Zaragoza & Madrid In Four Goal Thriller

Zaragoza were in a precarious position coming into this game, as they were just one point above the relegation zone. Coach Manolo Villanova had Albert Celades, Sergio Fernandez and Alberto Zapater available after suspension, but Carlos Diogo picked up a serious injury against Valencia and will be out for six months.

Real Madrid were looking to cap off a wonderful past week, during which they secured their second straight Primera title, and thrashed bitter rivals Barcelona. Fabio Cannavaro served his suspension during that game, and partnered Christoph Metzelder. Raul was rested, with Gonzalo Higuain taking his place. Jerzy Dudek also got a rare outing in goal.

First Half

Zaragoza had the first chance of the game as Ricardo Oliveira was completely free inside the box but his header from a right-wing cross was weak.

The Brazilian lost his marker again just moments later, and flashed a shot into the side-netting from a narrow angle. Indeed Oliveira was having all of Zaragoza’s early efforts and he directed another cross over the bar.

In the tenth minute Sergio Garcia squandered a fabulous opportunity to give the home side the lead as he nutmegged Cannavaro before sliding the ball inches wide.

Wesley Sneijder had Madrid’s first attempt of the game with a powerful drive from distance that flashed over.

Sergio Ramos gifted the ball to Aimar, who squared the ball to Milito, but the Argentine saw his goal-bound effort blocked by Metzelder.

It was a very open game and on 17 minutes a free-flowing Madrid move ended in Cesar beating away Higuain’s ferocious effort.

Moments later the deadlock was broken, but it was Zaragoza who got the goal. Sergio Garcia did superbly down the right, and his ball across the six-yard box was tapped home by Oliveira at the back post.

Madrid tried to react, and Mahamadou Diarra was guilty of a simply shocking tackle on Diego Milito, stamping down on the ankle of the striker with his studs showing. The Malian midfielder went unpunished for the incident, while Milito carried on after treatment.

On 25 minutes Madrid leveled the scores up. Higuain’s delightful chip over the top located Robinho, and when his shot was saved by Cesar, Van Nistelrooy was on hand to gobble up the rebound.

The standard of defending in this game was atrocious at times, and Robinho almost put Madrid ahead as his close range shot was blocked by a defender.

Cesar then performed a fantastic reaction on Sergio Ramos’ volley, but it didn’t matter as the linesman had his flag up anyway.

Robinho bamboozled Zapater with some fancy footwork before seeing his shot deflected wide. From the resulting corner Cesar made another superb stop, pushing away Sergio Ramos’ far post header one-handed.

Robinho became the second Madrid player of the night to make an horrendous tackle, with a leg-breaker of a challenge on goalkeeper Cesar. The Brazilian was shown a yellow card, but it should have been red. Fortunately Cesar was left unharmed.

Down the other end, Oliveira had a chance to restore Zaragoza’s lead following an error from Dudek, but the Milan-owned forward’s shot was cleared off the line. Aimar then headed just wide as the home side finished the first half strongly.

Second Half

Into the second period, and the chances kept on coming. Aimar twice went agonizingly close to scoring, first of all bringing a fine save out of Dudek, before then crashing a deflected header against the crossbar.

A mistake by Cannavaro allowed Oliveira a run through at Dudek, but he wasted the chance by unselfishly looking for a team-mate.

Van Nistelrooy was almost through down the other end, but Javier Paredes made a textbook last-gasp tackle.

Oliveira was going for the world record for number of shots in one game, and his next effort brought a comfortable save out of Dudek. Matuzalem then bombed forward from midfield and hit a left-foot daisycutter just wide of the left-hand post.

Oliveira had yet another chance just past the hour mark, but this time Cannavaro was on hand to make a fine block.

Milito attempted a curling effort from the edge of the box that was deflected just over. From the resulting corner, Dudek made an excellent fingertip save from a looping header.

The shots continued to rain in on Dudek’s goal, and Matuzalem had another effort from outside the area, but again it was off-target.

Madrid were less potent at the beginning of the second half but Van Nistelrooy could have grabbed a goal against the run-of-play had it not been for Ayala’s superb block. Robinho then tested Cesar with a weak shot.

With results not going their way elsewhere, Zaragoza knew they needed to go for the win, and they started to throw more and more men forward. Milito headed wide, while Sergio Garcia dragged his long-distance shot badly.

Sneijder didn’t have his shooting boots on for the visitors, crashing a free kick well over the bar, before firing another effort wide.

Zaragoza were dreadfully wasteful in front of goal, and it was looking more and more likely that they were going to be left to rue a host of missed chances. The worst finisher of them all had been Sergio Garcia, who again fluffed his lines, toe-poking the ball straight at Dudek when well placed.

Zaragoza were inevitably made to pay for their profligacy, as Higuain released Robinho, who flicked the ball sumptuously over the on-rushing Cesar to put Madrid ahead.

Sergio Garcia fired into the sidenetting, Albert Celades forced Dudek into a save, before ‘the Philippe Senderos of Spain’, Sergio, missed an absolute sitter, hashing the ball over the bar from just yards out following a right-wing corner.

Quite how Zaragoza were losing this game was a mystery that even Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t be able to solve. Sergio Garcia danced his way through, but with just Dudek to beat, he again couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.

Finally on 85 minutes the home side got a second goal to level the scores, and unbelievably it was the cumbersome Sergio who got the goal, making up for his earlier miss by toe-poking the ball into the roof of the net.

Zaragoza now searched for the winner, and in the penultimate minute X had the goal at his mercy at the far post, but he inexplicably headed the ball back into the area rather than put the ball in himself.

In injury time, and Dudek made a simply astonishing save to pluck the ball out of the bottom corner after a cross had rebounded off Sergio Ramos’ back.

The Polish custodian then bettered this seconds later with an incredible double save. He first parried a long-range shot, before getting back up to fling himself at Milito’s rebound.

The game finished 2-2 in one of the games of the season in La Liga, but Zaragoza will be wondering just how they didn’t manage to win after missing enough chances to last a whole season. This result means that Villanova’s men drop into the relegation zone with just one game of the season remaining.

Real Zaragoza: Sanchez, Zapater, Sergio, Ayala, Paredes, Sergio Garcia, Celades, Matuzalem, Aimar (Gabi 56), Milito, Oliveira.

Real Madrid: Dudek, Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Metzelder, Marcelo (Torres 79), Guti, Diarra, Sneijder, Robinho, Higuain, Van Nistelrooy (Baptista 72)


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