Real Victorious

Real Madrid 2-1 Olympiakos

Looking at the scoreline, it makes one believe that Real scrambles to get the victory.But there is another staistic that explains the way the game was played.The shots on and off target by Real Madrid was 26 out of which 10 was on target as against olympiakos with a total of 9 and 4 on target.The number of Corner kicks were 16 for Real Madrid and 5 for Olympiakos.

It was an all out attacking line-up by Luxembourgo. Robinho, Raul took their position as strikers and Bapstista a little behind them. David Beckham and Guti on the Right and Left wing respectively. Pablo Garcia as a holding midfielder who had one of the tough jobs of marking Rivaldo. The defence had R.Carlos, Sergio Ramos, Helguera and Salgado in that order from Left to Right.As always there was Iker at the goal.The attitude from Real was very clear.It was positive and attack oriented, partly due to the pressure to win the match and their regained confidence after two victories in La Liga.

It just took 9 minutes for Raul to get his 50th Champions league goal. He met a beautiful Juicy cross from Beckham at the near post, a pretty easy one to convert for a player of his calibre.It is a fantastic moment for Raul, reaching the milestone as the top scorer in european club championship in his favourite home ground and in front of his supporters.The crowd went mad after this.ATt 2.30 a.m. in the morning I was feeling more fresher than ever watching the flowing football played by Madrid.I especially liked Robinho's ball control and the way he pulled the ball to centre for Baptista, Carlos and Raul to take a shot.Credit should also be given to olympiakos Goal keeper. He stood between Real Madrid and the goals.

Coming to Beckham,I'm not a great Fan of his ball control and ball holding techniques. But he is one of the Best crosser in the world. Yesterday he was in excellent form.He just did sent lots of balls on to the centre and the beauty was they were accurate and eluded the defence while dipping down. Sensational stuff from him.With Quality player like Robinho to control the ball these moves seemed pretty easy. I was expecting to see Madrid score a lot of goals.But then it was not so. Olympiakos pulled one back after starting the second half. Madrid was trying again with Beckham crossing the ball and Robinho and Baptista missing some good chances. Casillas was troubled by some shots by Rivaldo.After 85 minutes when I was holding my breath for a win for Madrid, it happened. Saldado from Reserve team headed a Beckham cross, a thing of beauty swirling in from Right hand corner,directly to the Goal keeper hands. The olympiakos goalkeeper tried to push it out,but unfortunately it again met the head of soldado and went in.

So Madrid were again in front and there was an act of stupidity at the injury time. Sergio Ramos was red carded, which I think the referee believed to be an outburst. But certainly not according to the replays. But finally Madrid won the match 2-1 and gained the three points which is very vital.

I then went to sleep,should say happily for having watched the kind of football I always liked to, in other words watching Real Madrid play wonderful soccer.

Match Day 2 Champions League 2005

Results from matches played yesterday

Bayern 1-0 Club Brugge

Juventus 3-0 Rapid

Ajax 1-2 Arsenal

Thun 1-0 Sparta

Panathinaikos 2-1 Bremen

Barcelona 4-1 Udinese (Ronaldinho scores a Hat-Trick)

Man. United 2-1 Benfica

Lille 0-0 Villarreal

I was pretty tired yesterday and so slept before 11.30.I couldn't catch any of the action above live. Hoping to watch the replays today.Looks like Ronaldinho has sizzled the udinese defence.

Today's fixtures

Real Madrid Vs Olympiacos (29th september 2.30 a.m IST Same day delay in ESPN)
(or May be in Real Madrid TV live)

Liverpool Vs Chelsea (29th september 00:00 IST Live in ESPN)

Iam waiting to catch the first victory of Real Madrid in Champions league 2005.Though Zidane has started training not sure if Luxembourgo would pick him up fearing more damage ahead of la liga games.But Ronaldo and Robinho are in good form and should be a goal feast.Woodgate might get a nod to be in the eleven.

The other big match is against the European Champions and Premier league champions.For some reason big matches by English teams against chelsea have not impressed me. But this is purely in a Premier league match , not in European championships.

Weekend Happenings

GiriValam
On Friday I was off to Thiruvannamalai with 4 other friends of mine for girivalam.We started our girivalam at 5.00 A.M on saturday morning. It was really fantastic to walk around the mountain. A couple of days back it had rained and there was still moisture in the atmosphere. We enjoyed the beautiful sun rise in the mountain backdrop. After the walk we spend almost more than an hour in the temple talking about the skills of the sculptors present in those times. I bet the beauty of the garbha graham, prakaram encircling it and the sculptures in the wall are a real feast to one's eyes. It was some time around noon we came back to our hotel rooms. As I was leaving the place I promised to myself that I should be visting this place atleast once in 6 months .There is something mysterious in these mountains that gives me peace of mind.

Thanks to Prabhakar for the Photos.






Rossi and Alonso are Champions

Rossi once again won the Moto Gp championship on Sunday, the seventh title in his racing carrier.He won it as 125cc driver in 1997, 250cc driver in 1999 and then in the years 2001,2002,2003,2004 and in 2005 as a 500c driver. I think he would have fancied a top podium finish on his Championship winning race. But he could manage only a second spot. His superiority in this category is such that he grabbed the championship with still five races to spare. One should understand that his Yamaha is not the best vehicle on the circuit, with which he had won the championship twice.

Fernando Alonso become the youngest Formula 1 Champion on sunday.Though I'm not a fan of Alonso, I would say he is a driver who drives within the limits of the vehicle and most importantly doesn't commit too many mistakes. He has been dubbed as in par with Schumi, Senna etc.,which I personally dont agree to.He has to prove a lot to reach those heights ans he still has lot more years ahead of him to attain it. Once again Kimi lost his hold on the championship.Will he be able to grab it next year.May be if Schumi and Ferrari haven't fixed their problems with Bridge stone.

Alaves 0 - 3 Real Madrid
Real won their away match against Alaves in the La Liga campaign on sunday. Ronaldo scored twice and thereby reached the mile stone of 100 goals in a White Jersey.
Two wins in the same week in two la liga campaigns should boost the spirit of the team. Real are to face Olympiakos at home on Wednesday night in a Champions league encounter.Hope they continue their good run in the midweek encounter also.

Saturday EPL results

Some of the results from Yesterday's English Premier League matches,

Birmingham City Vs Liverpool (2-2)
It was a boring match in the first hour, till Garcia was introduced into action.The last 20 minutes was absolutely fantastic with the teams attacking end to end.Benitez might not be a happy man, but should be satisfied with the one point scored away from home.

Chelsea Vs Aston Villa(2-1)
As usual Chelsea won the match.But what is unusual this time, Aston Villa was able to breach the Chelsea defence for the first time this season.

Manchester United Vs Blackburn Rovers (1-2)
Machester United were beaten by Blackburn at Old Trafford. Though ManU were able to create a lot of chances they were not able to convert them. I think that they miss Roy Keane at the centre.

West Ham - Arsenal(0-0)
Arsenal could not get a goal against West Ham and it clearly showed the absence of Pires and Henry. The bunch of Arsenal youngsters were able to get the ball till the opposition's Six yard box, but could not finish it off. West Ham should be given the credit for defending well. More worries for Arsene Wenfer as Gilberto silva limped off with a Knee.

Other Results.

Bolton 1-0 Portsmouth

Newcastle 1-0 Man City (Owen Scored for Newcastle)

West Brom 1-2 Charlton

Everton 0-1 Wigan (Pity on Everton)

Real Madrid TV

I expressed my regrets about not being able to watch Real Madrid matches live living in India. After watching a couple of EPL matches yesterday, I was just fiddling with the SCV Set Top box remote.And to my surprise I landed up on a channel showing the goals scored by Real madrid against Atletic.The moment I saw the Real Madrid logo on the Right hand side Top corner, I could not believe my eyes.The information card appears with the classification that it is FTA channel.But I guess it could be tuned only with Set Top Box.

For the first time in the past one year, I was totally happy to have got the Set Top Box.Hope the matches are shown live on Real Madrid TV. Even otherwise I certainly think there would be retelecast of matches again and again.For a soccer fan and that too a Real Madrid fan I could not have asked for more.And a list of soccer matches that a Set top box(SCV) owner can get now

1. ESPN/STAR - English Premier League ,Champions League and Asian world Cup Qualifies

2. Ten Sports - Bundes Liga,Portugese Liga,Uefa Cup and South American World Cup qualifiers.

3. Zee Sports - Bundes Liga, Italian Serie A and European World Cup Qualifiers.

4. Dubai Sports -Some Middle East league(guess it is Iran), Bundes Liga, UEFA Cup and South American Qualifiers.

5. Real Madrid TV - Guess all matches played by Real Madrid, but not sure though.

Real Madrid win at home

I was not fortunate enough to catch the first win of Real Madrid against Athletic Bilbao live but hope to catch the action in a replay at 5.00 P.M tommorow in ESPN.I'll update the blog with the details of the match after that.

But it looks like the England defender woodgate had a worst debut for Real Madrid.Though I dont want to conclude without seeing the match, the odds are against him.He could not have hoped for a goal in his debut, but certainly would not have wanted an own goal. But then it had happened. Not only because the team is already under criticism from media,it is difficult for any team under these circumstances to get back from behind. I can understand that the fans at Bernabeu would have gone crazy and it is not easy for any defender to keep his cool in his debut against booing from his fans at home. Timing on a tackle for a defender is very important and with an own goal and boos from the crowd, Woodgate could have lost his temper resulting in some bad tackles and a caouple of yellow cards.The official commentary from realmadrid.com has described his debut as a good one, which i think is trying to be too optimistic.

Coming to the goals Robinho had got one, heading a ball from Beckham and then Raul got two goals. It would have been a real feast to watch Ronaldo,Raul and Robinho with their skills and flicks.

Should I say I'm relieved.Yes.Is it because that Real had a convincing win. Not really. I had a feeling that the Real squad is in good balance in the last 2 years and bouncing back is not an issue for a team with such a class.But I'm relieved because this win will put all the criticisms of the coach's management, formation etc., and gossips about his sacking on hold.

I know Woddy has got lots of experience to get back from his dismal show.Waiting for tomorrow to catch the replay of the match.

An Accident

I was thinking about writing a blog about my bike ride starting from my house till my workplace at Tidel. I had set my stopwatch to note the timings of my ride.Things were fine till I came across an accident at the Tarmani road.

After waiting for the signal at the Taramani Junction near S.R.P tools, I was slowly cruising my bike in the traffic. This is the road which the government is planning to convert as a six lane road.So on the left side of the road there are huge steel boards(separators) to isolate the area of road laying operation and the route for traffic. As I was cruising slowly near the boards on to my left , I heard a sudden thud of sound.The first impression that came across is that the somebody has crashed their vehicle on to the board.But when I turned back I saw an old man, on his cycle had dashed with the board with his cheek and an almost bald head making contact with the steel boards. A couple of passengers from an auto came down and were trying to lift this person up.He was not moving and im was not sure of his state. Is his alive and unconscious or is he dead.I couldn't find this out because of the honks produced by the vehicles standing behind me and I had to move.

I could guess that the auto driver trying to squeeze past vehicles in his right hasn't noticed the old man to his left. Therefore he had pushed the cyclist further on to his left which resulted in his crash.

What did strike me hard was the expression on the face of the cyclist. He had seen the danger coming before hitting the boards and his face has frozen with that fear of impact. I couldn't explain this in words.But it really scared the hell out of me.I had come across a few accidents in my life but never had witnessed the shock in the face of the victim before.

If we start blaming somebody for this accident,then starting from the auto driver,car on to the right of auto, the traffic constable and the government can be blamed.(as Ambi's father argues in the movie Anniyan for his daughter)But what if the person had died, which I hope is not so,the loss suffered by his family could be irrecoverable.

But I feel that what caused the accident - is the people’s attitude of racing against the time to reach their workplace. I work for a software company with flexible timings. So I’m not sure if it is really not possible to calculate the time it would take (considering the peak hour traffic) to travel from home to workplace.But I think that it is not that difficult compared to causing an irrecoverable loss to somebody.

The Race, The Rider and The Promoter

Valentino Rossi who was expected to clinch the World Championsip in MOTO GP(500 CC), this week crashed out of the race at Japan due to a collision with Marco Melandri.I was happy to see Rossi escape the crash without any injuries.

Rossi started the race in 11th position and then moved to fourth place by fourth lap. I always like watching these high speed bikes running close to each other and then overtaking each other mutually in a chicane. The synchronous inclination they do to adjust the equillibrium position in the corners and then getting back to the normal position is always a beautiful sight to watch.It also has a risk factor in it when the bikes collide with each other at such speeds.There was a straight sector in the circuit yesterday in which the bikes were reaching almost 290 Km/hr.The speed has to be reduced at the end of the straight say to 90Km/hr to take a corner and these bikes are capable of reaching this speed in third gear.So what is required is a great braking system,good typres and of course uninteruupted concentration from the riders.

Coming back to the race capirossi won it eventually with Max Biaggi finishing second. As per the standings in the race Rossi leads it with around 110 points ahead of Biaggi. I hope rossi lifts the chamipoship in the next race at Malaysia and to acheive this feat what is required from rossi is only a top four finish.

Off the track now,

I was watching this in ESPN/STAR sports and in the race build up our very own JOhn Abraham met with Rossi.Rossi was signing some autograph book or something.

John : Hi Rossi.Im John Abraham an actor from India who is being watched by 1 billion people(come on..enough of your tale..get on with the question). People in India follow Formula1 and then they follow Moto GP too.One person whom they know in Moto GP is Rossi.When are you planning to come to India.
Rossi: Hi,I havent been to India yet and I dont think I will be coming there to India in near future.Hope I will be there for a race.

I dont have complaints with this question except that John's boasting self Intro was at the height of stupidity.Doesn't he know that Rossi is an International star with six championships under his belt.

His second question though i dont remember exactly had something to do with rossi's feeling towards driving the rest of the races this year. Rossi answered it saying that he looks forward to racing in the forth coming tracks. A question like this to a rider who is working towards sealing his 2005 championship is absurd. I didn't have the patience to catch up rest of the interview and changed the channel.

Ps: One of the reasons John was on the circuit and into Yamaha Garage interacting with Rossi is because John is the Promoter of Yamaha Bikes(Not racing bikes of course) in India.One reason I'm jealous of him.

And so it begins...

I was really hoping to start my blog with my favourite Soccer club- Real Madrid FC winning the first round champions league match.But then it was not so.Lyon won emphatically against Real Madrid(3-0).

Infact yesterday night I felt glad after watching 'Salaam Namaste'.I would rate it as the best one I have seen in the past few days(which includes Mangal Pandey,Madagascar,Anbe Aruyire and Totti Jaya).But my happiness did not last long, to be exact not more than 5 hrs or not after 2.55 a.m in the morning when Juninho of Lyon scored the first goal in 21st minute.I wouldn't give the credit to Carew for caressing the ball on its way that caught the Real Madrid goal keeper Iker Cassilas in an awkward position to save it.The second goal was in 26th minute and again by a free kick by Juninho.Though I would not say that these two were great free kicks, credit should not be taken away from Juninho.Had the Real Madrid defence been bit more organised these two goals could have been avoided. The third goal is the one which I feel caught the real defence napping. Wiltord was the one who received the ball in the middle of the ground and then did some neat 1,2 exchanges and completed the move with a fine shot on goal.

In the second half Lyon stayed back and defended the three goal lead. Madrid had almost 65 % of possesion and they were not able to convert it into a goal, though there were some great chances for Raul and Baptista.
Though it was a bad defeat I didn't lose hope in Real madrid for the following reasons:
1. Robinho was brilliant. Some of his moves with raul were perfect and i would say raul was unlucky(or Lyon Goal keeper Coupet was great) to get a goal yesterday. Also things could improve when the team undergoes training together.
2. Ronaldo who didn't play yesterday could have made a difference. He could have linked well up with robinho.Also he could have muscled his way into the defence with some brilliant crosses from Beckham, which Robinho with his stature was not able to do.
3. Sergio Remos and Iven Helguera have to play some more matches together or need more training playing together to understand each other in the centre of defence.

Last year Real lost similary against Bayer Leverkusen in the first match with a 3-0 but reached the last 16 stage.
Olympiakos will face Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu in two weeks time for a Champions league match.The next match in liga for Real Madrid is away at espanyol. Thought I dont have much expectations in this match , I would be happy for a draw.

Results from other matches played yesterday:

PSV 1-0 Schalke

Milan 3-1 Fenerbahçe

Olympiacos 1-3 Rosenborg

Betis 1-2 Liverpool

Chelsea 1-0 Anderlecht

Artmedia 0-1 Internazionale

Rangers 3-2 Porto