Tagged: CR7
Gareth Bale, not Cristiano Ronaldo, will be Real Madrid’s key man under Rafa Benitez| Analysis
- Rafael Benitez has Florentino Perez’s backing to make Bale future of the club and potentially put Ronaldo’s nose out of joint with a place on the wing
Rafael Benítez is ready to make Gareth Bale Real Madrid’s new ‘untouchable’ ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo in a move that could also see the Welshman given a chance through the middle for the Spanish club.
Former Liverpool and Chelsea manager Benítez is poised to succeed Carlo Ancelotti at Real and has already highlighted Bale as the key man in his Bernabeu revolution.
The appointment of Benítez finally puts an end to question marks over Bale’s Real future, for this summer at least, and will disappoint Manchester United.
Real president Florentino Perez is desperate for Bale to be a big success after paying a world record £85.3million to sign him from Tottenham Hotspur two years ago.
Bale’s first season in Spain was a big success, as he played a vital part in Real winning the Champions League and Copa del Rey. But the 25-year-old has suffered a frustrating campaign, regularly being played on the right and going long periods without receiving the ball.
Gareth Bale has suffered a difficult second season with Real Madrid
That should all change under Benítez, who has told Perez that he plans to introduce more of a team ethic and bring out the best of Bale by playing him where he is comfortable.
Bale could be given a chance in a central role, behind an out-an-out striker, with Ronaldo facing the prospect of having to play out wide.
• Gareth Bale’s career in 90 seconds
Benítez agrees with Perez that 25-year-old Bale should represent the future of Real and that 30-year-old Ronaldo will have to fit into the club’s new strategy. It remains to be seen whether the world footballer of the year will accept the situation.
Sources in Spain even claim that Benítez may be prepared to sell Ronaldo, and not Bale, if he cannot successfully incorporate both players into his Real team.
Rafa Benítez wants to make Gareth Bale central to Real Madrid’s future
Benítez once enquired about signing Bale for Liverpool and witnessed the devastating impact the player can have at first-hand while he was Inter Milan manager. Bale scored a stunning hat-trick in the San Siro for Tottenham in the Champions League.
Benítez proved during his time as interim manager at Chelsea that he is prepared to take on star players, as he regularly left out captain John Terry in a move that was subsequently proved to be wrong.
While Bale is likely to benefit from the arrival of Benítez, Karim Benzema could be allowed to leave Real and the France international’s potential availability will alert a number of Premier League and European clubs.
Rafa Benítez is not afraid of tackling big-name players such as John Terry
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is a big fan of Benzema and the club enjoy a good relationship with Real, while Manchester United are also likely to be in the market for a striker. Benítez is backing Real’s bid to sign United goalkeeper David De Gea.
Real are yet to formally confirm the appointment of Benítez, who started his coaching career with the club’s B team and had been a target of West Ham United this summer.
Benítez won the La Liga title with Valencia and famously guided Liverpool to 2005 Champions League success, as well as the 2006 FA Cup. At Inter Milan, he lifted the Supercoppa Italiana, before taking interim charge at Chelsea and winning the Europa League. During two years at Napoli, the 55-year-old has won the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana.
How Luis Suarez and Neymar have allowed Messi to do what he does best| Analysis..
If we take a little trip down memory lane, it wasn’t so long ago when we, as consumers of the La Liga product and supporters of various clubs within, were being told that Barcelona were a fading giant. Crippled by the success of the Pep Guardiola era, no future manager could possibly live up to the standards set by Barca’s 2008-2012 vintage.
The signing of Neymar sent the naysayers and doom-mongers into overdrive. Never one to resist a dig at the club he served with aplomb as player and manager, Johan Cruyff was adamant that the purchase of the Brazilian wunderkind was absolutely the wrong move.
Pete Jenson of the Daily Mail detailed Cruyff’s words to Spanish daily Marca at the time of Neymar’s capture, and they were far from complimentary:
“The problem that Barca have now is Neymar. He is a great player, that is not in question but you cannot sign a 21-year-old and pay him more than players who have won everything there is to win. No-one is God when they are just 21 years old. You cannot have two captains on one boat.”
Proving Johan Cryuff wrong
Whilst it’s true that it has taken the Brazilian the best part of a year to settle into life in Catalonia, there isn’t too much doubt that Neymar is now one of the first names on the team-sheet. He has worked hard and displayed maturity both on and off the pitch, in order to prove Cruyff and everyone else who weighed in on the subject wrong.
Ditto Suarez.
The situation was supposedly professionally unworkable a season before so imagine the outcry at Suarez’s arrival.
More so because of a certain indiscretion at the World Cup. It didn’t seem possible to many Barca fans that a club with such a proud heritage were eroding yet more vestiges of the “Mes Que un club” banner that the Catalans were incredibly proud of.
It didn’t matter a jot that Suarez had come in off of the back of a record-equalling Golden Shoe tally of 31 goals, to see him tie with Cristiano Ronaldo as the top European marksman for league goals.
No, this was one signing too far and there was our man Cruyff again, at the coal face chirping like the proverbial canary. This time Marca printed words he had given via his weekly column in Dutch paper De Telegraaf:
“I can’t see how Barça intends to continue playing the same way, with a keen focus on team play if Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez are in the side. The three of them are too individual. In signing him, the club are showing a preference for individual genius over a team that plays great football”
Now, no one is questioning the impact that Cruyff has made on the game of football. He stands alone as the pioneer of Barca’s attacking style of play.
But his comments have been shown to be largely inaccurate. Given that he informs so many, might it not have been a better idea for him to see exactly what each player brought to the table before passing commentary? And what exactly have they brought to the table?
MSN more productive than BBC?
How have the signings of both Luis Suarez and Neymar benefitted Messi, allowing him to do what he does best? What ingredients have they got that sees their triplet working in a much more productive way than the “BBC” at Real Madrid?
For a start, Neymar has really come into his own this season both individually and as a foil for Messi. Much of the last campaign was, in essence, a fact-finding mission for the Brazilian. Getting used to a new team, new colleagues and a completely different way of working.
We saw a less-confident version of the player we see now, and one who was reticent to drive forward and at the heart of defences, as he was known to do for Santos.
Fast forward a year and aside from his obvious prowess in front of goal, we can pinpoint Neymar’s world class movement as one of the factors behind the success of the partnership. Next time Barcelona play, track Neymar’s runs when Messi is in control of the football. Watch how easily he opens up the pitch for the Argentine to deliver with quite stunning accuracy, those cross-field slightly arched passes.
Equally, when Neymar has the ball and bears down on goal, look at just how many opposition players surround him or the areas in which he intends to play. Like honey to a bee, players are drawn thus allowing Messi to find space that would otherwise not be available.
Of course, “Messi-dependence” has been another catch-all phrase that has come to pass in the last few seasons. Neymar has definitely lightened the load in that respect as his 29 goals and five assists, per WhoScored, would denote.
Furthermore, Messi’s meanderings around the pitch, whilst still noticeable, do not extend to the left side in general terms because the Brazilian is trusted to provide the necessary tools in that area.
Suarez the perfect number 9
Suarez’s role is a little simpler to explain. Barcelona have lacked a true “number nine” for some while now. Probably since the departure of Samuel Eto’o. Of course being the player that he is, Messi filled the position but he is not a centre-forward by definition.
The Uruguayan isn’t your archetypal target man but, as he showed at PSG, Suarez brings a presence and a physicality which is much needed in that particular position. His hybrid skill set allows for him to drift down either channel and flex with both other members of Barca’s front line.
When pulling off to the right, it opens up that central channel for Messi to nip into and be decisive. Often coming from a deeper standpoint in the wide right position, Messi’s runs into the box are extremely difficult to track as a result.
For example, against PSG, Maxwell was the designated marker of Messi because of the particular zone (wide right) that the Argentine began the game at.
If Messi started to make a run inside, then Maxwell had a split second decision to make as to whether that run should be tracked. Assuming he did not, then either Marquinhos or David Luiz had to stand tall, but with Suarez causing all sorts of problems, both the Brazilian defenders were left with an impossible choice.
Face up to Messi knowing he could put the ball in behind for Suarez or Neymar, or go with Suarez leaving the gaps for Messi to exploit centrally. If Maxwell tracked Messi’s run, then we saw how he would pop the ball out wide for Montoya to cross.
Watch the above unfold in the second leg, and with Dani Alves added to the mix we’re likely to see a lot more chances created.
After a four-month sabbatical, we are only just seeing the fruits of Suarez’s labour too and he deserves much credit for studying the various facets of Messi’s game and adapting his own to fit. No easy task when you’ve been the main man elsewhere.
With 91 goals and innumerable assists between the three players, all in all it’s been a very satisfying experiment from Barcelona’s point of view.
What will Johan Cruyff say now?
“Turn around and celebrate with Ronaldo,” Thierry Henry slams Hernandez for goal celebration.
“That’s Ronaldo’s goal!” insisted former Arsenal and Barcelona striker Thierry Henry during his analysis for Sky Sports following Real Madrid’s 1-0 win over rivals Atletico Madrid with Javier Hernandez scoring the only goal of the match, leading the Whites to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
This was Hernandez’s sixth start for Real Madrid since his arrival at the capital city from Manchester United with the club’s first choice striker, Karim Benzema out injured, and understandably, a goal of this magnitude is bound to be emotional for a player. However, Henry was heavily critical of Hernandez for his celebration, maintaining that it was Ronaldo’s goal to celebrate.
“At that particular moment, he [Ronaldo] couldn’t shoot, so he didn’t take the risk of doing something stupid and silly with it,” explains Henry. “He saw a guy in a better position, which Chicharito was, and he gave him the ball.”
“What I don’t like is Chicharito seems like he’s won the World Cup with that. It’s a tap-in,” he added. “Turn around and celebrate with Ronaldo. Even the camera knew – the camera is on Ronaldo for a reason. I think the pressure went through him. He knew he had to perform today and he had a couple of chances to do it.”
“If Ronaldo had done that I would have said the same thing. You have to pass the ball, but it’s still a tap-in and you have to turn around and say thank you.”
Top attackers in the @ChampionsLeague in the past three seasons (via @Squawka) |Semi final saga