THE LAST GAMES OF 2008 (article in English and Español)

We are arriving to the last days of 2008 and the European soccer teams will play their last games of the year during this weekend-except the English Premier League, whose team will play during the Christmas´s days-and of course we will have interesting games in many championships as the Spanish, English, Turkish and Italian.
On the one hand, we'll see if Real Madrid continues being the small and conformist team that it played last week at the Camp Nou or if that game was an accident-a nightmare for the Real Madrid´s fans-and Juande decides that Real Madrid must play as an offensive team, having the control of the game and without waiting the rival´s mistake to score a goal (anyway if Lassana Diarra must be the solution for this team, I think that this club has a problem, because even though the Spanish medias say that this is the new Vieira, Diarra is just a normal player and he is not better than Real Madrid young player Javi Garcia and he is not the best Portsmouth´s player as the Spanish journalist Fernando Carmona(Marca) said, although it is possible that I watch and watched another Portsmouth, but I think there are/were other more important players in this team as Sulley Ali Muntari –Inter Milan paid 15 million euros for his transfer last summer, so how is it possible that the Diarra´s transfer is around 20-22 million euros -, Niko Kranjcar, Pedro Mendes, Bouba Diop or Jermaine Defoe-the visionary Juande did not want this great player when he was the Spurs´s coach and Defoe arrived to Pompey, where is playing well, with good numbers:16 goals in 28 Premiership´s games-). A good test to measure the Real Madrid´s level will be Valencia CF which visits the Santiago Bernabeu´s stadium next Saturday at 20.00 cet and it arrives to this game with all the members of the squad, even the key player David Silva-he played some minutes against RCD Espanyol and Saint Etienne-, ready to play-the only important absence will be the central defender Alexis-and therefore it is sure that the Unai Emery´s team will offer much more resistance and safety than it shown during the game played at Camp Nou against FC Barcelona-Maduro and Del Horno can not play such games-. So it will be a dangerous game for Real Madrid, whose president, the great Calderón, to avoid any problem and insult if the players do not play well and they lose the game, he will not be at Bernabeu, since he will be in a very “important” event for Real Madrid, the Toyota Cup final between Liga Universitaria de Quito and Manchester United...

But if the Bernabeu´s game will be exciting, what can we say about the Madrigal´s game next Sunday at 19:00 cet between Villarreal CF and FC Barcelona, which will be the last major game during this month for FC Barcelona, whose performance during its particular "Tourmalet" is excellent-it beat Sevilla FC (0-3), Valencia CF (4-0) and Real Madrid (2-0)- and it finishes the year and this hard month with this difficult game, since possibly Villarreal can the more complicated rival of this month, because this is a very competitive team and besides it arrives rested to this game, because it has not played any game during this week and it arrives with all the squad-except Joseba Llorente, who was sent off during the last game against Sevilla FC- ready to play and thereby it is possibly that finally we'll see a complicated game for FC Barcelona, since it is very possible that Villarreal play without complex and with a winner mentality-so the opposite to Real Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla´s play when they played against FC Baracelona-and therefore FC Barcelona must play 100% to can beat a team with players like Godín, Gonzalo Rodriguez or Marcos Senna as key defensive players or like Robert Pires, Cani, Nihat Kahveci Santi Cazorla, Giuseppe Rossi as offensive players. So it will be an excellent game to verify the actual performance of both teams and it is very possible that we can watch a FC Barcelona defeat.

But in addition to the Spanish league, we will also need to pay attention to the big English game on Sunday afternoon at London (17:00 cet) between Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC. It will be a crucial game and especially for Arsenal because if it loses it will have an important disadvantage (the gap would be 11 points between Liverpool and Arsenal), saying bye-bye to the Championship. The truth is that Arsenal is a team totally unpredictable, as it is capable to beat Manchester United or Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and on the other hand, inexplicably it is capable to lose games against inferior rivals as FC Fulham and Stoke City. So, it is practically impossible to predict what level can offer this Sunday, but of course it is clear that it must play with great intensity and concentration, without absurd mistakes, if gunners want to have any chance to beat one of the European stronger teams, since Liverpool FC is showing an incredible level and a winning mentality in all the games, both when it plays at Anfield Road as when it plays far from its Stadium-Rafa, it was time to be a little courageous and ambitious!-, and of course the number are clear, since it has lost only one game both in Premier and in Champions League and its record as visitor is excellen-6 wins (including the win at Stamford Bridge), 1 draw and one defeat (it was at White Hart Lane in the last minute of the game).So great numbers and these has arrived thanks to the great job of players like Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Arbeloa, Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt or Fernando Torres-he is injured and he will return to play next January-. Anyway, we'll see if Fabregas, Van Persie, Adebayor and the other gunners play without any complex and it can beat Liverpool or if Arsenal has another typical fool day and it does not show a competitive level and they lose the game and the Premier.

In addition we also want to remark the Turkish derby-the Süper Lig stops until the next 21 January-between 2 Istanbul´s team, the Galatasary SK and Besiktas JK. This is an important derby for both team and especially for Besiktas, since the Mustafa Denilzi´s team is in 6th position of the standing with 28 points(Galatasary has 30 points and the leaders, Sivasspor and Trabzonspor, 31 points)and thus, if Besiktas lose the game, it will have an important gap to recover and besides a lose could have moral consequences, since until this moment Besiktas has not won any important game played against a top team during this season, since in the Süper Lig it lost the games played against Fenerbahçe, Kayserispor and Ankaraspor and it drawn the games played against Sivasspor and Trabzonspor, and even against Bursaspor. So it showed a very poor level when it played against the top Turkish team and therefore it is important to win this game to show to the other rivals and to the fans that the team is here, is ready to battle until the end to win the Championship. But, of course it will be complicated to win at the Ali Sami Yen, since on the one hand the team is showing defensives absurd mistakes and in attack, although it is true that the team plays well, trying to have the control of the game, we think that the it is a bit alone the duo Matias Delgado -Mert Nobre, and for example Bobo should have more presence on the team and others like Rodrigo Tello or Filip Holosko, although they are correct players, are not enough and I think that Besiktas needs other players and especially a new striker such as Mehmet Yildiz, who is showing a very good level at Sivasspor during the last season and besides he would not be an expensive player). But besides Besiktas will have another problem, since it will play against a very hard rival, having Galatasaray the best squad of the Süper Lig and although important players as Harry Kewell-he will be out until February- or the combative Hasan Şaş-he will return to play next May-are injured, the truth is that the team does not miss them and it is showing a good level both in the Süper Lig-especially when it plays helped by the incredible fans of the Ali Sami Yen, where it won 6 games and drawn 1 game and it has not lost any game, scoring 20 goals and it has only received 5 goals- and in the Uefa Cup-it beat teams such as Olympiakos Piraeus, Herta Berlin or Benfica- thanks to the fine work of players like Morgan De Sanctis, Fernando Meira-Skibbe, Meira has to play as central defender and not as central midfielder!- the hard central defender Servet Cetin, the elegant midfielder Arda Turan, the decisive and destabilizing offensive midfielder Lincoln-7 goals in the Super Lig- or Milan Baros-finally he is recovering his best level and he is playing well and for example he scored 7 goals in his last 4 games and if Baros has not his best day, Skibbe has other good options on the bench as Nonda or the worker and combative Umit Karan-.So, it is a very good team and maybe its only problem is the coach but if he improves, it is sure that this team is main favourite to win the title and of course to win the title it will be very important both this Sunday´s game (at 18:00 cet) and its first league 2009 game when it play against the current leader, Sivasspor on the 21 of January(other big Turkish teams will have more or less comfortable games this weekend: Konyaspor-Fenerbahçe on Friday at 19.00 cet (it beat Konyaspor 1-2 after a poor game but it is the new provisional leader of the Süper Lig, Trabzonspor-Eskisehirspor on Saturday at 18:00 cet, Gençlerbirliği-Sivasspor on Sunday at 13:00 cet).

Finally, we want to remark other Sunday´s game(at 20.30), the game at San Siro between AC Milan and Udinese Calcio, because it can be a very dangerous game for AC Milan, since although the Udine´s team is not showing a good performance at this moment-it could not win its last 7 consecutive games of the Serie A-and therefore it should not show much trouble to AC Milan(although the Lombard team is not having a good moment, because without Gattuso and besides an important player as Pirlo far from his best level, the team does not have the proper spark and it arrives to this game after the bad game at Torino against Juve and after the pyrrhic Uefa´s draw against Wolfsburg -it finished as second of the group and now it will play against a former Champions League´s team-), it must be said that Udinese is a very dangerous team and especially for the old Milan defensive line, since this line will have many problems to stop the play of the Udinese superb duo Antonio Di Natale ( 7 goals in 10 games) and Fabio Quagliarella (6 goals in 16 games), because they are 2 players with great mobility and they are a constant threat to rival defensive line. So much attention to this game, because we can see an AC Milan´s defeat....- Moreover, it will be a good opportunity to see the performance of the one of the best central midfielder in the Serie A, Gökhan Inler, who can arrive to a big team during the next market, even AC Milan can be his destination (we will his price, but I think it will not be 20 million euros as Diarra and for example 10-12 can be a good price).

Finally, of course remember that the Argentine Torneo Apertura is arriving to the end and it is possible that San Lorenzo is the new champion if it win the Saturday´s game against Boca Juniors-Boca Juniors, San Lorenzo and Tigre are playing 3 decisive games to look for the new champion(San Lorenzo beat Tigre last Wednesday).

Enjoy!.

Cheers,

J&F