PES Chronicles

The mighty Real Madrid were my second opponents in my first season here in Division 1 of this Superleague what I created…

I was slightly worried about taking on Madrid so soon. My exertions against Valencia had left the squad more than a little drained of energy.

I had to send out the team pictured on the left, with a couple of players on low stamina. Gutierrez played only because he had to—there was no one else to play in that forward role. Melengue played up there only because he had to as well. My other strikers, Kmolo and Lagutz, were both knackered after the previous game.

At least there were a good few players with red form arrows, among them Marcelo. In the match I took Marcelo on lots of foraging runs down the left wing, jinking in and out of challenges and generally making a nuisance of himself.

But I couldn’t get through Madrid’s defence. It wasn’t that I was taking shots only to see them fly wide, or be saved by the goalkeeper, or hit the post and/or crossbar: I was not getting through at all. There seemed to be a peculiar magic at work that caused all of my attacks to come to nothing, simply fizzling out before I could get a sight of goal.

I started to get frustrated and hack at the legs of the CPU players. I was lucky to get to half time without a red card.

I calmed down in the second half, and the pattern of the game changed. I launched wave after wave of attacks and started to have lots of shots on goal, but they were palmed away or blocked.

A goal for Real Madrid was in the air—you can always smell it coming—and about ten minutes from the end, it came. It was a heartbreaking own-goal from Maldini:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0hSojItflg&rel=1]

That Madrid striker’s header was going so wide it’s untrue.

I never had a chance to get back into the game, and that was that. 0-1. Gutted. As happens so often in PES2008, the match stats and the match result are at odds with one another:

Never mind. The game is what it is, and if I don’t like it then I should go play FIFA, right? Ahem.

After the Real Madrid game it felt almost anti-climactic to play the next fixture against PSV. There are several teams in the Superleague Division 1 who aren’t what you’d call top-drawer material. Still, with my transfer embargo in place, picking up 3 points against these lesser teams is an absolute must.

And pick up 3 points is what I did. I won 4-3. It was a good game with a few too many goals for my liking, but I’ll take it.

My next game is against AC Milan. I’m loving this Superleague…