After looking like La Liga favorites only one week ago, Real Madrid now sit in third place, three points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, after an Ivan Rakitić run down the left flank stunned Los Galacticos Wednesday night in Sevilla.
A 14th minute deflected free kick from Cristiano Ronaldo would open up the scoring, however, Sevilla’s Carlos Bacca would equalize only five minutes later to keep the game at 1-1 going into halftime. With no immediate scoring in the second half, Sevilla captain and Croatian international Ivan Rakitić got loose at midfield and made a powerful run down the left side. He ultimately passed the ball off to a blazing Carlos Bacco, who stayed perfectly onside, to net the game winner in the 72nd minute.
Rakitic assist @ 2:30
Not only does the Sevilla win take Real Madrid out of first place in La Liga, but it also puts them within six points of fourth place Athletic Bilbao for the last Champions League berth.
Luka Modrić got the start for Real Madrid and was subbed off in injury time with only one shot to his name.
Armada, I agree even Rebic lol.
@ lika joey
25 minutes? i mean, that’s enough time for me, let’s start him vs. Brazil
Radosevic, played 25 min on Wednesday.
lika Joey,
Badelj seems to be doing pretty well in Hamburg. He is constantly among their top rated players this season. He may not be the DM we want, but he’s the DM we need right now.
Gli Italiani eat, sleep and shit tactics.
Mazzari is a classic constipated coach in Serie a.
Kovačić Is a young attacking winger.
Stop putting his young body on defense.
Every yahoo on inter shoots and plays for self.
German league for our young talent and la liga for our super stars.
Jebi ga, holland-Belgium-Austria would be better than Serie A.
Nothing worse then on of our boys getting less then a fair shake.
Mazarri can puši moj kurac!
How is Milan Badelj doing as dm in Hamburg?
Problem with Kovacic is that Inter, right now, has Colombia star Fredy Guarin as their starting trequartista and he’s an established veteran player entering his prime.
Kovacic is still only 19. It’s fine that he doesn’t start yet. Guarin was warming the bench for St. Etienne in the French League when he was Kovacic’s age, and now he’s a solid attacking midfielder. Kovacic will be much better than Guarin at the same age.
Since Luka Modric, our standards and expectations for our young players have gone up quite a bit.
I misread tactical as technical, then used the word tactical in my response.
He’s got elite technical skill (like most Croat midfielders do). But tactically, it depends on who’s your coach I guess.
I don’t think he’ll ever be a great full time defensive midfielder (I hope I’m wrong) but he has excellent potential as a trequartista or regista.
his passing is more to his technical ability. But tactical issues I mean that he doesn’t know where to go at times on D and leaves holes.open space. That is tactical IQ. I agree with you on his passing,
@Ziva
Kovacic has been praised for his tactical skills at Inter by both his old coach and Italy’s media for his play this season. He has one of the best passing percentages in Serie A. The website WhoScored.com rates Kovacic as Europe’s top dribbler.
His major knock coming from Mazzarri (his new coach) is his defensive ability. Kovacic admitted this in his last interview where he dubbed Mazzarri as a defense only coach.
I think a major reason why our players are being benched in Serie A is that most of them aren’t big time prospects to begin with (ie. Kelava, Mlinar, Bubnjic, & Pamic). Another reason is their very young age in conjunction with playing on a contending team (ie. Jedvaj with Roma, Radosevic with Napoli, and Rebic with Fiorentina).
Re: Kovacic being benched this year…
Mazzarri just seems to have an issue with Kovacic’s defense, but Kovacic has been popular with the fans, media, and his old coach. It could be just a Mazzarri thing, with Kovacic not fitting in with his new coach’s style and formations.
The only prospect getting regular starting time out of this bunch is Sime Vrsaljko, but he is a solid young prospect who made the wise decision NOT to play for a contender. I’m sure if Radosevic took the Parma offer, instead of the Napoli one, he would have been starting since last year and we’d have ourselves our starting DM in Brazil.
I wouldn’t go that far to say “screw him.” Yes, he does have some character flaws, but I think all of us want him to succeed with the repka.
screw rakitic, he’s basically never makes a significant positive impact on our national team and does this to real madrid for sevilla
I’m only referring to our younger guys. That is one of the knocks on Kovacic at Inter.
That’s weird, the Croatian team is known for being a great tactical team. Whenever we play an opponent, the players and coaches always say that is our strength. Individually some are better than others but for the most part we produce good tactical players.
The Serie A is a BS league to me now and i don’t really enjoy watching it as much as i did in the 90’s
One of the top stories on ESPN FC today.
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1765687/barcelona-snap-alen-halilovic-dinamo-zagreb?cc=5901
I still would start Rebic over Perisic lol.
I wouldn’t say the italian league is killing them. Maybe the players themselves are doing that. I have no clue what is going on, but usually when you produce in practice the coach will play you. Maybe some of our guys are not ready physically or emotionally for the weekly grind of Serie A. It’s a league dominated by tactics and not too mnay teams have a wide open playing style. One of the knocks on Croatian players over the years when they have left the HNL is their lack of tactical awareness. Again, I have no idea. Each player is its own unique situation.
I think most of wish that he got playing time as well. The Italian league is killing our future prospects.
Nije bitno, I agree brother..I wish Radosevic had some playing time in italy.
Barcelona announce Halilović capture
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2079727.html
UEFA Champions League quarter-finalists Barça have announced that their newest acquisition will take his first steps in the club’s B team next term.
Some further details on the Nations League I had posted previously. Sounds like overload/overkill.
UEFA Nations League: all you need to know
http://www.uefa.com/community/news/newsid=2079553.html#uefa+nations+league+need+know
What is the basic format?
In the UEFA Nations League, the 54 member associations will be divided into four groups based on coefficient rankings. These groups will then be further divided into playing pools of either three or four teams. The teams in each pool play each other home and away between September and December of the season in question, with the group winners either qualifying for the final four competitions or gaining promotion. The bottom sides face relegation from their division.
In addition, the UEFA Nations League will provide teams with another chance to qualify for the UEFA EURO final tournament. Four teams within each group, who have not already qualified for the finals, will qualify for play-offs in March 2020 with one team from each group joining the 20 teams who had qualified via the European Qualifiers.
A decent DM will allow Rakitic and Modric to free up a bit and pick apart the opposing teams defenses. Not saying even then Rakitic will perform for the repka the way he has at Sevilla but the chances would be greater.
Rakitic’s play is the X-factor but we also have a couple more gaps to fill. One of them being a DM!
He is the X-factor. I think we know what we are going to get from most of our guys, but if Rakitic can play like this for the national team then we are a different side.
Right now, opposing coaches know we don’t get anything from the left side, so there is no need to over committ on that side when defending us. They stack the middle and try to stop Modric knowing if they contain Modric they contain us. Rakitic would be a welcomed addition if he could step up his play.
since the video seems to be down:
http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/845631406.gif
hell, if Raketa just pulls of a handful of runs like this in Brazil, we can give any team the business and definitely make some noise.
Anyone catch the two flags that Obama was standing infront of during his big speech in Brussels today?
http://www.toledoblade.com/image/2014/03/26/800x_b1_cCM_z/Belgium-EU-Obama-1.jpg
Anyone paying attention to the American swing in the tennis circuit. Two big tourneys that are Masters events back-to-back in Indian Wells and Miami. Looks like Doper Cilic is back to his usual ways., which means he doesn’t do anything at the top events.
I think the boys who run this website may have jinxed him. Since that interview was posted, he has not won a match.
You heard of the Sports Illustrated jinx, we may have the CroatianSports.com jinx.
Wow.
Sevilla is on fire, and are making that Champions League push.
Athletic Bilbao had such a big lead for that fourth and final Champions Leagu spot, but it just went from a 12 point gap to a 6 point one in just a few games.
Sevilla has a much easier schedule from now until the end of the season, not having to play any of the big three. Bilbao still has to play Atletico and Barcelona.
Huge game between the two teams (Bilbao and Sevilla) in Bilbao next month that could decide which team is playing Champions League football next year.
Rakitic is simply unplayable