Will Madrid’s Title March Suffer with Van Nistelrooy Blow?

Hassan Chamas

“Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy underwent successful arthroscopic surgery today to repair the severely inflamed right ankle which has kept him sidelined for several weeks. The surgery will be performed in Amsterdam by Dr. Van Dijk, who had previously consulted with Real Madrid’s Medical Services. Van Nistelrooy is expected to miss another six weeks and could return as early as the Barcelona match on 7 May”.

This is what’s published on the website of current La Liga champions and leaders, Real Madrid. In terms of injuries, this wasn’t the best seasons for Los Blancos, as their squad was constantly ravaged, player after player going straight back to the treatment table. Their defence and midfield have been plagued constantly by fitness problems:

At the back, Cannavaro is nowhere near his imperious World Cup form, and nobody could fill in the shoes of the impressive Pepe, with Madrid coach Bernd Schuster often slotting left back Gabriel Heinze in the central defensive position, with him often proving to be the “weak link” in Madrid’s back four, producing a series of absolutely forgettable performances (We all remember how he just stood his ground and watched Taddei jump so easily over him to slot AS Roma’s first goal at the Santiago Bernabeu in the second leg of the last 16 round, maybe not knowing that he has to actually GO FOR THE BALL, instead of watching it).

The injury plague has also attacked their midfield, putting the likes of Sneijder and Brazilian wizard Robinho out of action for around six weeks. And even though Dutch winger Arjen Robben was in simply dazzling form for Los Merengues for some time, he has nonetheless spent more time working out in the gym than on the playing pitch.

This brings us to the forward line, specifically Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Since joining Real Madrid from Manchester United in August 2006, many have questioned the potential Van Nistelrooy still had, and just how much he still has to offer to such a demanding club as Real Madrid. They couldn’t be any further from the truth: The player has since spearheaded his club’s attacking lineup, relegating El Phenomeno Ronaldo to the bench, and in the process scoring an impressive 49 goals in 75 competitive matches for his new club. The player was so instrumental in Madrid’s success last season, that his former coach Fabio Capello said that the only chance of them winning the league title (which they did) was if Van Nistelrooy finished the season as top scorer in La Liga (which he ended up doing).

The underlying message is simple: Whenever Van Nistelrooy scored this season, Real Madrid have won. Interestingly enough, and you guessed right, Madrid haven’t won too much in their recent encounters. In fact, they have lost four of their last seven league matches, the first one being the night Van Nistelrooy injured himself.

While fans were waiting for the team’s striker to come back from injury just in the nick of time to face Valencia in what should be an intriguing challenge this weekend, came the abrupt and shocking news that Van Nistelrooy had gone under the knife to treat his damaged ankle. And while the aforementioned report said that Van Nistelrooy will be back in time to face Barcelona on May 7^th, in a match that many will say will determine the outcome of this season’s La Liga, football experts are very pessimistic about the chances of his recovery to play in El Clasicó, with many saying that Van Nistelrooy’s season is very much over and the only chance he has left of competitive football this season is to recover just in time to make the Dutch squad that will dispute this summer’s Euro 2008 championship.

Even though Barcelona are not playing their best football at this time, and sit seven points adrift of Madrid, the league title is very far from being decided. Now begins a special moment for Real Madrid: With ten league matches still in the balance, they must remember that same time last year when they started treating each game as a “final”, taking each step at a time. Coach Schuster has to cope now with the idea of not having the head of his attacking trident at his disposal. He will have to look at the other potential suitors for this role: The Brazilian beast Julio Baptista, Javier Saviola, Roberto Soldado, and club emblem Raul.

The first name is definitely the last option Schuster will use. Even though Baptista is originally a forward, he has been deployed in recent seasons as a central midfielder, creating chances for the forward line.

As for Saviola, the Argentinean has just swapped the Camp Nou bench for that of the Santiago Bernabeu. He has failed to impress in the opportunities that were handed to him, most notably in the Copa Del Rey exit at the hands of Mallorca, where he seemed just lost most of the time. As Schuster was the reason he was signed, he could very well be the reason he will be sold at the end of the season, with the coach reportedly telling Football Director Predrag Mijatovic that the player has no future at the White Castle, and that he needs to be offloaded at the end of the season.

As for Raul, the player is having his best season since the 2002-03 campaign, with 13 goals to his name so far in the league (18 in all competitions). He is simply happier now with the coach deploying him closer to the six-yard box. But the truth is that Raul is simply not a striker, due to the fact that he lacks that killer finishing touch. Rather, he is a second-striker, whose job is to attract defenders away from the first striker.

This leads us to the last name: Roberto Soldado. Great expectations were held for the Real Madrid number 9 at the start of this season. However, with Van Nistelrooy firing on all cylinders in the first half of the campaign, Soldado was not given a realistic chance to impress. He has yet to show the form he displayed last season, having spent a good loan spell at Osasuna, scoring 11 goals in 30 league matches for the Pamplona outfit.

With news that Arjen Robben is set to return to action this week, following the knock he sustained, Bernd Schuster will be relieved to have more attacking options at his disposal. In my opinion, if he wants to stick to Raul as a first striker, then he will have to deploy Robben and Robinho as supportive wingers. If not, then he must choose Soldado, and even though the player (and the entire team) performed horribly in their defeat to Deportivo La Coruna last weekend, there is a chance that if Soldado finds the motivation he was playing with last term, then he could very well fill in the shoes of Ruud Van Nistelrooy for the remainder of the campaign. Now begins the real race for La Liga, and Schuster and his boys have to keep in mind: Now begins the hard part.