LA LIGA & REAL MADRID

[K|D]

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Changing of the guard i guess..... Did you see that Messi guy? He was really good.. It's exciting to see all this young players come of age - rooney, fabregas, reyes, van persie, robinho, adu, too many to mention....

I guess Junior Teams are of use after all. It seems to be the trend nowadays, even in Basketball and other sports...

[BIG-oooh]

THAT'S WHY BARCELONA IS THE CHAMPION LAST YEAR!!!!

Ex-REAL MADRID Eto'o did the first damage and two superb goals by the brilliant Ronaldinho embarrased the REAL MADRID TEAM. The fans even applauded RONALDInHO after his second goal that's why he will i think get all the individual awards this year. I watch the game yesterday and it was all BARCELONA from the start until the end of the game. MESSI was also intrumental in the game. Now REAL MADRID must have to overhaul the team come January for the current line-up can't win any trophy this season. Injuries and aging have played the downfall of the REAL team.

Barca give Real footballing lesson at Bernabeu

MADRID, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A virtuoso Ronaldinho double and a superb opportunist strike from Samuel Eto'o secured Barcelona a stunning 3-0 win over arch-rivals Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Saturday.

Eto'o scored the opener against his former club when he snapped up the ball on the edge of the area, turned inside a gaggle of defenders and fired under goalkeeper Iker Casillas in the 15th minute.

Ronaldinho, fancied to add the European Footballer of the Year to the World Player award he won last year, struck after a dazzling solo run on the hour and completed the rout with his second after a mesmerising piece of skill 12 minutes from time.

Barcelona's 14th league victory at the Bernabeu put the champions top of the Primera Liga for the first time this season and made Frank Rijkaard the only Barca coach to lead the Catalans to two victories in Real Madrid's stadium.

Despite having Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane back from injury, Real rarely threatened the Barca back four and were jeered off the pitch by their own fans who had little choice but to marvel at the ease of their opponents' victory.

JITTERY START

Both sides made a somewhat jittery start but it was Barca who soon took control with Xavi and Deco marshalling the midfield and the dynamic Argentine teenager Lionel Messi a constant menace to the Real back four.

The live-wire Eto'o gave Real an early scare when he slid a low shot past the far post after beating the offside trap but they failed to heed the warning and five minutes later he put Barcelona into the lead.

Snapping the ball off the feet of team mate Messi, after the Argentine had darted towards the edge of the area, Eto'o left three defenders for dead with a stunning turn and drilled past a helpless Casillas.

The Cameroon striker, who joined Barca after Real chief Florentino Perez rejected an option to buy him at the start of last season, ran to the corner in front of the president's box with his arm in the air pointing to the club crest on his shirt.

Real tried to fight their way back into the game but with Barca depriving them of possession the only problems they created for the opposition back four were from set pieces.

VENOMOUS SHOT

Barca almost extended their lead when the electric Messi fired off a venomous shot after bursting into the area but Casillas came to the rescue with a fine reflex save.

It was one-way traffic once more in the second half as the ball remained glued to the feet of the Barcelona players and Real were left chasing shadows in midfield.

Zidane looked well short of match fitness, Ronaldo and Robinho were starved of the ball and David Beckham had little influence on affairs.

Barca stretched their lead 15 minutes into the second half when Ronaldinho waltzed through the Real defence.

Picking the ball up some 40 metres out on the left, the Brazilian left Sergio Ramos sprawling with a quick shuffle of the feet, skipped past centre back Ivan Helguera and fired a perfectly placed shot past Casillas into the far corner.

The Brazilian repeated the trick 18 minutes later when he bamboozled Ramos again, sped into the area and drilled home at the near post to wrap up a one-sided victory for the Catalans

[fingolfin]

madrid is now securing for its future. They are scouting young talents. Everything was going smoothly for them, then came the series of injuries on their major players. nice timing.

[raul julia]

MADRID (AFP) - Juventus coach Fabio Capello and Real Madrid have reportedly reached an accord for him to take the reins at the Bernabeu next season.
According to the Spanish radio station cadena Cope, Fabio Capello has already reached agreement with Real Madrid to be the Madrid side's new coach from next season."
Cadena Cope added: "The agreement between Capello and Madrid came about several weeks ago," even before last weekend's home thrashing by Barcelona which left Real fourth in the league table and in crisis.
In returning to the Bernabeu Capello would take over the nine-times European champions for the second time having been in charge nine seasons ago for just a year, which brought a 1997 league title success.
If Capello does indeed return it would mean a swift exit for Real's current coach, Brazilian Wanderley Luxemburgo, who only took over at the end of last December.
Real Madrid's website realmadrid.com made no mention of an impending change late Tuesday, saying only that Luxemburgo earlier Tuesday met with vice-chairman Emilio Butragueno and sporting director Arrigo Sacchi.

[BIG-oooh]

Capello denies Real deal

November 22, 2005
TURIN, Italy (AFP) - Juventus coach Fabio Capello has dismissed a Spanish radio report which said he has agreed to join Real Madrid for next season as "fantasy football".

"There is absolutely no truth in that story," he said bluntly after Juve's 1-0 home victory against Belgian side Bruges on Tuesday which sealed a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

"I don't know where it came from. It's fantasy football. I've said in the past I don't like these re-hashed stories. I'm only thinking about Juventus."

Capello has coached Real before, guiding them to the league title in 1997 in his first and only season in Spain.

Earlier in the day, Spanish radio station Cadena Cope said Capello had already shaken hands on a deal to replace Wanderley Luxemburgo whose position is said to be in jeopardy following Saturday's 3-0 defeat to arch rivals Barcelona.

"Fabio Capello has already reached agreement with Real Madrid to be their new coach next season," the radio station said. "The agreement came about several weeks ago."

Real Madrid's official website realmadrid.com made no mention of an impending change, saying only that Luxemburgo had met with vice-chairman Emilio Butragueno and sporting director Arrigo Sacchi on Tuesday.

Turning to matters on the pitch, Capello was relieved to have shaken off a stubborn Bruges side that Juve failed to break down until Alessandro Del Piero headed in Pavel Nedved's cross 10 minutes from time.

"It was a really tough match as Bruges didn't allow us much space," he said.

"And even though we dominated for long periods and created many chances, at 0-0 you can never relax."

A victory for the Italian champions left them level with Bayern Munich - 4-0 winners against Rapid Vienna - on 12 points at the top of Group A, six ahead of Bruges.

While Juve will now battle it out with Bayern for top spot, Bruges will go into the less prestigious UEFA Cup.

A bitterly cold night in Turin coupled with the fact that Juve needed just a draw to secure a place in the last 16 resulted in a crowd of less than 10,000 at the Delle Alpi stadium.

[fingolfin]

......... there's another problem. keeps on changing the manager. Change of manager means a change of style. Damn this Perez, he is giving the players culture shock. That man's first mistake was when he ousted Del Bosque because he only gave them one silverware and that's the La Liga trophy. Now what?? Empty for two desperate years. Perez is a corporate type of president. He doesnt care about the clubs football heritage, he only wants the green thingy called money. He's sole priority was to acquire the most bankable athlete in the world today - BECKHAM. Ronaldhino was available at that time, they can afford both Ronaldhino and Beckham but they chose not to. Dumb Perez. That year, they only made one signing. Then on the following year, a new manager with Owen and Samuel but they never did use owen's potential. Again, stupid Perez. It is only just recently that Real made secure of its future. But it is underlined with the fact that Perez went to china to sell Real's TV rights to one of china's major conglomerate horse-dung.

{b]kick out perez[/b]

i have faith with Luxe and his crop of players, its only these stupid and timely injuries that made their world hell.

kick out perez

[raul julia]

@ fingolfin

bro, ngano wla man live games sa espn or sa star sports sa Real Madrid?....

[paulpogi]

yeah, it's true..

manager=style..perez didn't use the quality of his players to thier limits..

owen, beckham, raul, figo, zidane..ronaldo? what can you ask for..

[fingolfin]

@mao bitaw. its always a replay. I check on their schedules at www.startv.com .......

[raul julia]

next up. away to Sociedad without Raul and with Beckham and Ronaldo questionable.......