crinkly_ears | The Copa Del Rey Semi Final First Leg: A Mesuty Match Spam! (Reply)

Mesut Assists Against Barcelona...Again!

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This bit of loveliness from Mesut got him a sudden noisy ovation from the crowd when it happened. You can clearly hear it on the version of the match I downloaded - even though BEIN Sport actually mutes the crowd. A gasp and a happy groan went through the stadium.

As it happened, the camera had panned out and because the ball had been falling behind Mesut, it looked like an optical illusion when it magically reappeared at his feet. Phil Shoen wondered out-loud: "How did Ozil get that ball down?" And then (after the replay): "Oh."

It's precisely the sort of useful, delicate, elegant sort of thing a certain French play-making hero of Mesut's would have done. Beautiful but useful. Graceful, but not superfluous. Mesut doesn't over-elaborate in his football. Part of its beauty is in its simplicity. He knew he had Alba behind him and was at a disadvantage with the flight of the ball. So he brought it down the only way he could.

Beautiful but effective! The hallmark of football done the Mesuty way!

But before we get to the second half...

Tactical Notes

Iker Casillas's season is likely over. For those of you who may be out of the loop: he has broken his hand and Diego López, formerly his understudy and the first-team goal-keeper at Villarreal from 2007 to 2012 was brought in as a rush replacement.

He had his clasico debut on this night. So did Michael Essien and Raphael Varane. Madrid was missing 6 starting players and 5 of their lineup in the last clasico - the draw in the league at the Camp Nou.

With Sergio Ramos and Fabio Coentrao suspended and Pepe and Marcelo still recovering from injury, Madrid's backline was entirely second choice. Even Alvaro Arbeloa - because he was moved to the left side of defence. The reason this was done was to include Michael Essien - a midfielder - at right-back. In the centre: Carvalho (who has rarely played in the last 18 months) and Raphael Varane.

Captain Cristiano Ronaldo was the first non-Spanish Madrid captain of a clasico match for 60 years and was devilishly handsome in his armband. It came out later he was playing with a brace on his ankle: he'd injured it in the league match against Getafe. It looked even at the time as though he was favouring one of his ankles and limping slightly. But those of us who follow Madrid will know: there's no way to keep him from playing without chaining him to the bench.

The Mesuty Match Spam

Mesut's first half was a little frustrating (though not his game as a whole - which was extremely effective and came in for some warm praise in the press). Plainly, Barcelona's defender had been reading Marca, with the newspaper explaining all week that the Croezil connection was key to Madrid's recent victories in the league and cup!

Or perhaps they had simply noticed that he had assisted 5 times in the last 6 clasicos...and four of those were for Cristiano Ronaldo...

Either way, when he had the ball he was often crowded out and his passing lanes were cut out. And good as Jose Callejon is, he is not quite as effective a defensive distraction as the suspended Angel di Maria.

Linguistic community notes: this gif here provides a close-up of how to say "F--- you!" in Turkish.

As it typical of Mesut's outrage, it was bizarrely cute from every single angle...

Nevertheless, for all his outrage, Mesut's numbers in this game were fantastic. He made 8 key passes into the box (that's exactly double the total that Xavi managed for Barcelona). Sid Lowe in The Guardian:

Ozil was a constant threat, always available and always bringing clarity to the counters.

It's hard to express how fantastic a number like 8 key passes is. In his first season, Mesut made one of them about every 40 minutes in the league (and topped every single bean-counting chart). To manage 8 in one match is, frankly, ridiculously brilliant.

The Mourinho Corner

Since

andriy_7 tossed in a few beautiful gifs (without me having to ask!) of one of my favourite players, Carles Puyol, I'm just going to return the favour by using the three gifs of Jose Mourinho that he sent!

At one point, Sky did a montage of Mou-moments - capturing him speaking calmly, encouraging his troops, and expressing frustration with moves gone wrong, all in one.

End to End to End...

The constant transitions from attack to defence aside, it was an interesting and entertaining match with both sides attacking and both sides very stretched. Madrid's defence was shaky and that defensive line-up had actually never played together. Carvalho (the veteran) had a torrid night and López was very good but hadn't played regularly in more than 8 months (with Villarreal's relegation, he went to Sevilla as back-up goalkeeper there). Pinto aside, they were up against the best Barcelona line-up and Essien (who actually had a fabulous game) had to contend with a very exposed wing since he didn't have di Maria ahead of him.

At one point, Mesut and Pinto inexplicably collided!

Varane was defensive (and, as it turned out, attacking!) hero of the evening and the teenager was the subject of every single match report written the next day. It was his first clasico, but he was quite simply, amazing. Mr Clean. Fast. Elegant. It's not easy to have reflexes sharp enough to stop Messi (and on your first meeting with him!) -

That picture above shows only one of his tackles. There were three and every single one was perfect.

Cristiano Ronaldo was on the receiving end of many of Mesut's passes, but was not lucky in front of goal.

Cesc Fábregas of Barcelona opened the scoring shortly after half-time. In the cup, the away goals rule is in effect, of course.

As was noted in a previous post in which we reproduced Marca's article on the subject, Mesut received constant encouragement from the sidelines from Papa Jose - who told him to stick to the right flank as Callejon was replaced by Luka Modric and to "hang on, Mesut!" as reported in Marca.

The next few gifs all take place in the span of about 3 minutes. Arbeloa, Xabi and Messi having an "altercation" (code for: moment of masculine insecurity expressing itself in grandstanding between peers on the pitch!) -

Mourinho shouting encouragement...

And Mesut floating the ball into the box...(Sid Lowe: Ozil's long looping pass...)

Where it met the elegant head of hero-of-the-evening Raphael Varane and hit the back of the net. Madrid had equalized. It is the second goal that Mesut has set up for Raphael Varane. The first was in the league last year against Rayo Vallecano and was nominated goal of the week because Varane back-heeled it into the net. This time it was a header.

Mesut received the ball from Modric on his right foot, switched it gracefully (almost langorously) to his left with his head well up, and then made his cross.

And there was much rejoicing! Mesut cuddled Varane and Modric and then gestured at the crowd to make more noise (something he first did in the Super Copa in 2011 after Xabi Alonso scored the equalizer against Barcelona and something he has done since now and again when his teammates score) -

Varane strikes me as a cross between Hierro and Laurent Blanc - and Hierro himself said this week he regards Varane as a sort of successor!

A final view from over-head:

The crowd's encouragement and affection in this gif is rather sweet:

The game ended at 1-1. The next leg will be played next month.

The in-house media nominated Raphael Varane and Mesut Ozil as joint men of the match:

Spare Parts, Observations & Handsome Men On Both Sides

Sami Khedira was looking delicious, frankly. He has so far resisted the trend of cutting off his hair and abandoning his headband. The look suits him in a way it never quite did Mesut -

There is such a beautiful intensity to this man.

lovinthelads' favourite man had a wonderful evening playing completely out of position against the best attack in the world and made a vital shoulder-to-shoulder challenge at one point. He reportedly outran Messi twice and I personally thought he was wonderful playing as a left-back. Michael Essien probably brought the team some luck too: he's never been beaten by Barcelona.

Meanwhile, Madrid's most naturally handsome player (and the guy involved in some amusing post-game controversy), Alvaro Arbeloa, is plainly preparing for the rigours of having a new baby in the house (diaper-changing, sleepless nights etc...) by saving time on shaving. I have to say, this beard is growing on me slightly, even though his beautiful face is better without any hair!

Even more amusing though: his irritated gesturing at his teammates. He shouts at Xabi, rolls his eyes and gestures at his ear and mimics "chatter" using his fingers after watching Iniesta and the referee! VERY CHEEKY. In general, it was a night of palpable irritation from Arby - he was just irritated all evening, but also, oddly, above it all.

But other on-the-pitch relations were more friendly. Carles Puyol, who always refuses to even acknowledge things going on around him that he doesn't like (when Gerard Pique, justifiably enough, wanted to hand over a lighter to the referee that had been tossed on the pitch, Puyol peremptorily grabbed it out of his hand and tossed it behind the goal as though it hadn't happened) gave Mesut's chief-bromantic interest a hug.

There are pictures of Iniesta and Crispy Ronaldo (who, like Puyol, gets along with anyone) walking off with their arms around each other after the game too, and Crispy also took time out to cuddle former teammate Gerard Pique. And after hugging Sami, Puyol also shook hands with Mesut, who has managed to get the final pass past his defence for the 6th time in 7 games -

I think

andriy_7 has figured out by now that Puyol is a little weakness of mine. And of course, there are a few cules in this comm who must find him as devilishly attractive as I do!

And A Final Memory

Mesut's delicate trick deserves a last look because it reminds me of something...

...a sweet video he made once during the World Cup in 2010. I always found this video very charming. He's very shy in it and finishes by earnestly informing the viewers that "this is really a very simple trick" and wishing them "good luck". Who knew that manoeuvre might come in useful one day?

At any rate, it was a lovely move and a highlight of the match from this community's point of view! It received extensive coverage in Spain, where they love their football to be elegant, and the clipped footage was featured on both Marca and As with many adoring reader comments. Marca even wrote a little article on the move and remembered a few of Mesut's other tricks with his heel; his set-up of the goal for Ronaldo last week off the heel at the Mestalla, his back-heel assist for Karim Benzema against Ajax in the Champions League (voted by the technical panel as the most beautiful goal of that competition that season) and his back-heel last year against Granada.

Which was your favourite?

And there we have it - the Mesuty match spam! Here's his verdict on the game:

It was Mesut's 15th clasico and another great game from him. He has played in every single one since arriving at Madrid.

It is now international break. After attempting to fool his fans into thinking he was in Dusseldorf and not off in Marrakesh with a certain lovely young woman, Mesut has in fact arrived in Germany. He will play France in a friendly this week.

The second leg of this match will be played next month.

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