Club Updates!

December 13th, 2011 | by: Paulo | Comments(17)

Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe, and Fabio Coentrao all started in Real Madrid’s brutal 3-1 loss against Barcelona. Ronaldo easily had his worst game of the season wasting two brilliant opportunities to score right in front of goal. As the game wore on he got more selfish and didn’t help his team’s chances at all.  Good to see he shook it off today and scored, but it was another lackluster performance on the biggest of stages. Pepe played a solid game again and couldn’t be faulted on any of the goals.  Mourinho picked Coentrao to play out of position at right back, but still held his ground for most of the game. Fabregas beat him to the back post for his header on the third goal, but Fabio was one of the standout defenders even playing on the right. Carvalho is still struggling with his back and knee, so he couldn’t suit up.  A really entertaining game, but once again Barcelona’s midfield was the difference.  Either way Real and Barca are tied at the top of the table, but RM have a game in hand.  Mourinho needs to come up with a recipe fast for beating Barcelona.  They had them right in the palm of their hand in the early going, with Benzema scoring the fastest goal in Clasico history, but Madrid had chances after that to extend the lead.  Barcelona struggled to string passes together out of the back against the relentless pressure from Madrid, but after a few wasted opportunities Barca was back to their ways of total possession and took control of the game.

Raul Meireles scored a crucial goal for Chelsea in their huge win over Manchester City yesterday. Meireles has played all over the midfield for Villas Boas this year, but recently has been preferred as the left attacking midfielder ahead of Frank Lampard. Meireles hit some beautiful passes and tapped in his first goal of the year.  Bosingwa also started the game at right back and looked a bit shaky on defense, but provided some dangerous crosses.  Andre Villas-Boas has struggled with his Chelsea squad all year, and I think it might be the players motivation rather than the coach.  He may have found his solutions with a recent string of victories however.  It is tough to watch this young Portuguese coach being weighed with such pressure in his first season in the Premier League, but I’m sure he knew what he was getting into.  Damn I still dream about what it could have been like this year for Porto in the Champions League if AVB and Falcao stayed.

Nani got back to his scoring ways with a brace in Manchester United’s 4-1 win over Wolverhampton. He has been Man U’s most consistent player all year which has taken Nani’s game to a whole other level. Ferguson has picked him for virtually every game to date even with others like Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia, and Park Ji-Sung all competing on the wing. Sadly United crashed out the Champion’s League to FC Basel 2-1, but Nani was one of the only players to give his team a chance to score with his scintillating runs through the midfield.  Ferguson gives Nani the freedom to roam the pitch whether it is coming back to the ball and playing it out of the back or switching with Rooney and filling in at striker, he has become a total footballer.