It seems to make them look more elegant than they would otherwise be!
I didn't initially like the gold-trim, but the boys look so blinding white and pure when the camera pans out. White is certainly elegant!
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Date: 2012-03-13 04:39 pm (UTC)Pipita was so sweet though Mesut wasn't up for a big, warm, bear hug.
He does look a little down. Or maybe it's just me.My best wishes for our beautiful boys!
Thanks for the beautiful report, pictures, and GIF's, you guys. <3
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Date: 2012-03-13 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-13 09:23 pm (UTC)I've noticed Mesut always looks very red around and paticularly under the eyes when he's been playing football. It's odd.
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Date: 2012-03-13 10:21 pm (UTC)Sneaking the odd cigarette (my suspicion).
Who knows? Makes him look oddly vulnerable on the pitch.
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Date: 2012-03-13 10:23 pm (UTC)Just remember Mesut: Smokers are jokers.