Spain Football

A very lethargic Real Madrid got deservedly beaten in Turin last night. Given Jevetus' poor start to the season in the Serie A, I'd predicted a win for the merengues but from the moment the ball was in play, things didn't go Madrid's way.

Del Piero put Juventus ahead in the fifth minute, but RM didn't react throughout the whole of the first half. They looked lethargic and their apathy was mirrored by Schuster, who just sat on the bench fiddling with his hands, without giving his Lost Boys any tactical direction. The first half drew to a close and although the merengues had more of the possession, they didn't really look dangeros.

 When Amauri headed in the second for Juventus in the fourth minute of the second half, a wi for the Italians looked pretty cut and dried. However, Madrid did finally wake up about 5 minutes later - just after Schuster got to his feet for the first time after following a nasty foul on Van der Vaart. After that the play went Real Madrid's way and Van Nasalspray got one back in minute 66. The merengues were clearly dominating the game with quite a few chances coming their way, including a post, and for much of the last twety minutes a draw looked on the card. However, had Del Piero connected a high cross in Casillas' box, it could have been 3-1 to Juve - this was another gross error by the defence, who'd already sold Casillas down the river twice and let Juve score the first two.

In general, a poor performance from RM - the don't look like champions to me and winning the group doesn't look so easy now. Before the match, I'd expected to see a weak Juventus because they're not doing too well in the Serie A, but Italians are Italians. Interestingly, this result means that RM Madrid haven't beaten Juventus in Turin since 1962 - a considerable length of time, methinks, for a club that boasts about being the most successful club in the world.

* Villarreal beat Aarlborg 6-3!!! And I'm looking forward to Basel-Barça and Atlético-Liverpool tonight.