Hassan Chamas
It was honours even at the Bernabeu on Tuesday night up until the penultimate minute. Juande Ramos’ Real Madrid looked on course to throw in their towel in the race for La Liga as they just could not disengage the bomb that was city neighbours Getafe.
The game was going heading for a 2-2 draw until Pepe took down Javier Casquero in the box and awarded the suburb outfit a late penalty, before proceeding to lash out at his man in sheer madness. Once the rampant bull was off the field, a meager Casquero tried a cheeky chip a la Panenka, only for it to miserably backfire and fall down into the hands of custodian Iker Casillas. And then, just as if it was meant to be, Gonzalo Higuain put on Superman’s cape and saved the day once again for Madrid with a late, late match-winner.
With that imperative win, Madrid lived to see another day, and were able to hack the gap to just three points with Barcelona, albeit temporarily as the Blaugrana soon punished Sevilla in a way only they master. While the heroics of Juande Ramos’ men have reminded the fans of the prominent comeback days of Fabio Capello almost two years ago, another player whose name made headlines for all the wrong reasons is Kepler Laveran Lima Ferreira, better known as simply Pepe. Pepe just went berserk on his man, kicking him twice in the process, before finally seeing red – his third in the match – and needing to be pushed away by Iker Casillas who just could not believe what went wrong in his centre-back’s mind.
Soon after the curtain drew close at the Santiago Bernabeu, Pepe had just realised that his Madrid career had perhaps reached its downfall. The Brazilian stopper swiftly opted to ask for forgiveness to all whom he lashed curses and swears at: From the Getafe players who were involved, up to and including the fourth official.
There are no words adequate enough to describe the sudden Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde metamorphose in the ever-smiling player’s attitude, nor is there a justification as to why his nuclear core chose to unleash a Hiroshima – soon followed by a Nagasaki – on the man he was supposed to mark. Did he interpret his coach’s “mark him well” the wrong way? That doesn’t seem in the realm of the believable. Was he annoyed by the attitude of his team and its lack of winning mentality? Did he think that Higuain was unjustly denied what was a clear penalty? Perhaps he was. Was he justified in “mistaking” Casquero for the ball? Definitely not.
Pepe made the nastiest blunder of his life, since he joined from Porto in July 2007, a fault that could have all but secured the final nail in Madrid’s league ambitions. He will most surely be facing dire consequences now, meaning that he will miss the league decider against Barcelona in a fortnight, and could be very well in contention for a lengthy spell on the sidelines. If Madrid fail to record a 32nd league accolade, indexes will be vectored into Pepe’s direction, the stopper being one of the pillars in the centre of defence alongside Fabio Cannavaro, who rumour has it, has his mind made up about a return to Turin’s Juventus.
What’s even worse for Pepe is that none of his team-mates have stepped up to support him – and why should they? Subsequent to the Getafe clash, team captain Iker Casillas lashed out at the Portuguese international, saying that the latter “disrespected” his team’s colours. Meanwhile, Fernando Gago stated that he was “stunned” by his teammate’s antics, citing that under no circumstances should a Real Madrid player behave in such a manner. In contrast, the only players who have sided with the defender are his national teammates at Chelsea, Deco and Paulo Ferreira, who claimed that the culprit has hastily realised the magnitude of his offence and therefore his head should be spared.
With the battle at the Bernabeu over, the war’s fog still expanded on the famous turf. The following day, Pepe chose not to attend his team’s voluntary training session, and in an interview with Spanish tabloid Marca, he declared that he has “no desire to return to football”.
Speaking of football, that’s something that Pepe won’t be enjoying in the near future. With a lengthy 10-match suspension – meaning that he will now miss the remainder of the season – ruled by the Spanish FA. The player should perhaps sit down and have a lengthy tête-à-tête with himself as to why he chose to abandon his defending duty and be a MMA fighter on that given night. His actions will surely go down as one of the darkest – and even dare I say darkest – moments in this season’s La Liga, a competition renowned for its attacking free-flowing football, not its moments of psychosis and raw insanity. The player has to digest that he has committed a momentous sin, and that at a club as prestigious as Real Madrid, there is no confession box.
What makes things worse for Madridistas is that the club has its fair share of players out due to injury: The trio of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Mahmadou Diarra and Ruben de la Red have been estranged from action since 2008, while Wesley Sneijder will make sure to keep them company after he himself was ruled out for the rest of the season. Arjen Robben picked up his I-lost-track-of-numbers injury, and is surely ruled out of the imminent Clasico. Add to them Pepe’s absence and Real’s chances of holding onto the title look even slimmer.
Pepe made a mistake; there is no doubt about it. What makes things harder to digest is the impact that his exodus will have on the remainder of Los Blancos’ title march. But mistakes do happen. What shouldn’t happen is their repetition. For his part, the former Porto stopper has acknowledged his wrong-doings, and was fully prepared to apologise to Casquero and the rest of his victims, and in the end, that’s what really makes a good professional. The judgement that was bestowed upon him is nothing but fair, to say the least. However, on the sporting side of things, the player’s talk of walking away from the game is just the effect of a tiresome night, as his future still looks to be bright. Casquero will surely forgive him, the fans will instantly embrace him, and life will go on. After all, we all make mistakes.
Real Madrid 08/09 Euro Real Madrid 08/09 Away
