Real Madrid

Despite conceding an early goal to Eintracht in the final match of the preseason for both sides, Real Madrid displayed a potent offense that provided several close scoring opportunitities. Almost everything is ready for the start of the season, but four days of hard work lie ahead to iron out any kinks prior to traveling to Valencia.

An important final test for Bernd Schuster allowed the German coach to verify the fitness level of several of his players who had little or no minutes of playing time throughout the preseason. Such was the case for Casillas and Ramos, who were the last to rejoin the squad following Euro 2008 along with Christoph Metzelder. Diarra, Torres, Raúl, Guti, Van Nistelrooy, and Heinze were all given the green light to start, but most watched the waning stages of the match from the bench.

Both sides were well-positioned and willing to run the length of the pitch, thus providing a first half full of scoring chances. Eintracht struck first six minutes in when their free kick first deflected off Pepe's head, then the crossbar, and was finally finished off by Bellaid.

Real Madrid steadily improved in completing passes, especially between Raúl and the always-active Rafael van der Vaart. But several other Madridistas could have equalised. Guti failed to knock in a corner kick and Van Nistelrooy's ensuing crossed shot sailed wide. Heinze appeared out of nowhere to get the ball onto the goalline, but Sergio Ramos missed the open tap in. Diarra also missed from atop the box (min.15) and Van der Vaart himself was unlucky from 35 metres out (min.22).

Schuster's men maintained more possession in the second half, while the hosts sat back and waited to counter. Robben (min.53, min.55) could have pulled Madrid level in the early minutes, as could have Ramos (min.58) with a set-piece header and Raúl (min. 61), who was thwarted by Nikolov. The hard work and relentless pursuit finally paid off with 20 to play when Robinho found the back of the potato sack following a pass by Higuaín to Saviola, who provided the assist on the play. Saviola had the victory on the tip of his boot (min.89), and Eintracht could have slammed the door shut second before the final whisle but were stymied by Casillas. The team now appears ready for the Spanish Super Cup. The good stuff is about the begin.