Real Zaragoza v Atletico Madrid 08.03.08
Real Zaragoza v Atletico Madrid 08.03.08
La Romareda
After watching their rivals beat Espanyol 2-1, Atletico Madrid saw this as the perfect chance to go 5 points ahead of them and also see them catch up and over-take Villarreal to take that 3rd position.
You wouldn’t have thought Real Zaragoza were sitting just outside the relegation zone in 17th position with the way they played against Atletico Madrid tonight.
To the sound of the African drums in the crowd constantly banging away the referee blew his whistle for the game to begin.
Real Zaragoza certainly started off as the stronger side with having a lot of possession and closing down Atletico very well.
It only took 4 minutes until Christian Abbiati was called into action. A ball from the left wing flew in the box which saw Abbiati come out of his goal to punch the ball, only for him to punch thin air and miss it, the ball then fell to another Zaragoza player who crossed the ball again only for a 3rd Zaragoza player in on the action to header the ball straight at Abbiati, which was a very weak header.
Atletico couldn’t really get very far when they had possession of the ball as the Zaragoza players were closing them down very well. It took until the 16th minute when Kun Aguero managed to break away from the Zaragoza defence for him to produce a very good cross which went straight to Diego Forlan, who used his head to aim at goal but hit his shoulder instead. This still managed to bring out a brilliant save out of Cesar Sanchez.
On the 25th minute saw the first goal of the game. Maxi Rodriguez and Kun Aguero linked up well and exchanged a few passes together only for this to stop due to Aguero being fouled, the referee played a good advantage and carried on as Maxi still had the ball, he then passed to Simao who managed to find a space to kick the ball into the back of the net leaving Cesar with no chance.
The next goal came 8 minutes later when Atletico Madrid conceded a free kick on the edge of the box, this was the only decision of the day by the referee which was wrong as there was nothing much in it foul. Just a little tug of the arm on Sergio Garcia saw the referee blow his whistle. The ball was hit hard and low into the box causing defenders to panic and then Pablo miss-kicked the ball into his own net. This wasn’t the first time tonight he miss-kicked the ball, this happened earlier on in the game when he went to kick the ball away but instead fell over the ball and kick it with the wrong foot causing it to go out for a throwing. He certainly was having a poor game.
The next chance came moments after when Sergio Garcia, who was having an excellent game, go to kick the ball into the goal only for Juan Valera to block the ball and managed to clear it from the penalty area.
Coming up to half time and the last chance of the game saw Diego Forlan go on a fantastic run. He used his strength and skill to produce a curling shot, only for it to not have enough curl on it and went wide.
Half TimeReal Zaragoza had been the better side and having the most possession too. A 1-1 half time score line was probably the correct score.
2nd Half
The drums continued to bang again for the start of the 2nd half and the fans all took their seats hoping for it to be as exciting as the first half and they got that.
4 minutes into the 2nd half saw the first chance for Atletico Madrid. Diego Forlan skipped inside the box to produce a good shot only for it to go directly at Cesar in the middle of the goal.
The next chance came soon after, this time to the delight of the Zaragoza fans that it was for their team. Peter Luccin took a wild shot at goal from a long distance out, only for it to go past everyone and only just went wide.
On the hour mark Atletico started to make a few mistakes here and there and passes were too short or a pass would go out of play. They couldn’t put any passes together without being closed down well by the Zaragoza team, this was something which they had managed to do well all night.
This then saw the central midfield player, Oscar, have a brilliant chance to score. Zaragoza won the ball off an Atletico Madrid player, then many of the Zaragoza players were involved in the build up with quick and low passes going from one side to another side of the pitch. A Zaragoza player then crossed the ball which was a perfect cross and reached Oscar only for him to head the ball into the ground and it went out for a goal kick.
Again, another mistake caused Zaragoza to have a brilliant chance, this time this chance was the winning goal of the game.
It started off with Atletico Madrid losing possession with a weak pass being intercepted by a Real Zaragoza player. Who then passed to Sergio Garcia who went on a good run into the box, turning inside and out tricking the Ateltico players. This caused Siamo to concede a penalty by bringing down Sergio Garcia and the referee pointing to the spot straight away.
Diego Milito stepped up and placed the ball to the right of the goalkeeper and saw Diego Milito claim his 15th goal in La Liga this season.
2-1 Real Zaragoza, who deserved to be ahead.
On the 83rd minute Atletico Madrid nearly got themselves back into the game. Diego Forlan managed to capitalise on Diogo’s poor pass and Forlan ran through into the box, his first touch was brilliant and he managed to find place to shot, he went for power over place and it was hit straight at Cesar.
Then 3 minutes later Atletico Madrid nearly scored again. This time Kun Aguero broke through the defence, which then he took it around Cesar Sanchez and produced a low, dangerous pass into the box, only for Diego Forlan to be reaching for the ball and Luccin sliding in and getting the ball away.
The last chance was an Atletico chance again, this time for Reyes. Atletico Madrid managed to put together a few good passes and a cross into the box which was cleared by Diogo, only for it to fall to Jose Antonio Reyes who produced a beautiful volley which just went wide, he is still waiting to score a goal in La Liga for Atletico Madrid.
The referee blew his whistle to much delight of the Zaragoza fans. It was an excellent game and much needed 3 points for Real Zaragoza which saw them go from 17th to 12th in La Liga.
I feel the crowd played a part in the win tonight for Zaragoza as all night they were very noisy and La Romareda had a wonderful atmosphere to it. I also feel the referee had a brilliant game too, it was only that decisive decision to award the free kick on the edge of the box which was the bad thing to his game. He let the game flow and played advantage at the right times and when he could, very good refereeing.
Atletico Madrid hope Barcelona can do them a favour tomorrow and beat 3rd place Villarreal so the gap doesn’t get any bigger.
Final Score
Real Zaragoza 2-1 Atletico Madrid.
