Spams for matches over the past two and a half weeks will come over the next few days (with the lad off in Germany we can finally catch up on match spams for various games!) But I have, as I said before Amsterdam, no intention that we shall fall any further behind for the other types of posts.

Mesut, back in Germany

So before the clasico match spam is made up, here are a few of the press voices after the game - because Mesut came in for some extravagant praise following weeks of abuse in the press.

And I'd like to start by thanking

andriy_7 for all that he found for us in the newspapers! ♥

Commentators During The Match

The German commentator I was listening to during the match said Mesut was his favourite of the players on the pitch - along with the goal-scorers of course. He explained himself very carefully, doubtless aware that many of the viewers would have been reading direct translations of Marca's hysterical coverage of Mesut's form in Madrid.

Mesut, arriving at the Camp Nou and always staying near Sami...

"I have to say, Ozil appeals to me. The way in which he's been working. He's helping in the defence, but whenever he gets the ball he gets it forward and plays good passes. Yes, I have to say, Ozil appeals to me..."

In these pre-match practice photographs Mesut's body is pointed in one direction...

...but his head is always pointed toward Sami!

And he tugs on Sami's arm to get his attention, when he needs to!

On my downloaded version of the match our old friend Ray Hudson was wonderfully complimentary about:

"Maysooht Otzil, Maysooht Otzil, Maysooht Otzil - little Avatar eyes" and his "inch-perfect pass - a red carpet pass for Mr Slick [Ray's nickname for Cristiano Ronaldo] who doesn't even need to control it [the ball]."

Also commenting alongside Ray Hudson was Bodo Illgner - Real Madrid's former goalkeeper and a keen and affectionate observer of Mesut at Madrid. Newspapers over the past few years have constantly asked Illgner to comment on Mesut's performances. Illgner liked Mesut's performance a great deal, considered Mascherano's foul on him to be a penalty ("And I'm not just saying that because he's German" - in response to Phil Schoen teasing him about it) and thought him excellent and his substitution necessary because of how hard he had worked.

More pre-clasico training!

Mesut's Manager:

Mourinho was very pleased with Mesut's performance and said so after the match:

"Ozil brought quality..."

Here's Marca's reading of the events of the past few weeks. This first excerpt was written two or three hours before the match began, and before the lineup was out:

Real Madrid's number 10 can't spend a 'Clásico' sitting on the bench. So it seems that Özil will start. Mourinho believes the German is the best he has at setting up counter-attacks, and that seems to be reason enough to pick him from the start...

However, Özil's contribution in 'Clásicos' is a different story. He's got three assists from his last three games at the Camp Nou. He's always put on a good performance in recent Madrid- Barça games, and for this reason it's presumed he'll be among the starting XI tonight.

Mesut with Mourinho before the match

And here is their write-up post-match - where they quote Mourinho at greater length -

Özil wins over Mourinho

German plays cracker at Camp Nou

JUAN IGNACIO GARCÍA-OCHOA 10/08/2012

Mourinho has spent the whole season pressuring Mesut Özil. The Portuguese coach made it clear in Amsterdam, less than a week ago, that the German wasn't working to the best of his ability. But when the moment of truth arrived, Mou selected him for the game in the Camp Nou.

The manager took a look at previous performances and noticed that Özil always shines in Barcelona. You can lay criticism at the German's door for tiring towards the end of matches, but he never hides. He rises to the occasion when he's playing at the Camp Nou, and Sunday was no exception.

Özil skilfully controlled Madrid's attacking play. He gave Barça a real headache, with the 'Azulgrana' players finding it difficult to mark Madrid's playmaker. He was the Madrid player who touched the ball the most times, almost always with purpose and trying to get in behind Mascherano and Adriano. One of his millimetre-perfect through balls found CR7, allowing the Portuguese to level the score at two all.

The link up play between Özil and Cristiano is starting to become a classic part of the 'Clásico' games. This is the fourth consecutive time the German has laid a goal on for Ronaldo at the Camp Nou.

However, Özil didn't just shine up front. He knuckled down and put on a great defensive display, which is why Mourinho kept him on the pitch for a full 75 minutes. In the end he brought him off because the player was getting exhausted. "He played very well and showed great quality. I took him off because he was exhausted, because he isn’t used to running like that in games", assured the Portuguese, trying to squeeze the most he can out of his talented player.

Other Press Voices

Catalan newspaper El Mundo Deportivo said a couple of weeks ago that Mesut was:

"a charlatan - the most overrated player in world football. Only someone who has seen the games in which he plays well could think he is a good player."

They had a different opinion of Mesut the Charlatan two days ago which made better sense (because the quote above, if you think about it, contains an internal contradiction) -

"The best counter-attacking footballer on earth is the boy from Gelsenkirchen with the Turkish blood in him, a genie of tempo variation. He knows precisely when he has to pass long or short. His combination of skill and talent is beyond reproach."

That sounds better, doesn't it?

As for As -

"It was the performance of a magician..."

The Ratings - Trilingual Love!

Goal.com, whose ratings are now uniform across the board (German, Spanish, English et al., ratings are now always the same - so the Germans can no longer underrate him as they did for two years before standardization across the site's various versions) -

Real Madrid's rating was similarly high - they labelled him one of two man-of-the-match candidates:

And they also paid photographic tribute to what Marca referred to above: their incredible combination rate at the Camp Nou (Mesut's fourth assist for Crispy - who scored in his sixth consecutive clasico and broke his own record for consecutive times scoring away to the Camp Nou) -

Mesut's Interview on Press Coverage In Spain With Bild

Mesut, who arrived in Germany only a day later, spoke up about the press kerfuffle surrounding him for the past few weeks in the following terms, in an interview given to Bild and widely quoted this week.

BILD: Has criticism made you better?

Özil : No. I don't need it to play well. I don't play well to prove things to others, but because it's fun for me to play football.

BILD: Was the criticism justified?

Özil: No, but one puts up with it. Spanish journalists are crass.

And the rumour, that Manchester United wants to buy him?

Özil: I know nothing about it. He who plays at Real Madrid doesn't think about things like that. I haven't a single reason to leave Real.

Other Press Notes:

Mesut has been giving interviews - some of which have yet to come out. One appears to have been given as soon as he arrived in Germany with Bravo Sport. Hopefully we'll be able to get a hold of that one somehow.

A picture with the journalist - who seems to like him! - before he had time to slaughter his hair!

And Mesut and Sami apparently both met up with a journalist from Turkey some time last week. Since it's unlikely he would have taken that keen an interest in Sami, it appears as though Sami was just asked to come along for the hell of it - like a sort of date, actually! They ate some nice food and the journalist (who appears to be something of a fan :) got away with Mesut's shirt!

And finally - Mesut and friend Sami's schedule in Germany and in Ireland, courtesy of realmadrid.com

I won't let us fall further behind, as I said, and may post training pics before I do the match spams, but they are coming!

More thanks and much love to co-author

andriy_7
.