The day had finally arrived – AFCB were actually, really and
not I’m not joking, going to play REAL MADRID!!!!
I’d saved my new home shirt still in its wrapper for just
this occasion and unfortunately found that either the sizes were not as
generous as last year’s or I’d put on a LOT of weight. It’s the latter isn’t it
– off to the gym tomorrow.
Wearing my shiny new shirt I was like a magnet to all the
half and half scarf sellers, some of which clearly hadn’t even bothered to
research the AFCB badge – no, I looked foolish enough already…..
I arrived at 6:15 to find the forecourt heaving with people
obviously keen to admire the blacked out Madrid coach that was to soon zoom
past them so I did the only thing that I could and headed for the North Stand.
It's always this busy really...
I crept nervously through to the pitch to see if the South
Stand was all that people was saying – and it was. Finally we have a 4 sided
proper looking stadium. This was already a great day.
Impressive
Then the teams came out to warm up. I still couldn’t believe
who I was seeing – how was Addison on the pitch? Kidding!!! It was the multi millionaires
for the opposition, juggling and running around. They were really here
The teams were announced and I was disappointed that there
was no Allsop, Pugh or Ritchie but I was looking forward to seeing Coulibaly
and Fraser
As for the opposition, Ronaldo, Ozil, Pepe, Modric and
Benzema all started (amongst a plethora of other household names) so I hope all
those doubters were enjoying their humble pie
We are really really playing Real Madrid!!
Obviously worried by the reputation of AFCB, Real turned us
around at kick off and that worry was quickly shown to have merit as some fine
work by Fraser and Pitman on the right resulted in a cross that was only just
out of Grabban’s reach in the first 2 minutes.
Just one minute later though, there was a hint of what was
to come when a Ronaldo 20 yard back heel (yes you read that right) just sailed
past the post while Flahavan was rooted to the spot thinking “you can’t DO that!!”
The lad in front of me had the winning sweepstake ticket of
guessing Arter’s first foul on Ronaldo would be on 8 minutes but he lost out on
doubling his money because no-one was going to get booked in this game
Fraser and Coulibaly were both running fast at their loft
opponents and looking really threatening and on 16 minutes another good Fraser
run found Pitman who tried an audacious chip from the edge of the box which
went just wide of the post.
Elphick had already performed heroics by his last ditch
sliding tackle on Benzema but he was powerless to stop Real breaking the deadlock
on 21 minutes.
A free-kick had been awarded 20 something yards out from the
AFCB goal just right of central, so the wall lined up to cover the right hand
side of the goal, while Flahavan covered the left.
Ronaldo stood over the ball. We all knew he was going to go
over the wall. Flahavan knew it. The wall knew it. The crowd knew it
Up he stepped, crashed the ball over the wall and put so
much dip on the ball, that it hit the goal line before going in the bottom
corner.
We all just looked at each other, shrugged and said, “that
was bloody good, wasn’t it?” 0-1
Ozil was now pulling all the strings like a master puppeteer
with a million short give and goes and proved that as well as having the brains
he had the power and speed too as he muscled past MacDonald and just ran away
from him as if MacDonald had Addison on his shoulders.
His cross on 33 minutes was met yet again by Elphick who was
proving every inch the leader and captain he deserved to be given last season.
Unfortunately for AFCB, their attacking threat was all but
extinguished 6 minutes earlier as Pitman was forced off through injury and so,
very much like the last few games of last season, despite our fabulous wing
play, with no-one in the middle we did look toothless – but remember, we were
playing one of the best sides in the world.
There was some confusion from me though, that he was
replaced by Ward – an attacker off, defender on. I’m kind of hoping this isn’t
a prelude of more one up front set-ups for the Championship…
AFCB did carve out one last chance in the half as more
Fraser wing wizardry had the ball arrive at Coulibaly’s feet and his snapshot
was well saved to the keeper’s left
That was on 39 minutes and we were all beginning to mutter
that losing 0-1 at half time wasn’t such a bad result – talk about jinxing it….
One minute later, some defensive indecisiveness had Ronaldo
bearing down on goal . With a goal-scoring one on one master-class that I’m
hoping Grabban was taking notes on, he coolly rounded Flahavan and slotted
home.
It NEVER looked in doubt : 0-2
Even that wouldn’t have been a bad score-line but a 42nd
minute Real corner flew over everyone’s head but landed precisely on Khedira’s
left boot and he just slotted it into the bottom right corner. As easy as you
could possibly make taking a corner on the volley. It was just lovely and meant
that despite all the hard work, the half would end 0-3
Wholesale half-time subs meant that Real could give a run
out to the up and coming stars of the future, like Kaka and Higuain (f***ing
hell!!!) and within 2 minutes of the restart Higuain was put through after yet
another slick move and, he just put it in past Flahavan.
No fuss, the goal’s just there, so that’s where I’m going to
put it, simple. 0-4
Seven minutes later he was through again but this time his
smashed effort was brilliantly tipped over – I bet Flahavan won’t be able to
feel his fingers for a week.
AFCB were very much on the back foot but in actual fact, through
the back and midfield there was a lot of good play, but we had no-one up front
with enough movement to find space to give a cutting edge to any attack and so
often the ball was overplayed until lost.
What I did admire thought was the tenacity of the AFCB team,
they really did stick at their task, it was just that Madrid were just THAT
good that they attacked at pace and also defended at pace – a very difficult
package to handle.
On 55 minutes the ball found its way to Kaka 20 yards out,
surrounded by 3 AFCB players. I then blinked and there were NO AFCB players
within 2 yards of him. How did he do that?
He used this space to pull his foot back as if to perform a
short pass but instead crashed a screamer onto the crossbar before Flahavan had
even the chance to get his step ladder set up.
He looked disappointed until Carvajal whispered to him that
in fact he’d won @bottomike ‘s crossbar
challenge and he’d be getting two free tickets for Charlton at home – that cheered
him up no end
Di Maria made it 0-5 on 68 minutes when he shot low into the
bottom right hand corner of the goal after more crisp interplay that just made
you think “wow”. It was fantastic to watch. We were 5 nil down and all I could
think was how good this was
Harte then came on and Daniels was pushed onto the left wing.
Freed of his defensive duties he looked like a kid in a sweet shop and showed
renewed energy as he tormented the Madrid right back with a series of mazy but forceful runs,
with almost all resulting in a proper cross.
Pugh has yet another thing to think about I reckon and the
challenge for places could be the fiercest that there has ever been.
That said, we were still lacking up front, so despite the
good build up, the Madrid goal was never threatened.
The scoring was completed by Casemiro after another jaw
dropping pass sequence saw him through on his own and he smashed it in from
close range
Still couldn't feel sad
Summary – Beaten 0-6 – but it was just lovely to watch. We
have some real pace going forward with lots of bright ideas but in the final
third all those ideas melt away and their keeper, especially in the second
half, could have sat down and read a book – we just lack threat. Playing well
as a team is a good start but I think even though the Championship doesn’t
contain any Madrid’s, defences will be tough to break down and so further
tinkering is needed up front.
Of course if Pitman hadn’t got injured it might have been
completely different, he is our most natural goal-scorer and as I said before,
this was no ordinary team
Star Man – Coulibaly – strong on and off the ball with pace
and vision to bring others into the game
North Stand with top photo-bombing steward
Main Stand
East Stand
