Julio!

Real Madrid wins El Clasico 1-0 against Barcelona. And more equally important is the 7 point gap heading into the winter break in the la liga.

It’s been a tough few years being a madrid fan. Constant changing of managers, under-performing superstars, dressing room unrest and coupled with Barcelona’s coincidental unearthing of the talents of Ronaldinho meant Real was in the shadows for the past few years. Sure enough i miss watching the world class acts like Zidane and Ronaldo playing for Real, most probably because they are one of the best sides ever assembled. But this season’s team looks like nothing of the past.

Defensively, we look absolutely solid with young blood Pepe and Sergio Ramos justifying their multi-million transfer fees. Cannavaro’s a natural leader and Metzelder looks to replace him once his days are over. Marcelo seems like a prospective replacement for Roberto Carlos and Heinze is good for enough for now at left back. Not to mention, we have one of the best keeper in the world in Casillas.

And we’re blessed with a wealth of midfielders. Diarra reminds me of Makelele. And his role is similar as well as a defensive midfielder, breaking up attacks and disrupts the opponents’ flow of the game. The only difference is that Diarra will score like 4 goals a season while Makelele will score a goal every 4 seasons. Gago and Guti are fantastic passers. Baptista finally looks like the 20 goal per year midfielder we signed from Sevilla. We need Robben to stay fit. Sneijder needs to stay consistent. And of course, when is our no. 10 gonna blossom into a world class act he so often promised to be. Ronaldinho had his days. Now’s Kaka for the moment. So who’s next? I sure hope it’s Robinho.

We look extremely stretched upfront. Maybe we can squeeze a couple more good years out of Van Nistelrooy and a few more out of Raul. Saviola don’t seem good enough to replace any of them as first team striker. So maybe we’re looking at a new striker soon. Drogba maybe? Or Lyon’s Benzema looks really good too.

Now the signing of the season? No doubt, Bernd Schuster the manager. I’m fine if Capello stayed beyond last season, but Schuster inherited a disbanded Galaticos and moulded a team like we’ve never seen in the past few years. Young, spirited, hungry and most importantly, they’re starting to look like a unit. I’ve always admired clubs like Man United because they seem to retain their core bunch of players and management and so there was this sense of continuum in the squad. Real would do good by not switching coaches so often and start building a squad around several players.

So if you’re a madrid fan, the good days are back.

And,

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!