Phil Ball

Pride cometh before a fall

RMBetis

Pride cometh and goeth before a fall, and all that jazz. Is that the problem with Real Madrid, or is there really no problem at all? In Spanish football, a 7-point gap with 33 games remaining is the definition of a crisis. Real Madrid (or their lackeys in the press) now fear they will never catch table-topping Barcelona after the latest calamity to befall them, namely a 0-1 reverse in the Bernabéu against Betis, with a goal scored in the 94^th minute – usually the time that the home side specialise in snaffling the points on a bad day. Continue reading “Pride cometh before a fall”

Madrid Back on Track

It’s a rainy Sunday night in the Basque Country, just for a change. In the fading light, the dusky grey sky blows late-evening clouds over Anoeta, around whose scaffolded and concrete structure the ants scurry as kick-off time looms. It’s one of those moments when you think you’re at the centre of the galaxy – that nowhere else can be as important as this, and you’re desperate to get inside. Real Sociedad v Real Madrid feels like the focus of the week, the penultimate game of the 4^th ‘jornada’ in La Liga, although on the previous day the opening of Atlético’s new Wanda Metropolitano must have cultivated similar sensations. Continue reading “Madrid Back on Track”