Van der Vaart fires Real Madrid to top of the table
Real Madrid have taken over the Primera Liga leadership with victory against Sevilla last night.
Rafael van der Vaart struck a last-gasp winner as magnificent Real Madrid fought back from 2-0 down against Sevilla to maintain their 100% home record and replace Barcelona at the top of the Primera Division table.
Substitute Van der Vaart stabbed the ball home in injury-time to help Madrid complete a stunning late comeback and move above Barca, who were held 2-2 at Almeria earlier in the evening.
The victory was no more than Madrid deserved following a scintillating attacking display and they will go into Wednesday's Champions League last-16 second leg against Lyon with confidence sky-high after making it 13 league wins out of 13 at home this season. Madrid trail 1-0 against Lyon from the first leg.
It had looked as though two defensive mistakes would cost Madrid dear, Xabi Alonso putting through his own goal early on and Ivica Dragutinovic's 35-yard free-kick somehow sneaking in after the break to put Sevilla 2-0 up.
However, Madrid hit back in style, netting twice in four minutes just after the hour-mark through Cristiano Ronaldo and former Sevilla player Sergio Ramos, before Van der Vaart sealed the match in incredible fashion.
Real coach Manuel Pellegrini said, "The fans have been spectacular all season.
"I have always felt their support. There are still 39 points to play for. These are three important points. We will only be happy when our final objectives are obtained.
"Now we depend on ourselves.
Pellegrini then analyzed the game in more detail, continuing, "I had to shout at them because they were asleep in the first fifteen minutes.
"They may have been thinking about Barcelona's game.
"The entrance of Van Der Vaart and Guti gave a breath of fresh air to the team."
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Results & Fixtures
Matches
| Home | Away | Score | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat May 12th | |||
| Real Sociedad | Valencia | 18:00 | |
| Real Betis | Barcelona | 2 - 2 | 20:00 |
| Sun May 13th | |||
| Espanyol | Sevilla | 1 - 1 | 18:00 |
| Levante | Athletic Club | 18:00 | |
| Racing Santander | Osasuna | 2 - 4 | 18:00 |
| Real Madrid | Mallorca | 4 - 1 | 18:00 |
| Málaga | Sporting Gijón | 18:00 | |
| Rayo Vallecano | Granada | 18:00 | |
| Villarreal | Atlético Madrid | - 1 | 18:00 |
| Getafe | Real Zaragoza | - 2 | 18:00 |
Tables
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real Madrid | 38 | 32 | 4 | 2 | 89 | 100 |
| Barcelona | 38 | 28 | 7 | 3 | 85 | 91 |
| Valencia | 38 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 15 | 61 |
| Malaga | 38 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 58 |
| Atletico Madrid | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 56 |
| Levante | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 4 | 55 |
| Osasuna | 38 | 13 | 15 | 10 | -17 | 54 |
| Mallorca | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | -4 | 52 |
| Sevilla | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 1 | 50 |
| Athletic Club | 38 | 12 | 13 | 13 | -3 | 49 |
| Getafe | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | -11 | 47 |
| Real Sociedad | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | -6 | 47 |
| Real Betis | 38 | 13 | 8 | 17 | -9 | 47 |
| Espanyol | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | -10 | 46 |
| Rayo Vallecano | 38 | 13 | 4 | 21 | -20 | 43 |
| Real Zaragoza | 38 | 12 | 7 | 19 | -25 | 43 |
| Granada | 38 | 12 | 6 | 20 | -21 | 42 |
| Villarreal | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | -14 | 41 |
| Sporting Gijon | 38 | 10 | 7 | 21 | -27 | 37 |
| Racing Santander | 38 | 4 | 15 | 19 | -35 | 27 |
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Comments (19)
madrista mark said (talk about hypocrisy and double-talk):
"I could pull up other lists from various youth teams and Barcelona may have more players than Real, so I suppose its arbitrary to say one is better then the other based off just call ups... I do think that having players called up is an important barometer of a cantera’s quality"
Which one is it, mark? And which is the more *important* call-up? Again, I think most would agree that a cantera's strength is its ability to show the development of top-class footballers, which means the *ultimate* call-up to represent your nation/club on the *senior* squad [see my previous post (La Seleccion:: Barca: 8; RM: 2...; Club:: Barca: 14,7(starters);RM: 6,2(starters)]. That alone is the only way to demonstrate full progression into a top-class footballer!
If you disagree that a cantera's job is to produce footballers capable of playing on the highest level, than I would say that's the reason you are left bragging about one U18 squad out of the entire national system and only two RM cantera starters in your current squad.
Before you laugh at the Barca-Almeria *draw*, I would simply remind you: Alcorcon 4-0 Real Madrid (you brought it up, not me)
Oh, and madrista mark:
While you conveniently mentioned RM's recent sales, you misrepresented Barca's recent sales:
Ronaldiho (€27.7 to ACMil), Dos Santos (€5.2m), Caceres (€11m loan for year+€9m offer from Juv. to make perm.), Deco (€7m), Crosas (undisclosed, <€1.6m), Zambrotta (€9m)
That's €61.5m (w/out incld. Caceres's pending sale) to the €49.5 figure you quoted.... which means Barca had €139m net expenditures for the past two years.... the €32million difference between clubs represents 20% of RM's net expenditures... *again, Barca did this while earning 6 MORE trophies**
Well here is some more facts you goose:
Real Madrid’s cantera seems to be producing talent just as capable, if not more so than, then the highly esteemed Barcelona cantera, based on the recent call up sheet for the Spain u-18 squad competing in the Atlantic Cup (virtually the u-18 Euro Championship). No less than 6 Real Madrid youngsters (Daniel Carvajal Ramos, Alejandro Fernández Iglesias “Alex”, Pablo Sarabia García, Rubén Sobrino Pozuelo y Álvaro Morata Martín) were selected for the squad, with Barcelona only supplying 1 player (Sergi Gomez Sola). The list also includes well known promises such as Kevin (Real Zaragoza), Isco (Valencia) and Luis Alberto Romero (Sevilla) to name a few, with Espanyol providing three players and a whole host of teams providing a single player.
My question is whether or not national team call ups is an accurate measure of the health of a youth academy or not. I could pull up other lists from various youth teams and Barcelona may have more players than Real, so I suppose its arbitrary to say one is better then the other based off just call ups. But I do think that having players called up is an important barometer of a cantera’s quality, and as usual Real and Barcelona supply a good amount of players, although Espanyol always has a decent amount of players as well.
You cant just sit there and say that Real Madrid has no quality in its Youth program, thats hypocrisy at its finest which seems to be a Farca quality these days. You aslo cannot go back into the immediate history and throw 6 tropheys around, we only started spending this year and this year is not over. Farca has been the best club side in world football for 18 months, however, you dont have the history, culture or spending power to match Real in the long term and now its showing. We have played poorly all year and yet we are ahead of you with a better run home. Hypocrocy is clouding your judgement Farca Fool and you better lift your game if you are to keep capitalising on the mammoth amounts of money you have spent like we will. Almeria??? cmon
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