La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Espanyol

Posted on | May 7, 2007 | No Comments

The league is red hot at the moment. With just five games to go, Madrid find themselves two points behind leaders Barcelona and in excellent form. What makes this incredible is the pretty bad season Real Madrid have been having, full of controversial coaching decisions, some dismal displays, inexplicable comments from President Ramon Calderon and let’s not forget the David Beckham soap opera.
Now Madrid seems to have settled down; Fabio Capello has found the team he wants, key figures like Van Nistelroy (who is now the league’s top scorer on 20), Sergio Ramos and Guti are in unstoppable form and they have the belief that this year they can hold aloft a trophy.
At the weekend they were against Sevilla in a crucial match for both teams and won it three goals to two, in a second half for Madrid that was probably their best display of the season. The only black spots in the game was the sending off of Robinho after he was booked for the second time for stupidly taking off his shirt and hugging the fans after scoring, and another yellow card for David Beckham, which was his fifth, and he now has to sit out a one match suspension. However, these two events are unlikely to effect Madrid too much; Espanyol haven’t won in the Bernabeu since 1996 and in the last two visits they were thrashed four goals to nil each time. They will also be thinking more about their UEFA cup final in Glasgow than in trying to take home three points. On Sunday they rewarded their home fans with a two one victory over a miserable Athletico Madrid. That means they are safe from relegation and in a comfortable position in the league from which to concentrate on the UEFA cup on the sixteenth of May. Coach Valverde is expected to rest the majority of the first team players and this will obviously have an effect on the result of the game on Saturday.
I’m going for a comfortable Madrid victory. They are too hungry for the league championship to allow a club like Espanyol to get in the way.
Prediction: Home win (3-1)

Related posts:

1. La Liga: Espanyol vs. Real Madrid
2. La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Espanyol
3. La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Mallorca
4. La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Murcia
5. La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Sevilla

Comments