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The team returned back to Spain with Ashley happy with the teams result the previous night. He listened to his messages on his return back to the hotel and then put his head down to get some sleep. It had been a long trip back.
Next up for Madrid were Betis. Ashley hoped the spirit of the team after their win over Steau would give them the edge of the team from Sevilla and see them win.
Betis 2 - 1 Real Madrid Assuncao (14) V.Nistelrooy (58)
Arrzu (43) Beckham s/o (90)
Assuncao s/o (90)
Ashley was disappointed. The team had looked tired and they just weren’t able to put the passes together. And with Beckham being sent off in the 90th minute after an off the ball incident with the Betis midfielder Assuncao, which had also seen the Brazilian sent off he was far from pleased and with the next match being at home to Barcelona he hoped that the team would recover to put in a better performance than what he had seen that night.
The next day he looked at the headlines of the Sports papers. One headline read “El cansancio es ninguna excusa” (tiredness is no excuse). The press were getting on his back already. He knew when he took over the job at the Bernabeu if the results weren’t right, but at such an early stage of the season he felt this to be a bit harsh.
The team arrived at the training ground on the Tuesday and Smith was pleased to see that Reyes had recovered from his injury. With Beckham being banned for the upcoming match Ashley had decided to give Cardenas his first start of the season.
He pinned the team sheet up on the tactics board, it read
The young Colombian looked elated that he was being given his first start of the season. Smith called him over and told him to enjoy the match, to get forward as much as possible and cause the Barca defence problems with his attacking skills. Little did he know that the young Colombian would play such an important role in the match.
With 75000 people present at the Bernabeu for the visit of Barca Smith knew he had to get a result. The board were expectant of a result and with the press write ups that day making Barcelona favourites to win the match he hoped that they wouldn’t be on the end of a wrong result.
Real Madrid v Barcelona
The atmosphere inside the Bernabeu was tense. Ashley had never experienced anything like this. Even on visit’s to Old Trafford to watch the Manchester derby as a young boy he had never felt such rivalry.
The half time whistle went. At 0-0 it had been a close match. Casillas was showing why he was Spain’s number one with a fine display between the sticks. Madrid had been creating chances but neither Nistelrooy or Cassano were putting them away. With Barcelona having the greater percentage of the possession Smith had started to get nervous. He knew that even a draw with the Catalonians would not be good enough for the 75000 fans packed into the Bernabeu.
A few instructions were given out via the translator to the team and out they went for the second half.
Real Madrid 2 - 0 Barcelona Cardenas (90)
Ronaldo (90)
On the 68th minute Smith had decided to replace both Nistelrooy and Cassano with the two Brazilians on the bench Robinho and Ronaldo. He wasn’t happy with the amount of chances either of them were wasting and hoped Robinho could find his scoring touch. As it turned out it would be another South American that would seal the win for Madrid. After a delightful bit of individual skill from Robinho he had crossed into the box Cardenas had out-jumped Messi on the far post, heading across the goal an into the back of the Barcelona net. The young Colombian ran to Smith who had jumped out of his seat, jumping in his arms.
From the kick off Barcelona attempted the long ball and after an interception by Cardenas and a sprint up the right wing the Colombian passed to Ronaldo who with a first time shot blasted the ball past the diving Victor Valdes. The stadium erupted into a chorus of cheers. 2-0 to Madrid. With man of the match Casillas putting in an excellent performance Ashley had nothing but praise for his team.
The spirit of the team was high after their victory over rivals Barcelona and with a trip away to Celta before playing the host to Dutch team Ajax he hoped they could take the win and build on it.
He sat in his office looking at the latest stats on his players when the phone rang.
“Hi Ash, it’s been a while since we spoke last so I thought I’d give you a ring, find out how things are going there”
It was his agent Charlotte
“Not to bad, the recent result against Barcelona made me smile after the press comments that were made over here”
“Good good, and how are you, how’s life treating you”
“It’s ok, I’m a little homesick but then I think I expected that when I took on the job. I mean, this is the longest I’ve ever spent away from home. You should come out soon, I’m sure I can arrange tickets for the Ajax game if you fancy it?”
“Sure, that would nice, I might have someone else who might be interested in coming over as well if that’s alright with you”
“Who’s that then”
“Well, your friend Russ has been asking how you were, he hasn’t been able to get hold of you”
Russell had been his friend since the age of 9. They had met when he he’d had his accident and they had remained the best of friends since then.
“Sure, it would be nice to see him again, get yourself over here and I’ll arrange rooms for the night and the tickets”.
“That would be nice Ash, see you soon then”
“Looking forward to it”
Ashley had missed his friends. With his busy schedule he hadn’t been able to make any time for any social visits, so catching up with them would come as a nice rest bite”.
Celta 0 - 0 Real Madrid
It was a windy night at the Baladois Stadium. Confidence was high within the team and with Celta occupying 8th in the table Ashley knew that although this wasn’t going to be a easy game the team should come through with 3 points.
At half time neither team had created any chances worth a goal and although Real had been the better team neither Cassano or Robinho were providing any threat to the oppositions goal. With Diarra also taking a knock and having to come off at half time he hoped that they would be able to do enough to sneak the win. Unfortunately his hopes weren’t fulfilled and the game ended goal-less. The game was hardly one to remember and after their win against Barcelona he was disappointed.
“We’ve got to do better” he said to the team at the end of the match. “If we want to challenge for the title this year we’ve got to be beating teams like this. I expect a better result in the next match”.
With the run up to the match against Ajax Ashley was greeted with the news that Reyes was fit again and Ashley intended to use him against the Dutch team in the hope that it would inject some much need pace into the game that had been lacking in the previous match. With Ajax having the same points as Real in Champions League Group B he knew that this would be a difficult game. And with the team failing to score in the previous game changes would be made upfront.
Tuesday night came and Ashley met up with Russell and Charlotte at the Airport. “So, shall we go for something to eat, I know plane food isn’t all that appetising” he said to the two of them. “I know a nice little restaurant, have became quite good friends with the owner who’ll be more than happy to give us a table” “What do we want with a table” Russell said. Ashley could see his jokes hadn’t got any better since the last time they spoke. “Sounds nice, I’m starving” said Charlotte.
The three of them spent the next couple of hours talking about how things were going at home, in Spain and about life in general. The worries of the next nights match far from his mind. The three of the drove back to the hotel where Ashley gave them the tickets. “I’ll arrange a car to pick you up for the match tomorrow. Don’t get yourself into to much trouble during the day here” he joked as he said goonight.
It was a cold evening at the Bernabeu which saw Real run out 2 nil winners against the team from Amsterdam. His selection of Reyes from injury had paid off when in the 3rd minute the young Spaniard picked up a loose pass from Heitinga and dribbled past the last defender, slotting the ball past the keeper to score his first ever goal for the Group leaders.
A substitution in the 71st minute saw V. Nistelrooy come off to be replaced by Ronaldo. The Dutchman had only shot one on target all game and had never looked like scoring. It paid off when in the 76th minute the Brazilian put the ball past the Dutch keeper to seal the victory. Ashley was pleased he was getting on the score sheet and finding his form after all the criticism he had received the previous season. He was also pleased that Madrid topped the group table after two wins.
He met up with his two friends after the match where he introduced Russell to his hero David Beckham. He left the two of them to chat whilst he spoke with the Chairman about the nights result.
The three friends drove to the airport where Ashley said his goodbyes before leaving for the hotel. His was happy to have seen them again and hoped it wouldn’t be to soon before their next visit. He missed home but knew that this opportunity that he had been given was a once in a lifetime one, and the weather was certainly better.
With Getafe lying in in 16th in the Spanish first division and having conceded 13 goals already Ashley couldn’t understand why his team hadn’t won the match. The away teams defence had been solid and prevented Real from creating any decent attempts at goal. He couldn’t understand why the form being shown in Europe wasn’t being carried into the Spanish league. It also seemed that they couldn’t win after a midweek match in the Champions League and he hoped this would change soon.
At the end of September Madrid lay 4th in the table with Villarreal, Valencia and Betis making up the top three places. The title holders Barcelona were in 6th place, not showing the form that had seen them win the title the year before.
Summary for September Madrid 2 - 0 Mallorca
Zaragoza 1 - 2 Madrid
Steau 0 - 2 Madrid
Betis 2 -1 Madrid
Madrid 2 - 0 Barcelona
Celta 0 - 0 Madrid
Madrid 2 - 0 Ajax
Madrid 0 - 0 Getafe
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