31
Jan
Written by: Elliott
Just when you think the debt crisis and stupid national associations and horrific terrorist attacks can ruin the sport you love, a game, a performance, a single act can part the gray clouds hovering over your little plot of land. This game had every season to suck – Madrid had lost at Riazor since before you can remember and it opened with a Granero goal. Yawn.
Yet Madrid never stopped going forwards. True, at times they did pass sideways more than we’d expect, but the blanquillos rained fire and brimstone upon the Deportivo goal. When Kaka put Guti through, you just knew that Guti would find a way to not score. But then Guti blew your mind wide upon like a point blank Colt 45.
Guti’s heel pass sent a wave of giggles sifting through the Madrid universe on a scale unseen since your grade school science teacher forgot to zip his fly. I myself could not stop laughing and kicking my legs for a good ten minutes. And yet Madrid continued to bomb forward.
Karim Benzema, to his credit, is the too-cool-to-arrive-early to the party type. And he plays it too perfection. He just sat back and pounced on both Arbeloa’s cutback and Guti’s cheeky heel.
Yeah, Karim also has that silent-Zizou-French Algerian thing going on, but not in the “I’m silent because I’m better than all of you combined” sense. No, his is more of a “silent because I plan on scoring a lot of goals” sense. The distinction, while subtle, should not be downplayed.
Xabi Alonso continues to wait a half second too long when passing, yet his stubbornness on the ball more then compensated. At various occasions, Deportivo’s midfield buzzed at his heels, but Xabi swatted them away with his rhinoceros legs like the flies they were. And Raul. Well, Raul still has a pulse. But when you come off for Drenthe, the writing is not on the wall, it’s on your forehead.
Ramos almost went a game without conceding a penalty via reckless challenge, but in a game this pulsating, this vibrant, this alive, such empujoncitos are best forgiven.
So thank you, Madrid, for helping me to forget about balance sheets and supports trusts for 90 minutes. And thank you, Guti, for the giggles.
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