January 29th
When the Iberia employee told us the flight back from San Sebastian was cancelled because of fog (even though you could see for miles) We knew it was going to be a long road back. And so it proved, quick thinking saw us snap up a hire car, but it was still a 5-hour drive back to Madrid, cursing Iberia all of the way.
A long road indeed, but not as long as that facing Real Sociedad if they want to avoid relegation to the Second Division. Sunday's defeat to local rivals Athletic Bilbao could be the death knell. A win would have given them a morale boost and 3 vital points, as it is they are now 8 points off safety and what is more important, they are not producing the football to get those points.
Things look brighter for Athletic, who apart from a couple of bad moments (think that penalty save from Dani Aranzubia), always looked more or less in control. They went into the game with 8 players injured, but even so had too much for La Real. If they can find some home form they will soon be breathing in Bilbao.
Real Sociedad meanwhile are left to depend on favours from others and they will be looking for a big one from Real Madrid on Sunday. Madrid entertain Levante, who slipped into the bottom 3 after they too lost at home and who have to be seen as candidates for the drop. Real Madrid beat them 6-0 last time they visited the Bernabeu two years ago and should be favourites to do something similar next week. However, things are never that easy with Capello's men.
They have only scored 5 goals in their last 9 games and nearly all of those came from set pieces - in fact their last goal from open play was when we saw them beat Athletic way before Christmas - incidentally that was also the last time they scored twice in a game.
Despite all that they are shipping Ronaldo off to AC Milan, leaving themselves with just the veteran Van Nistelrooy and the rookie Higuain to score the goals. Also institutional problems regarding postal votes from the summer elections mean Ramon Calderon could be sitting in the Directors Box for the last time as president and all but guarantee a tense atmosphere in the ground. The only was both he and Capello and the players can avoid the ire of the fans is Real to produce a convincing win- the question is, "Will they be able to?"
You can of course find out in glorious HD next Sunday at 7pm Spanish time from the Bernabeu.
Cheers PAUL
Real Madrid vs.
Levante The live broadcast begins 2 minutes before the game.
