Our first match in the beautiful Bernabeu was against Real Betis...
It was by no means an easy match, with some people already feeling uneasy when Ancelotti's line up was announced with: Diego López, Pepe, Ramos, Khedira, Ronaldo, Benzema, Özil, Marcelo, Carvajal, Modric, Isco starting and then on the bench: Casillas, Kaká, Casemiro, Arbeloa, Nacho, Morata, Di María. I think you can already imagine the things said about the choice of goal keeper by some fans but to me we are extremely lucky to have a team with two amazing goal keepers.
We saw a quick shot of Cristiano Ronaldo (who also played his 200th match for Madrid) being a great daddy and waving to his mother Dolores and his adorable son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr! Look at little Jnr waving back at daddy!
The game got off to a rocky start with Betis being the first at the 14th minute with a goal from Molina. Betis constantly tested the Madrid defense which was quite simply not good enough, and it will be a huge relief when Varane recovers from injury.
However Karim Benzema equalized with a beautiful assist from newbie Isco and scored on the 26th minute mark. He had plenty of chances to score but he also had plenty of offside decisions ruled against him too (I think it was the ghost of Higuain)
Karim celebrating his goal
Half time arrived and the team did need a talking to from Ancelotti, especially the defenders as they were losing the ball far to quickly to Betis. It certainly worked because the second half was great for Madrid, with Ronaldo hitting the cross bar at 46 mins in.
Cris just looks like hes at a photoshoot no?
Khedira was subbed off at 53 mins after getting injured (hopefully its not serious we need a strong midfield whilst Xabi Alonso is still recovering) and on came Casemiro who made an immediate impact pushing forward. At 68' Di Maria came on for Ozil, and it is clear that Ozil is just not that comfortable on the right wing in comparison to Di Maria who very nearly scored but was stopped by the goal keeper. At 79' Morata came on for Benzema and again had a shot on goal and was called offside too.
However man of the match Isco made all the difference, and scored a beautiful header putting Madrid ahead and he of course celebrated with his Spain team mate Morata and pointed to the beautiful crest, his first goal for Real Madrid, and the first of many more to come!
a bromance to battle with Criska and Serzil
Marcelo joins the party too
The match ended 2-1 thanks to Isco and earned Madrid their first 3 points of the new season! It was a tough match and more work needs to be done but the players all worked hard under the new manager, special mentions got to Marcelo who was attacking and pushing forward up the left wing and being a very key player. Also to Carvajal who handled the role of being in the starting lineup for the first team well, taking over from Arbeloa who was left on the bench, he made a few mistakes but he made some key defending decisions which saved Madrid from conceding anymore goals. As well as the subsitutes Morata and Casemiro, who breathed some much needed life into the game and played extremely well. Ancelotti still has a lot of work to do though he is doing a good job so far and the players seem calmer and happier right?
P.s. Special mention to Sergio Ramos for getting rid of the Miley Cyrus bleach blonde hair and returning to his roots (also some Ramos eye candy at the end of the match)
Real Madrids next match is on August 26th away against Granada! Hala Madrid!
