Why Real Madrid are getting ever so close to Barca and the surprise emergence of Levante

Barcelona set the pace in football -Didier Descamps (Marseille Coach).....Barcelona are the benchmark of football - AVB (Chelsea manager). They are certainly the best team on the planet and it is a huge challenge to match them - SAF (MUFC coach). All these and more have come out of the mouths of distinguished coaches, legendary footballers and long time football supporters. I cannot agree more. The Catalan giants have set a bar no one can reach just yet. Since PEP GUARDIOLA took over from Rijkaard in 2008, he has instilled a rare and unique brand of football difficult to copy. The metronomic passing of Xavi and Iniesta is a sight to behold every day of the week. The mystic style of MESSI is simply beyond the analysis of even the most celebrated soccer pundits in the game.

There are many more abilities this Barca team possess that beats my imagination. They make the best teams look so ORDINARY. The blessed triumvirate of MESSI-INIESTA-XAVI are together the best trident in the universe. Their understanding is telepathic and scary. Manchester United and Real Madrid were literally put to the sword in astonishing fashion. Although the team displays a low degree of gamesmanship sometimes, the nature of football they exhibit has never been seen by the naked eye(s). There are similar teams today who are believers of the passing game, but Barcelona tops the bill unarguably.

Nevertheless, other teams in La Liga and the World over have taken up the challenge of usurping the 2011 UCL, UEFA SUPER CUP AND SPANISH SUPER CUP CHAMPIONS. In my humble and honest opinion, Real Madrid have come the closest and are working very hard to stop the Barca dominance. It is now a matter of sooner, rather than later. The los merengues* have all the weapons in their armory to achieve their major objective.

Jose Mourinho is a man of many parts. One very interesting and beautiful aspect of him is his ability to rise up to any challenge and he has the results to back up his arrogance ad self-adulation. He is among the few people I respect on earth and if anyone is capable of putting an end to BARELONA's  preeminence, he certainly and definitely is the one MAN. He has done it with Chelsea, Inter Milan and FC Porto and Madrid will be no exception, I get really baffled when people describe his 1st season at the helm of the blancos as a FAILURE. My God!the man won the Copa del Rey after 18 long years, and he did it by defeating Barcelona. He also got to the UEFA Champions League semi-final------something the Spanish giants hadn't achieved in 8 years and was just a few points behind Barcelona in the final La Liga standings. That to me is a fabulous start to life in a new environment. The only bad day he really had last season was the amazing capitulation of his team at the Camp Nou last November when they were humbled by 5 unanswered goals.........that loss represented the biggest ever in his coaching career. He started this season by losing once again to Guardiola in the Super Cup, but this time, his team fought gallantly and proved to the World that Barcelona are not actually supernatural.......although the return leg was marred by very condemnable and regrettable scenes, much of which was played out by the Portuguese magician.


This season, both teams haven't exactly started well. They have both dropped points in situations they would never have. For both teams, there is little margin for complacency and they are very much aware that the likes of Sevilla, Villareal, Valencia, mega rich Malaga, etc (domestically) and Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, free spending Man City etc (in Europe) are hot on their trail. Messi and Ronaldo have began where they left up in the latest show of their personal rivalry (they will never admit it) with the Argentina setting the pace with 16 goals (10 in La Liga) this season already.....not only that, he has also blown past Ladislao Kubala (194) as the 2nd highest goal scorer (196) in Barcelona's history and is just 5 behind Di Stefano as the highest goal scorer in CLASICO (RM V BARCA) MEETINGS. Ronaldo has scored 9 (7 in la liga) goals and will not be worried by his rival's blazing start to the season because it was the same last season and they both ended with a breathtaking 53 goals apiece in all competitions.


The things worthy of note this season is the depth in/of Mourinho's squad. The Portuguese is licking his lips with joy and happiness as a result of the players he has at his disposal. 2007 World and European footballer of the year and attacking midfield god, Ricardo Izecson Dos Santos Leite....commonly called KAKA has resurrected. His resurgence has been greeted with appreciation and applause from the entire people of Madrid, Brazil and his fans all over of which I am by far the biggest (he is my favourite footballer ever). This, coupled with the recoveries of Turks, Sahin and Altintop, the versatility of Coentrao, the return to fitness and form of both Benzema and Higuain has made it an easier task for Real Madrid in their quest to unseat Barca as the greatest club team on the planet.
There are encouraging signs for the 'whites' as the dynamics of the team is fast changing. The over -reliance on  Ronaldo dos Santos is beginning to diminish as evident in their last three games where they won fair and square v Espanyol, Real Betis Sevilla and OL (Lyon) 4-0.4-1 and 4-0 respectively. This is not to say the ex-MUFC player is not an important member f the team, it only supports the fact that now other players trust themselves more and they now shoulder the responsibilities together.......as portrayed in the last three games, Ronaldo has had assists in each of them, but failed to find the back of the net. Although he hasn't been pleased with his mini drought, he has become more effective as an all-round player, reducing his self centerdness ......and  the team as a whole has become better and more organised with every player contributing more to its success. Gonzalo Higuain (El Pipita) has scored 2 consecutive hat-tricks in la liga (Espanyol and Betis) and he was only in the starting line-up due to the absence of Karim Benzema. Kaka now starts almost every game at the expense of either Di Maria or Ozil. This hardly occurred in the previous season where Ozil and the Argentine speedster were almost indispensable. It is a huge improvement and this has made the team much stronger, compact and ambitious. Every player, except Ronaldo, Alonso, Casillas, and Sergio Ramos knows that his inclusion in the starting 11 is not a certainty.

What this means is that Real Madrid can comfortably play a very solid, well organised and disciplined team that can hold their own against Barcelona, and do so without Ronaldo necessarily playing at his best......with Kaka back on point, Sahin, coentrao,Altintop working hard in midfield, these are surely happy days for the Capital club.




Levante UD is a club that is hardly spoken of when the elite sides of the Spanish 1ST DIVISION are mentioned. But they have surprised everyone, including themselves with their spine-tingling start to this campaign, despite the loss of prolific marksman, Felipe Caicedo Salvador Corozo (went to Lokomotiv Moscow) who managed an impressive 14 goals in 29 games for the club last season. .....no one would have imagined the Valencia based club sitting joint top of La Liga with Barcelona who are only ahead on GD.....leaving Real Madrid behind in 3rd. They haven't achieved such a fantastic position with luck, but hard work and extreme solidity...The 5 wins in 7 games has included victories over more favoured sides like RM & Malaga, the latter were trashed 3-0 at the Ciutat de Valencia---their home ground. They are not going ahead of themselves in spite of this very encouraging and illustrious start to the season...Coach Ignacio Martinez has said that they will take every game as it comes and the players are sure doing well with their tasks. They have no Xavi, Ronaldo, Kaka, or even Villa, but the team skippered by 36 year Sergio Ballesteros are very disciplined and efficient in what they do. Bolstered by the loan signings of Sevilla's Arouna Kone, Xavi Torres from Malaga and Gustavo Cabral of Arsenal de Sarandi (Argentine club) and the acquisition of 32 year old  left footed attacking midfielder, Jose Barkero from Numancia, the club has been all guns blazing this past months. Let's see if they will be able to maintain their composure and strong start through the season. I wish them all the best.

OHIS
Follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990