A match where we could have done much better, here’s what I feel contributed to the 1-1 outcome.
Injury:
The biggest blow that we received was in the first fifteen minutes itself. You can’t pinpoint anybody out here, but I guess the cold, some poor warm up and just plain bad luck led to our first problem of the day, our main striker getting injured. Higuain was introduced on to the game and I had major doubts he’d have an instant impact, with little to no warm up time. Boy, did he prove us wrong! Some brilliant workrate led to us grabbing our first goal. But, there’s a difference between having a brilliant work rate and having a brilliant game. There were three clear instances where I saw Higuain pissed off and throwing tantrums at the far end of the pitch. Besides those three instances, there was this one time when Pepe gave a brilliant through ball and he just didn’t bother to look. Also, in a close up shot, there was this time when Ozil was looking to tell him not to make through runs. Am I saying I have a problem with Higuain out here? Hell no. The only point I’m making is that Higuain’s effectiveness is somewhat compromised without Di Maria. Those two have a crazy telepathy going on and we clearly missed that in the game.
Cold:
It was there for everybody to see. We play at a much much faster pace at other grounds. Quick counters, some brilliant interplay and great off the ball runs – that’s what defines our style of play. But out here, the cold made everything slow, from response times, to the velocity at which the ball travelled to defining the pace of the game. I’ve barely seen Cristiano miss headers or misplace simple traps, like how I saw yesterday. The cold and the pitch definitely affected our performance. No matter how much we say, ‘Can’t really blame external factors for the tie’ it did influence the score line.
Endurance:
Real Madrid make average keepers look brilliant. I’ve heard that a lot of times. Plus one to that comment for the game yesterday. CSKA had some brilliant endurance right from their keeper to the wingers. They patiently waited for their chance, played a compact game and tried to hit us on the counter with some really fast outfield play. And we all saw what happened thirty seconds from time. They got their prize for their endurance.
On the other hand, we seemed to take our foot off the gas. Our counters lacked that sting towards the end of the match and we seemed to be a little content with the scoreline only to be brought back to reality with some brilliant endurance and attitude by the CSKA players.
A valiant effort from our boys, braving the insane temperatures, but as we could see valiant still wasn’t enough. That said, a 1-1 is definitely better than a 0-0 on away grounds in the UCL. Here’s hoping we get back to our usual self in a fortnight and show them what demolition looks like.
