The visit of the Spanish giants surely was the main draw to get 32,180 bottoms off the sofa and down to filbert way for a feast of football with the start of the new Npower championship season drawing ever closer. As we neared the ground in the sweltering 25 degree heat it was quite simply heaving with blue shirts with a few white of Real and interestingly some Arsenal and Manchester United. The game was billed as a sell-out, something which the stadium has rarely seen up to now, only fellow Spanish colossus Barcelona have had the stadium anywhere near capacity back in 2003.
Stepping back into the ground seemed like stepping into an advert for Thailand and all that is great about it, but in the most plastic manner, you couldn't move for adverts for Muay Thai kickboxing, King Power logo's slapped everywhere, having to check my back every so often in case someone had stuck the company logo on it, hoardings bearing 'Asia Airlines' and 'Exciting Thailand' all that was missing was Thai dancers and circus acts.........oh wait.....yes we had those too. An exquisite exibition of colour and wafter-thin umbrella's descended on the halfway line as a troupe of Thai dancers gave us a taste of bangkok (no giggling at the back) to the bemusement of the city supporters. This was then followed by a window shattering performance from X-factor reject Ruth Lorenzo and the three fivers......sorry, tenors.....giving a watered down version of 'Jerusalem' and 'Nessun Dorma'.
Once that lot had cleared off and the focus turned back to the real reason we were all there, the football! and one glimpse of Ronaldo and co got the butterflies going as Leicester lined up against one of the best sides in club football....in our own fair city. A bumbling stadium announcer (more on him later) murdering the seemingly simple task of reading through the teams and naming the officials didn't seem to dishearten the quite magnificent city support as the game got underway. Leicester instantly looked the more settled with Real full back Marcelo throwing his arms in the air frustrated by being overrun by David Nugent as Leicester forced the early openings including forcing the Madrid keeper over the line with the ball via a Nugent elbow to the ribs, bosch! Naturally the goal was disallowed.
Real soon settled towards the end of the half and the incisive Kaka began to cut the Leicester defence like a hot knife through butter freeing Karim Benzema to flash an effort past the far post of Kasper Schmeichel. Seemingly Leicester had weathered any potential storm with half time fast approaching but an unusually long ball from Real had £5m defender Matt Mills in a spin and Benzema broke clear to round the onrushing Schmeichel and square the ball for Jose Callejon to slot home the opener.
Half time provided more cirque de soleil style entertainment with a ball juggler, stilt men and a little more advertising and then with a change of kits - City in white, Real in black, we were ready for part two. Cristiano Ronaldo was brought on by the special one to much delight of the home support by way of a large 'Booooo!' still, the Madrid matador was not phased a bit by the welcome and proceeded to demonstrate his back catalogue of flicks, tricks and snap-shot shooting, bravo. In the end however it wasn't Ronaldo's name chalked on the scoresheet as Madrid caught city on the break and with Marcelo having left his shooting boots at home, the Brazillian squared for the ever-dangerous Benzema to slot in from a tight angle, 2-0 and cruising.
Amongst the substitutes brought on half time was German midfield maestro Mesut Ozil, a star of the South Africa 2010 world cup and one of the key men responsible for making England look just a little bit silly. Even at half pace Ozil was a pass master, inch perfect and incisive the man is indeed a gifted talent showing natural telepathy with fellow countryman Khedira together running the midfield. Real continued to threaten and forced a succession of corners ensuring Leicester remained camped within the confines of their own half.
A late serge forward and added pressure on the Madrid goal raised the volume of the crowd and as the Mexican wave revolved around the ground a knock down in the penalty area fell sweetly for Lloyd Dyer to rifle home to the delight of the home crowd with a minute of normal time remaining, surely not? Despite the foxes giving it a damn good go Jose's boys ran out victorious and took home the prestigious Npower cup for 2011, i'm sure the Madridista's will be googling the date of the open-top bus parade as we speak for that little beauty....
Whilst I have waxed lyrical about how great Real Madrid are, including the review of their magnificent stadium which we had the honour of visiting last week it really wasn't a one sided game in the slightest. Leicester created chances, battled hard and may have had Jose slightly on edge about the outcome of the tie, with new signings proving a hit, especially the commanding Kasper Schmeichel and the work-rate of Neil Dann's the season ahead looks bright for the boys in blue, the fans already seem to have celebrated already winning the championship with 'We are going up' being chanted on the terraces this evening, if city play anywhere near the level shown today they won't go far wrong....
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