Manchester City conquers Santiago Bernabeu

Since the Champions League draw for knockout stages came out, the clash between Real Madrid and Manchester City was dubbed as the most mouthwatering prospect. Two of the most high-profile coaches of modern times would face yet again in a venue, where they battled hard during their playing days. Both the coaches and their teams have been facing a rough time recently with City facing a tougher time than Real – the UEFA ban has jolted the unit, but not broken time. At the end of the match, one could say, adversity motivated City to deliver the best.

Santiago Bernabeu is not the fort of Real Madrid anymore like the past, but still, the carnival atmosphere was evident and the expectations among the fans were sky-high. None wishes to see Real Madrid fail against Pep Guardiola. But Pep has conquered Bernabeu before and he knows how to bounce back and he has the players to do it for him.

Zinedine Zidane brought on Vinicius Junior to partner with Karim Benzema up front with Isco playing behind them. Fede Valverde was joined by Luka Modric and Casemiro in the midfield. Even though the first-half could be regarded as a quiet one, but Real Madrid played some brilliant football. Zidane’s tactical move with a 4-3-1-2 formation was doing very well.

Real checked Kevin De Bruyne and limiting his passing chances. He could hardly breathe and City struggled to gain momentum. But still, City found the way through – as the time progressed, Pep’s men were proving to be the better side than Zidane and at one point, Real Madrid were found wanting.

Madrid attempted three shots in the opening 45 minutes against City, their lowest total in a game at home this season in all competitions.

City lost Aymeric Laporte in the first-half and were again forced to draft in Fernandinho at the back. Guardiola came with a gameplan where he did not have Fernandinho. Instead, Fernandinho rose to the occasion, as did his team-mates, particularly De Bruyne, Jesus and Riyad Mahrez, who worked tirelessly in a forward line operating without a recognized No 9.

But Real took over.

Vinicius was brilliant. His pace and skill were very welcoming – a no-look-pass at one point in the first-half charmed the crowd. He assisted wonderfully on Isco’s goal and was able to work his way around Kyle Walker to win the ball and get the pass off to Isco from in tight.

Everything was going according to plan for Real Madrid. But things started to fell apart for the Los Blancos after Vinicius was subbed off. The game shifted as Zidane moved more towards a 4-4-2 formation with Gareth Bale on for the young Brazilian.  

In the last 15 minutes, Real played some of the worst football of the season.

It began with Gabriel Jesus off a wonderful cross from De Bruyne. Claims of a push were made by Real Madrid, but it clear that Ramos just fell over trying to win the air battle; it was a correct non-call. Then just minutes later came the De Bruyne’s crucial penalty. It was a terrible decision from Carvajal to attempt that tackle in the box on Raheem Sterling, he didn’t make contact with any of the ball.

With the match under jeopardy, Sergio Ramos received a red card when he chopped down Gabriel Jesus who was clear on goal. It was his fourth red card in the Champions League and ties with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edgar Davids for the most. Ramos would miss the crucial away league at Etihad Stadium – a big blow for Zidane.

A night to forget for Real Madrid, but City left the Spanish shores after conquering one of the most aristocratic venues in world football.

Without a doubt, City were the better side in the second-half with more shots on goal than Real Madrid. Pep’s decision to start with Jesus paid rich dividends.  Jesus made more ball recoveries than any other City players: completed 20 of his 21 passes and had a huge impact in the final third when chances fell his way.

Then there was that dynamic midfielder Kevin de Bruyne: Undoubtedly, he is the best midfielder in the world right now. Despite being checked in the first-half, he sneaked a way through to make an impact in the game. He assisted the first goal where Jesus jumped over Ramos to equalize and then scored the winner from the penalty spot.  Last season he was overshadowed by injuries, but this season, he is all set to claim himself as the best in the world alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

In the end, Pep’s tactical master class should be credited: Guardiola started without the likes of Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho and Raheem Sterling and opted for an unusual shape to his team, but City looked comfortable throughout the match – more control over the ball and enough attacking intent than the home side. Guardiola has become the manager with the most wins against Real Madrid in all competitions in the 21st century (10), surpassing Ernesto Valverde and Diego Simeone (9).

Again, Guardiola has become the manager with the most wins in Champions League knockout stages (28), surpassing Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti (27).

Manchester City are the third English side to conquer Bernabeu after Arsenal in 2006 and Liverpool in 2009.

All is well at Manchester, but the mood is gloomy at Bernabeu.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 27/02/2020 Manchester City conquer Santiago Bernabeu  

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Faisal Caesar 

Run fest at Mirpur

The one-off Test series against Zimbabwe was dubbed to be the agent to bring the short-in-confidence Bangladeshi batsmen back on track, which they lost while playing against teams like India, Pakistan and well, surprisingly against Afghanistan. Thus, the opportunity was created so that the Bangladeshi batters could rediscover their mojo. On the third day, one could only witness daddy hundreds of Bangladesh batters and the miseries of Zimbabwe bowlers.

The Zimbabwean bowlers were toothless since they plucked the third wicket of Bangladesh. Neither they adjusted their line nor got the length right nor did they can exploit the conditions. The overnight not out batters – Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque cashed in big time.

They stitched a 222-run stand for the fourth wicket against a weak Zimbabwean attack, and after Mominul was eventually dismissed from the crease Mushfiq batted as if he could bat 10 more days without a rest extending Bangladesh's lead to a massive 295 before the declaration came. This is Bangladesh's second-highest first innings lead; the highest being 397 batting first against West Indies in October 2018.

Batting was like a cakewalk – there was no need to be a hundred percent accurate in back lift, defence or footwork – the cut, pull and drives through the onside, cover and point regions came at regular intervals. Each stroke boosted the confidence of Mominul Haque, who promised a ton before the start of the match, while Mushfiq notched up his third double ton – two of them came against Zimbabwe. It is a pity that he would not feature in Karachi Test, while it would have been better to play Mahmudullah Riyad to lift up his spirit by bashing the toothless Zimbabwean attack.

Again, Mushfiq’s half-century, hundred, hundred and fifty and double ton came up with boundaries - which were either played through point or glided through the gully. Zimbabwe left the third man area vacant for most of the day, which was quite surprising.

Liton Kumar Das then joined the party to name a half-century to his name.

It turned out to be an exhibition match between men against boys!

Bangladesh not only batted Zimbabwe out of the match but put them in muddy waters with two quick wickets at the fag end of third day. Bangladesh are charged up and it would take a matter of time for them to wrap things up on Day 4 until and unless inclement weather interferes or Zimbabwe put up a defiant resistance.

Note: This article has been published at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 24/02/2020 Run fest at Mirpur  

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Faisal Caesar  

India crusjed by New Zealand

According to a local cricket enthusiast from New Zealand,  the soil of Basin Reserve deck was as dry as it had ever been, due to a recent drought in Wellington. As a result, there was turn and bounce for the spinners. The grass on the pitch was cut to 18mm instead of the normal 25 mm. The match was scheduled to start at 11:30 am instead of the normal 10:30 am, avoiding the first hour where it tends to swing the most.

From the above scenario, it seems that New Zealand tried their level best to help India, but still, the visitors were gunned down by New Zealand. A ten-wicket win indicates how poor the Indians had been throughout the first Test.

There was a green-tinge on the wicket, grey sky above and typical wind at Wellington with which most of the Indians of the current team are accustomed to as they visited here before. The ball moved and bounced, but it behaved due to the skill of a six feet and eight inches tall Kyle Jamieson, who was playing his first-ever Test.

 The Indians played their last couple of series against weaker sides like West Indies at home and away, Bangladesh at home and a shaky Proteas unit at home. The going was easy where the Indian batters scored heavily and fetched wickets at will with the Indian captain facing a lesser amount of stifling challenges. But at Basin Reserve, the scenario had been different – none could escape from developing a stress ulcer.

Jamieson moved and bounced the ball from a length, which was forward and back and his ability to straighten up the ball after delivering from wide off the angle posed a threat consistently. There was one delivery on the first day, which climbed vertically at Ajinkya Rahane, lifting him off his foot and then there was another one, which came towards his neck forced him to twist midair – the kind of job, which Neil Wagner use to do, but Jamieson did not let his absence felt. It seemed, the fans were witnessing a new version of Morne Morkel.

India capitulated cheaply and when wickets were tumbling all around, the eyes were fixed on the Indian captain Virat Kohli to lift the spirits under adversity. But he let all down by playing a shot away from his body – he completed half part of the trigger movement and attempted for a cover drive away from his body. Such a stroke could be executed against West Indies or Bangladesh at home, but at Wellington, such an attempt would invite nothing but trouble. It dented the confidence, which was evident in the second outing as well.

Then Kohli’s captaincy moves came under scrutiny as well.

Virat Kohli is someone who loves to think out of the box and attack, but not sure what made him think not to put a deep extra cover for Ashwin while he was bowling against Kane Williamson, whose wag and wheel shows, he is a prolific scorer through that region.

Then, Kohli brought on Ashwin to operate with the second new ball being just 4 to 5 overs old with New Zealand 7 down and leading by 50-plus runs. This move allowed Grandhomme and Jamieson to stretch the lead. Kohli might have forgotten, Jamieson is a very good batsman.

Kohli is known to be an attacking captain, but these two moves don't do justice to his captaincy skills.

New Zealand took a handy lead and India’s dismal batting display repeated in the second outing – they were cheaply shot out for below 200 runs and the home team bagged a thumping victory by 10 wickets.

It’s not the end of the world for India as still one more Test to go. India have time to ponder over their mistakes and rediscover their lost mojo. But the momentum is with New Zealand.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 24/02/2020 India crusjed by New Zealand  

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Faisal Caesar 

Smooth sailing for Bangladesh

It did not take Bangladeshi bowlers enough time to bring an end to Zimbabwe innings. Abu Jayed continued from where he left on first day and struck gold from word go. In fact, it was matter of time for Zimbabwe to capitulate as soon as Craig Ervine departed. There were no other contenders left to put up a defiant resistance.

The Mirpur deck started to show signs of wear and tear. The Zimbabwean spinners extracted almost 4 degree of turn on Day 2, which was batter than the Bangladeshi spinner who could manage 3.3 degree. But despite this turn and assistance from the deck, the reason Zimbabwe spinners failed to test Bangladesh batsmen had been their inability to pitch it up further more and bring the batsmen forward. 

In fact, the Bangladeshi batters could easily go back and play shots to script a smooth sailing despite losing Saif Hasan early. If your line remains onto the pads and wider off while length on the short and half-volley side, you can’t reap a rich harvest no matter how much turn you extract.

The Bangladeshi spinner Nayeem Hasan could bag wickets only for his discipline part from trying to achieve more from the deck.

Then, the inability of the Zimbabwe bowlers to bowl according to the field setting dropped the shoulders more. While the pacers were in operation against Mushfiqur Rahim, Ervine placed two fielders on the midwicket, each of them standing a bit wider to lure Mushfiq execute through his favourite region, but the Zimbabwean pacers pitched the ball either on the goodish length or outside off letting the plan go wasted.

It was a smooth sailing for Bangladesh batsmen on a deck, which is not that easy to bat on, but the bowlers of the visiting team failed to exploit the conditions appropriately.  

Note: This has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 23/02/2020 Smooth sailing for Bangladesh  

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Faisal Caesar  

Evenly contest on an attritional day

The sun shining brightly. The new style of arranging the grass of Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium at Mirpur gave the impression of a chessboard and the greenish boxes were soaked up by the early morning dew – certainly, it helped to elevate the mood, but the greenish-tinge in some areas of the pitch in the center might not have satisfied the team, which would bat first. Still, the Zimbabwean skipper, Craig Ervine, won the toss and decided to bat first.

Ervine realized the life in the wicket would ease if his batters could exhibit the same grit they showed against Sri Lanka a few weeks ago. The idea was simple by the visiting batters – occupy the crease, score runs according to their limitations and make the home team bowlers toil hard.

Abu Jayed struck early. Ebadot Hossain bowled with enough intent. But Jayed was too good in terms of maintaining the discipline.

Bangladesh should have preferred a third seamer. Pace did have a say today and against the incoming and those deliveries, which straightened up after pitching, posed a threat. Ebadot and Jayed did deliver those, with Jayed doing it with a bit more accurately and thus bagged wickets.

But they took a heavy toll with minimum support. One must realize the fact, the Bangladeshi pacers are not long-spell-horses, but requires rest to maintain the fitness and rhythm.

The Mirpur deck started to lose it's bounce and kept low at the stroke of lunch. It won't offer any sort of freedom to execute free-flowing stroke-play until and unless the bowling side bowls too badly.

With Taijul Islam left struggling with discipline, I think, the rest of Bangladeshi bowlers did a good job. Nayeem Hasan looked sharp and I appreciate his length - always made the batsmen play forward and execute false strokes.

But the resolve of Zimbabwean batsmen deserves a lot of credit. Especially Craig Ervine marshaled the innings with a gritty hundred. Otherwise, Zimbabwe would have crumbled.

Note: this has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 22/02/2020 Evenly contest on an attritional day

Thank You

Faisal Caesar