As we all know by now, an Emmanuel Adebayor penalty shot resulted in Arsenal taking Real Madrid out 1-0 in the Emirates Cup. News outlets and bloggers alike seem to be focusing on two things: Wesley Sneijder’s injury and how Adebayor is slowly starting to redeem himself with Arsenal supporters after trying to hop over to FC Barcelona.
The Adebayor stories deserve notice. Overall, UK football fans are loyal to the whole club before the individual player and Arsenal fans are legendary for having a fanatical loyalty to their team (because of this fanatical loyalty, some people-not me-have nicknamed Arsenal supporters "scientologists" ). When a player on their team turns on them, which Emmanuel did in a way, the fans will show their displeasure as they did when they booed him during the Arsenal/Juventes match. The PK is slowly getting him back into Arsenal fans good graces.
As a staunch Real Madrid supporter, the Sneijder injury peaks my interest more than the Adebayor story. Why? Because I’m not surprised that they lost. Yes, I have only been watching European footie for a short period of time, but in the time period that I’ve been watching it, I don’t think that Real Madrid are as good as many other do…they’re good but not great. They won the 2007/08 La Liga title by a landslide because the second best team in the league (Barcelona) imploded halfway in into the season, not because of brilliant pitch moves. Yes, they won the 2006/07 title but not until the last day, and their even having a chance to win that day was a real uphill battle. And let’s not forget the ‘08 Champions League tournament when Roma took them out of the competition and barley broke a sweat doing it.
My point is that Real Madrid need Sneijder badly, even if Pretty Boy Ronaldo joins the club. Wes is an outstanding midfielder that provides excellent support to his strikers, be they Van Nistelrooy, Raul, or any one of the two Ronaldos. The sooner that his back, the better.
