Los Blancos Advance to Quarterfinals

Real Madrid sought to seal their pass into the Copa del Rey quarterfinals tonight at La Rosaleda after having won 3-2 at the Bernabéu.  Twenty men were called up for tonight's game, including Álvaro Arbeloa, Fábio Coentrão, and Pepe who missed out on the last call-up.  José Mourinho stated in an interview that he would not be using a rotation system, using the best lineup to reach the quarterfinals.  Perhaps Mou did not want to take any chances, especially with what happened during the 1^st leg against Málaga.  He was none too pleased with the men's performance during the 1^st half, that's for sure.  And it was with hope I watched the match, hope that los Blancos would play well the entire time, no comeback needed.

The first half of the match was pretty lackadaisical, ending nil-nil, which, I suppose, was better than 2-0 to Málaga like last time.  Iker Casillas had his reflexes tested a number of times this evening, saving each time.  The goalkeeper appeared to be very frustrated with his defensive line, defense being all over the place in this half.  In addition to my slight disappointment in defense's performance, possession could only be described as sloppy.  Los Blancos came close to scoring on few occasion, Sergio Ramos being the closest at the 44', with a header that narrowly misses the box to the left.

Sami Khedira, too, came close to scoring earlier at the 40', with a right-footed shot, but the attempt was saved.  In his attempt, however, Khedira ended up getting injured.  The game continued while medics tended to the German international at the sidelines.  It worried this Madridista to see a man down, especially when this particular man played wonderfully in the game thus far.  Málaga only needs one goal to go through to the quarterfinals.  Fellow German international, Mesut Özil, came on as his substitute, Madrid's first substitution of the evening.  I wondered what Mourinho would say to his men during descanso... He looked none too pleased entering the locker rooms.

Throughout the second half, we saw Mourinho pulling some of the men aside, most likely to discus some changes in tactics.  At the 69', Madrid made its third substitution of the evening, bringing in Karim Benzema for Gonzalo Higuaín.  Not too long after, los Blancos scored at the 72' due to a huge error by Málaga's Caballero.  Initially, the goalkeeper had saved Benzema's right-footed shot, but he dropped it... and it rolled inside the goal.  Even I felt bad for Caballero.

Los Blancos get through to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey with a 1-0 win over Málaga.  The men play their next game on Saturday, January 14^th against Mallorca at the Iberostar Stadium (Son Moix).  Until then... ¡Hala Madrid!

written by Gail Hidalgo