Open Thread: October 25, 2020.

Hola Madridistas!

The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods: Valyrian Steel, Felipejack or Oscnar.

Real Madrid topple Barcelona in El Clasico.

After two defeats, Los Blancos secured a 3-1 victory over Barcelona. Zidane continues to be unbeaten in the Camp Nou as a manager (3 wins, 3 draws). Fede Valverde, Ramos and Modric got on the score sheet for Los Blancos while Ansu Fati grabbed Barca’s only goal. This is a good result to boost the team’s confidence, before the upcoming Champions League fixture against Borussia Monchengladbach.

Matt Wiltse made interesting tactical notes about the game. This was the 350th game that Modric played for Real Madrid while Asensio completed 150 games for Los Blancos.

“We deserved the win and I’m proud of my team” - Zidane.

Zidane spoke to the press after the game: “I’m thrilled for the players. It’s a team victory. We put on a perfect display. Taking all three points here is not easy” When asked if the team has been treated unfairly he responded that “In football everyone can explain things, but sometimes there is no explanation. We had problems in the previous two games and it can happen. On the subject of Ramos returning to the team: “We know what Sergio is and what he represents, not just as a player. We got the three points and thankfully Sergio didn’t feel any discomfort from his injury”.

Finally when asked about the penalty Zidane stated “There’s a referee there. He went to watch the incident and then awarded the penalty. I never speak about the referees, which is a complicated and difficult thing not to do, and I’m not going to start today. He saw the incident and blew his whistle, and that’s all there is to it. Regardless of penalty, I think we deserve the victory because we made it 1-3 and we could have scored more”.

VAR only used against Barca, says Ronald Koeman.

El Clasico had its fair share of incidents and Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman was fiercely critical of the referee and video assistant after his side were beaten 3-1 at home to Real Madrid in in Saturday’s ‘Clasico’ in La Liga. “You always get shirt tugs like that in the area and I think Ramos makes a foul on Lenglet first. There’s a tug of the shirt, but not enough to make him fall behind as he did. For me it’s not a penalty. We have had five matches and (VAR) has only been used to go against Barca. It’s never gone our way,” Koeman added.

Someone might want to remind Koeman off the 2 blatant penalty decisions not given in last year’s El Clasico at the Camp Nou. Both were against Varane, one for a studs up challenge to the knee by Lenglet and the other for a jersey pull by Rakitic.