EIn a football club called “Sheriff Tiraspol”, even before his team started in Madrid, the designers of the front pages of the sports press were a hit. “The sheriff is Benzema,” wrote AS from Madrid before the game in the group stage of the Champions League.
So it was all just a question of how many goals Karim Benzema would score this time, after all, he had scored nine times in nine games this season. The Frenchman actually scored his goal, it was his 72nd for his employer in the Champions League, replacing Raúl as Real’s internal top scorer in the premier class.
But the penalty was only the interim compensation. In the end, Real Madrid embarrassed themselves with a 2-1 draw at the Bernabeu Stadium against the club from Transnistria, Republic of Moldova, and Mundo Deportivo saw Real now “shot by the sheriff”. El País wrote: “You can’t win a football game in flip-flops.”
Two header hits
You can’t say they weren’t forewarned at Real. Tiraspol had previously won 2-0 against Shakhtar Donetsk, both goals were headers after cross-flanks by attacking full-back Cristiano da Silva.
But although you would think that at such a big club countless coaches advise the coaches with statistics and video evaluations, apparently nobody in Madrid had watched the game. After half an hour, Cristiano da Silva grabbed the ball like he did against Donetsk, ran undisturbed across half the pitch and crossed.
Completely undisturbed
The ball was in the air for a long time, but Uzbek center forward Jasur Jakschibojew was completely undisturbed when he headed in from the line of the six-yard area. Everything went like against Donetsk, counterattack, cross, header, goal.
Real coach Carlo Ancelotti then spoke before an unfortunate defeat. “That’s football. One team shoots on goal more than 20 times, plays well and scores once, the other shoots twice and scores two goals. They succeeded in everything, nothing to us, “he said,” we had so many options.
Hard to believe: Sheriff Tiraspol’s players hug each other after the victory.
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Build: AP
We could have been more deliberate in the last 30 meters, but the course of the game doesn’t explain this defeat. ”In fact, Real had even shot 31 times on goal and repeatedly failed against the Greek goalkeeper Athanasiadis. But they could have known that beforehand, too.
“Was the same”
“They are a serious team, always well prepared,” commented Real Madrid’s former striker Predrag Mijatovic on Cadenaser’s midnight radio broadcast. “They played against Red Star Belgrade and Dynamo Zagreb, and that’s exactly what happened.” For a long time during the game, it looked like it was only a matter of time before Real Madrid scored their goals.
The team threw everything forward after the 0-1. But Mijatovic thought that too: “This is old football. Everyone moving forward, forgetting the defense, hoping for individual strengths ”- that’s how he described the game of the club with which he himself won the 1998 Champions League.
“If you forget to defend yourself and then attack without order and discipline, something like that will happen to you,” said Mijatovic and attested Real lack of concept.
That was obviously not only against strikers like Vinicius, who occupied the opposing defense intensively in every game, but again lost sight of the teammates on Tuesday, but also against coach Ancelotti, who made four changes in one fell swoop, including both full-backs, Nacho and Miguel, and brought Rodrygo and Camavinga for them. “Two young midfielders. This is disorder, nothing more. Ancelotti is struggling to find the right positions for his players. “
The coach defended himself, saying Real were in control of the game. The defeat is due to details such as a sleepy throw-in. The fans, on the other hand, spoke in front of the stadium of one of the greatest humiliations in the Champions League. “Like against Alcorcón,” said a supporter as he left the stadium.
In 2009 Real lost 4-0 in the Royal Cup against third division club AD Alcorcón. The comparison basically shows again the overestimation of oneself and disregard of the opponent. Because like a third division team, Sheriff Tiraspol did not appear in Madrid.
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