Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Muchos Goles!

Barcelona - Madrid

Didn't see it. At least now TV and radio can get back to 98% Madrid / Barcelona coverage instead of the 101% of the last 2 weeks.

As Achopijo put it in his blog (my translation)....

"It is saddening to see how part of football disappears under the shadow of the two titans, and for a few days the reality of what Spanish football steamrolls over everyone else's colours, without pity.....and the worst thing, is that each year that passes it seems that they get bigger, and the rest are smaller. Every year it is easier to support Real Madrid or Barcelona, and for that reason, every year we should be prouder and feel we are special when this game comes around, and we don't care who wins"

I daresay the Redonda in Murcia had a lot of pondlife driving around hooting their horns last night - people who are unlikely to have been to the Nou Camp ever. If Madrid had won it would have been the same or worse.

For me there is no love of football in Spain, despite all the coverage and the feeling they are footy mad. They love winning only. Look at how empty stadiums are in segunda and segunda B compared to their equals in England or Germany.......and how fans (and here is the crux) hop on and off their local teams depending on results, and always go back to their real teams (you know which two) at the first sign of trouble. Murcia is a classic example. 3 years ago (after promotion to Primera) the club had to put a limit on season ticket sales, and 25.000 were sold. Since then 15.000 "supporters" have abandoned ship. To lose some support is normal, but over 50% means we are surrounded my gloryhunting Blancos and Culés.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Real Murcia 6 Lucena 0

Real Murcia were different class today. For the first few minutes Lucena looked like a reasonable side, well organized, defending well.....but after the first goal they disintegrated and a high score seemed inevitable. A hatrick from Chando, two from Kike and one from Pedro....some of the goals were perfect in their execution, excellent counter attacking football. Given the Sevilla Athletico had already shared a 4 all draw with Melilla, Murcia only had to win to go top. Rivals Ceuta also lost, so a perfect weekend!

Real Murcia:
Alberto
Ander Gago (Albiol 55') - Gotor - Ivan Amaya - Oscar Sanchez
Aguilera (Camara 61') - Richi - Cañadas (Kike 64') - Abraham
Pedro - Chando

Lucena:
Cristian
Cano - Domingo - Zambrano (Jesus Lanza 45') - Sarmiento (Fernando 61')
Pineda - Sergio Ortiz - Romerito (Jiminez 79') - Jony Lomas
Pascual - Alex Cruz

Goals :

1 - 0 Chando 18'
2 - 0 Pedro 30'
3 - 0 Chando 43'
4 - 0 Chando 61'
5 - 0 Kike 76'
6 - 0 Kike 86'

Att : 6,464 - lowest of the season.....well....it was cold (by Spanish standards!)

Next up.....a trip to Lorca next Sunday.

Table :

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Tomorrow 5 p.m.

Real Murcia v Lucena

You can follow the game as usual live via the internet on www.realmurcia.es

Another must win home game for Iñaki Alonso's team.

Those of you with a good level of Spanish may like to listen to Quique Baeza's excellent podcast (all about Real Murcia), that you can listen to here...

http://realmurcia1919.blogspot.com/2010/11/programa-de-radio-40-sobre-el-real.html

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Écija 0 Real Murcia 2

Decent victory, although not without difficulty, Alberto pulling off a couple of good saves, and our players having to deal with a truly awful playing surface. Écija put us under severe pressure after Mario Marín was dismissed, had their chances to equalize, but were caught out on the break, Abraham squaring to Pedro to calmy place the ball home.

Écija:
Ramón
Portela - Juan - Óscar - Ramírez (Víctor 78')
Nando (Pizarraya 57') - Moya - Requena - Bello
Jonan García - Plata (Juan Pablo 68')

Real Murcia:
Alberto
Mario Marín - Gotor - Ivan Amaya - Óscar Sánchez
Cámara - Richi (Abraham 59') - Albiol - Cañadas (Góngora 73')
Pedro - Chando (Carles 77')

Goals:
0-1 Cañadas (8')
0-2 Pedro (90')

Referee : Mr. López Acera. OK but sent Mario Marín off with a pathetic second yellow, you can't send a player off for something so soft....

Updated table below.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Sorry......seeing the world....

Long business trip....Morocco & Israel.....late nights and early mornings, sleep deprivation and alcohol abuse, too much great grub....

This upcoming week I hope to be back to a daily dose of blog if anyone still reads!

Joe...thanks for the concern....un abrazo, amigo.

Ecija - Real Murcia is on Sunday at 5 p.m., thats 4 p.m. UK time, and you can follow the game live via the club's official website.

My I-pod threw this up on the plane, kind of apt for me.....can't get it out of my head....enjoy seeing the world....an absolute jem.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Real Murcia deserved to go through!

...and I say this in all seriousness. Really.

First leg :
Diarra not sent off despite deserving a second yellow in the first half.
Probably penalty for handball after Richi shot.
Definate stick on pen Madrid's Albiol handling clearly and deliberately.

Second Leg :
Incase you think I am mad or too biased, I will quote from yesterday's Marca (Real Madrid's press mouthpiece)...

"What matters are the facts. And the facts are that of the five Real Madrid goals, only 2 were "clean" - Granero's first and the third, in a master play between Xabi Alonso, Di Maria and Cristiano. The rest....we have already talked of the second, where Higuain scores with Ramos on top of the rival keeper; the fourth from a penalty after a dive by Di Maria, and the fifth, a (deflected!) free kick by Alonso from an edge of area handball that wasn't".



Photo : Neither referee Paradas Romero or his assistants thought this was a foul or offside!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Madrid 5 Real Murcia 1

Extremely generous score for Madrid who are completely flattered by the result. As expected, the referee gifted them with many decisions, principally their second goal right on half time, where Sergio Ramos is either offside or fouling keeper Dani Hernandez, this goal is so illegal it's ridiculous, but the officials didn't see it. Their 4th, a penalty, was soft to say the least, Di Maria diving in the box. The 5th was another joke, Urzaiz controlling on his chest, the ref giving a foul or handball or whatever, then flukey Xabi Alonso's free kick deflecting into the net. It was good to see Iñaki Alonso giving our squad players a run out....and Real Murcia were a match for Madrid during long periods of the game, and it was a pleasure to see us playing the ball out of defence, and not once lumping the ball forward or resorting to fouling. Indeed it could have been very different if we had been able to find the killer ball into the forwards...we were close on many occasions.

After the luxury of our New Condomina stadium, the Bernabeu is unconfortable to say the least. Yes it is big, but you are squashed in like sardines, and there is zero space between rows, making any moving around difficult. From our position we had to see half of the pitch with and obstructed view, due to large dense netting used to stop incoming/outgoing objects from the away fans area.

Real Madrid:
Casillas
Arbeloa - Sergio Ramos - Raúl Albiol - Marcelo
Mahamadou Diarra - Granero - Pedro León (Di María 70) - Canales (Xabi Alonso 46)
Higuaín (Cristiano Ronaldo 46) - Benzema

Real Murcia:
Dani Hernández
Mario Marín - Iván Amaya - Gotor - Góngora
Isaac - Urzaiz - Pedro - Abraham (Chando 58)
Miguel Albiol (Cámara 64) - Rosquete (Cañadas 68)

Goals:
1-0 Granero 3'
2-0 Higuaín 44'
3-0 Cristiano Ronaldo 75'
3-1 Pedro pen. 81'
4-1 Benzema pen. 84'
5-1 Xabi Alonso 89'

Referee : Paradas Romero. Very Poor. Tried to disguise his home favor by a few very deserved bookings and by sending Mourinho to the stands. But big decisions all went one way, cost Real Murcia 3 of Madrid's 5 goals.

Att. 75.000

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Cup Second Leg - Madrid v Real Murcia

Kick off is at 8 p.m. tomorrow Wednesday (7 p.m. UK time), you can probably watch on the web, not on the club's website, but on the usual P2P pages such as www.rojadirecta.com.

Everyone expects Madrid to thump us - and this is possibly our best ally. The Bernabeu can quickly get on Madrid's back if they don't take an early lead and are being frustrated, so the more they are expecting a big win the better it is for us. I expect we will try to keep it to nil-nil as long as possible, try to frustrate.

For me a good result is anything less than a 4 goal defeat, as Madrid have dished out some thrashings to Primera sides already this season.

Coach Iñaki Alonso said today that :

"The team will be on the attack, our objective is to score at least a goal. On Monday we practiced penalties. We have to give everything for the fans that are going to see us, we have to show ourselves to be a team in capital letters at the Bernabeu, and enjoy ourselves. It is key to have no complex, no fear".

14 buses have been filled by Real Murcia. This is great....but.....where were all these people when we played "life or death" league games at Elche or Girona last season?

I think there will be many Madrid and Barcelona supporters using the cheap transport and cheap tickets made available by Murcia.....I hope Real Murcia fans give them the trip from hell. We should not have to accept that Madrid supporters from Murcia go to their Mecca on the back of our club - at the same time as they are wishing for it's defeat. Even less acceptable is that the Murcian Barcelona supporters suddenly discover a passion for Real Murcia when normally they ridicule anything to do with the club. Real Murcia cannot be used by the sheep when it suits them. You are either in or out....and if you are out.....leave us alone! Shows a total lack of respect to real Real Murcia fans by both white and blue-red plastic fans.

Oh dear....that turned into a rant. Will be there tomorrow....

VAMOS REAL MURCIAAAA!!!!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Ceuta 2 Real Murcia 1

First defeat for Real Murcia in any competition this season. It was always going to be a tough away game against one of the better sides in the division. Pedro gave us the lead with a header in the first half, Ceuta equalized straight after the break and scored their winner in the 93rd minute with a header from a corner. It wasn't our day.....Cañadas fluffing a great chance to put us back in front late in the game.

Ceuta:
Nauzet
Vitor - Baigorri - Zamora - Cañas
Sandro - Modeste (Gúzman 45') - Ormazábal - Navarro (Berrocal 80')
Silva (David Torres 70') - Seguro

Real Murcia:
Alberto
Gago - Luciano - Amaya - Óscar Sánchez
Carles - Cámara - Aquino (Abraham Noe 54') - Pedro
Richi (Cañadas 64') - Kike (Rosquete 71')

Goals:
0-1 Pedro (40')
1-1 Navarro (48')
2-1 David Torres (89').

Referee : Mr. Figueroa Vázquez. An absolute disgrace. Clueless. Failed to spot or sanction 3 elbows to Real Murvcia players, yet was over zealous with his wistle for anything else, giving fouls for minimal or zero contact, always in favour of the home side.

Let's forget this one as soon as possible, and our next game gives us a great opportunity to do so : Madrid at the Bernabeu in the Cup on Wednesday.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Dream Sequence



Ceuta - Real Murcia, Sunday 7th November. Hopeful punt from Pedro rebounds of three different players before nestling into the back of the net. It is the 97th minute and we go one nil up. There isn't time for more, not one more kick, the ref blows for time and we extend our advantage at the top after Sevilla Atletico and Cadiz both drop points.

Wednesday 10th November, a packed Bernabeu applauds Real Murcia off the pitch after a famous and deserved 0 - 2 against Madrid's galacticos. Marca run a full front page of Isaac screaming open mouthed to the heavens persued by ecstatic team mates after beating the offside trap, rounding Iker Casillas and belting the ball home from a tight angle to make it 2 nil. Florentino Perez refuses to answer questions, and the next morning José Mourinho leaves Madrid by mutual consent.

In the cup we get Barcelona, win 2 nil at the New Condomina, and lose 3 - 1 at The Nou camp, our goal coming from a Carles Puyol own-goal header in the 92nd minute. Through on away goals.

Quarter final draws us against Mallorca who we dismiss 6 - 0 on aggregate.

Semi finals we breeze past Atletico Madrid, El País front page titles "Miracle on the Segura".

The Final at Mestalla in Valencia has us up against Deportivo La Coruña, three quarters of the ground is red. We claw our way back after being 1 down, extra time brings no more scores and it goes to penalties. By this time it is pouring with rain. After ten penalties each, all converted, only the goalkeepers remain, sudden death. Deportivo's keeper steps up and blasts his shot over the bar. Alberto needs to score to win Real Murcia their first Copa del Rey. It rains harder. He steps up and hits a weak effort, and in slow motion you can see the Deportivo goalie smiling as it heads confortably into his chest....but, suddenly the wet ball squirms from his grasp, spins around, bounces off a heel and trickles over the line. Eva Franco in La Verdad runs an article critisising the side's lack of goals in such a big game.

Deportivo fail to recover from this, lose all their remaining league games, and are relegated back to Segunda. They fail to meet the deadline for paying players wages and are relegated directly to segunda B.

In the league we go into the play-off unbeaten, and thrash Getafe B 12 - 1 on aggregate, winning the first leg 0 - 12, but falling 0 - 1 in the return at the Condomina, Sergio Fernandez, Jesus Samper and Iñaki Alonso putting themselves in the starting 11. Many supporters brandishing Madrid and Barcelona tracksuits leave waving their hankercheifs on 80 minutes, cursing and vowing never to come back. Promotion is assured.

FC Balsicas Cartagena are relegated to segunda B after a 5 team last-day conspiracy, due to goal difference, a single goal, after a strange 0 - 7 home defeat for Numancia by Huesca (Juan Cruz Ochoa scoring the vital 7th goal on 98 minutes, clearly punching the ball into the net). Going down with them are Villarreal B, Albacete and Girona. La Opinión publish a full page photo of the referee, with a target on his forehead. Ochoa is given the freedom of the city of Murcia, and considers going into politcs after coming top of an opinion poll which questioned "Who should be our next Mayor?".

Barcelona's crazy finances finally blow up and they default on their loans, are unable to refinance and are relegated. After a brilliant piece of legal shenanagans, lawyers Samper and Samper find a loophole and uncover a conspiracy by Deportivo president Lendoiro and the referee of the Depor - Real Murcia match in 1990, which Depor won and were promoted instead of Real. In a landmark case, the leagues "historic debt" with Real Murcia is recognized, they repalce Barcelona in Primera, and all Depotivos titles are awared to Murcia.

Owner Jesus Samper declares absolute love for Real Murcia, sells off all his other business interests and invests all of the money Abramovich style in Real Murcia. Lionel Messi comes in from Barcelona in a cash plus player deal involving Dani Aquino.

Murcia qualify for the Europa League, and go on to beat Shaktar Donestsk in the final. 3rd in the league brings the Champions league to town.

Following season we win La Liga by 8 points and massacre Chelsea in the Champions league final. By this time Mourinho is back at Chelsea, and suffers an after match nervous breakdown.

2014, second Champions league trophy, 2nd league title, first league, cup and Champions league treble by a spanish side.

2015, Iñaki Alonso is made a saint at the Vatican by Pope Benedict XVI.

2016, Jesus Samper declares Real Murcia now have nuclear capability and has weapons pointing at Alicante, Cartagena and Pyongyang......

Then my alarm rang.

Moral of the story : Don't eat cheese at bedtime.

Ceuta - Real Murcia kick's off at 5 p.m. this afternoon, 4 p.m. UK time, and can be followed via the clubs official website ( www.realmurcia.es ).

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Undeserved

Can you imagine Real Murcia playing a Europa League group stage game at the New Condomina? Against a decent Bundesliga side who made the first knockout stage of the champions league the previous season? I would expect minimum 20,000 to turn up, as evidently we would be in primera and have had a very good season to qualify.

I can see why a really big club may have a lower attendance for such a tie - maybe a side who have played Champions league and a Europa League tie is unattractive. Perhaps Liverpool on a wet Thursday against Napoli may have only attracted 25 or 30,000 to Anfield.

I'll get to the point...

I just put the telly on....and they are showing Getafe against Stuttgart. GETAFE. The ground has one full part.....where the Stuttgart fans are located....and they must be thinking something is wrong with Spanish fans. A couple of thousand have made their way for a midweek european away tie, taking time off, spending their hard earned.....AND THEY OUTNUMBER THE LOCALS. The rest of the stadium is blue plastic empty seats.

I don't get it. Even if Getafe have put the prices to, whatever, 30 euros.....how can there be more people from Stuttgart, paying a plane fare, ticket to the match, beers, food etc., than locals? Those same Stuttgart fans wouldn't dream of not turning up to a home game. And I can't believe 75% of Getafe's season ticket holders are unemployed and can't afford it. Football seems to be very low priority unless Real Madrid or Barcelona are involved.

Sorry for the 1,000 Getafe fans that have bothered to turn up, but I hope they get relegated as soon as possible. UEFA league? 7,800 turned up for Real Murcia's segunda B match against Poli Ejido on Monday....when will it be our turn?

Coat!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Madrid - Real Murcia 2nd leg

Finally the date has been announced for the second leg...it is next Wednesday 10th November at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. UK time) at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Can we get a result? Realistically? Why not? I have a dream.....YES WE CAN!

A 1-1 draw puts us through....

Monday, November 1, 2010

Real Murcia 2 Poli Ejido 0

Good performance from Real today, never really in doubt once we took the lead. Poli Ejido were a bit better than some of the visitors we have seen, but Murcia are going to be too strong for most of the sides in the division. Yet to concede a goal at home in league or cup.

Real Murcia:
Alberto
Ander Gago - Luciano - Ivan Amaya - Góngora
Albiol - Carles (Cámara, 51') - Richi (Isaac, 45') - Pedro
Kike (Abraham, 61') - Chando

Poli Ejido:
Javi Ruiz
Duque - Galiano - Moscardó - Iosu Villar
Chema (Platero, 76') - Moreno - Hedrera (Arkaitz, 76') - Munuera
Cortijo - Katxorro (Samuel, 90')

Goals:

1-0. Pedro (34')
2-0. Chando (60')

Att : 7.850

Updated table