El Pipita - Gonzalo Higuain

punkfusion1992 wrote:thought i would share my thoughts on El-Pipita's last 5 years

You see I have watched almost every game of our beloved El Pipita in those five years and its kinda emotional for me to be writing this, to see a player grow from an unknown to literally the first name on the team sheet

In his first year, I remember waking up one morning, Dec 20th(or so, Im writing from memory), and as I always do go to rm.com to check out whats going on with the club, I was in India at the time and did not have rmtv to watch, so you can imagine i was pretty depressed, I digress, I saw this curly haired teenage looking player plastered across the website. I saw the name Higuain and didnt recognize it immediately, well he wasnt very well known outside of Argentina. Before this signing Marcelo, an 18 yo Brazil international was signed, a player who was being compared to a certain Roberto Carlos. Soon after Fernando Gago, a player who was very well known even outside of Argentina, was signed another player compared to an RM legend, this time he was compared to Fernando Redondo, one of my absolute favorite players. And as the winter break came to an end, I was looking forward to both Marcelo and Gago's debut and not quite sure where Higuain would even fit in. The Depor game was the first game to feature both Gago and Marcelo, they werent great, but in that game noone was even good. Real lost 2-0, Higuain didnt get much of a run out. The next game was a home game against Zaragoza and low and behold the player nobody knew before his move got a start in Fabio Capello's side, a place on the right hand side, and by far he was the best player on the pitch causing all sorts of problems to the Zaragoza bacline. In the end he ended up assisting RVN for the only goal of the game. Apparently a commentator during that game said that was sh**te after his first play, due to his left foot volley that streamed wide. His first half season and the next one at Madrid ended up being a fruitful but also he lacked the goals, scoring 10 in 2 seasons, hence he was regularly attacked by the Madrid press and sometimes even by the club himself, after scoring against Sevilla in the 07-08 season, the PA said "Finally Higuain scored". The Bernabeu, as often is wrongly thought, was not effected by the bad press Higuain was getting from the Madrid press, they had developed a liking for Higuain due to his hardwork and also the goals that he scored were extremely important goals. He scored a goal in the Madrid derby that made sure we kept our awesome unbeaten run against them, he scored THAT goal against Espanyol to complete a comeback of epic proportions, when Real were down 3-1 at the break thanks to a Pandiani hattrick, put us ahead of Barca in the league standings in 07. It was really that goal that put Higuain in the hearts of all Madridistas, it was THAT goal that really epitomized his hard work, where ran towards a lost cause and won the ball from Chica, Espanyol's Left Back at the time, played a 1-2 with Reyes and put the ball in between Kameni's legs and in honesty that goal was the perfect example of what that Real team was. He scored and created the goals that actually won the league in a rainy night in Pamplona, and won us the honor of getting a Pasillo from Barcelona, oh and in that game he also scored, 60 seconds after coming on as a sub.

The next season, Real Madrid were turning into a side who were supposed to go on and conquer the Champions League, especially with Bernd Schuster guiding them to a league so easily that season. The season was to be Pipita's breakout year, and so it was, he started the season by scoring in almost all the home games, but was poor away from home, Madrid were conceding goal after goal but there was always El Pipita to grab even more, no game showed that more than the 4-3 win vs Malaga at the Bernabeu where Real were bailed out by a 4 goal salvo by the France born striker. It seemed from that point Madrid were destined for much lesser things, with everyone predicting that Madrid would slump to a fourth spot especially after Ruud, Real's top scorer for 2 seasons, got injured for the rest of the season. But Higuain, under the mentorship of the crocked striker, had different plans, he scored 22 goals and gave 12 assists astonishing numbers for a 21 year old. One of my favorite games that season was the Getafe game at the Bernabeu where his first goal was great but his second was superb, scored from outside the edge of the area, with his left foot in the 92nd minute.
During that summer, Fiorentino Perez had made his comeback into football and made his trio of Galactico signings and it seemed Higuain would be back on the bench, and in the eyes of the Madrid press and a sizeable portion of the Madrid faithful, where he belonged. It seemed that even Real Madrid coach Pellegrini seemed to agree and regularly played Benzema and a declining Raul ahead of Higuain but when push came to shove, he knew that both Benzema and Raul were lacking goals, most notably was when neither Benzema nor Raul were able to score in 180 minutes against Alcorcon, a performance from the Madrid team that I try to forget almost everyday and soon Higuain got his place back in the line-up, and he took it with both hands going on a scoring spree of 20 goals in 16 games but in that time he made a glaring miss, against Lyon and the Madrid press berated him. To the press this was their ammunition, they felt finally had a proper reason to destroy him, put him on the bench for good. He was the big game bottler, never scoring against important teams, never mind the fact that neither had Ronaldo or even Benzema, it was Higuain who was pulling the entire team down, but for a 22 year old with such a high maturity, this was no issue, he carried on doing his thing scoring goal after goal, and scored his 3rd hattrick with Real Madrid vs Valladolid. He finished the season with 29 goals in all competition despite being only 22 years old.

The next season though he was again attacked by the Madrid press but this time Madrid had a coach who would never be influenced by anyone in the press. He saw Benzema for what he truly was, a player with no work ethic and skill that is marred by the fact that he was nowhere near the level a proper Real Madrid player was and gave Higuain, a player who he thought of as a model player, with the work ethic that Mourinho liked. Hence he was made starter and he was still scoring, 10 goals till November, and his worst injury struck him, out indefinitely,even though the diagnosis and treatment were pretty clear, the club decided to wait until January to get him the surgery, effectively ruling him out for 6 months instead of four and in those six months he saw Karim Benzema turn from purring cat into roaring lion. He cameback though with a bang, scoring 3 against Valencia at the Mestalla and had a correct goal ruled out for a foul in El Classico at the Nou-Camp in the Champions League and finished the season on 16 goals.
This season though is the first season where there was no uncertainty as to where El Pipita's place lies in the squad. Him and Benzema rotate and it seems to have worked out for both of them as they have grabbed 33 goals together in all competition having even played together for a couple of occasions and have combined very effectively.
The thing with Higuain is that he has always had his doubters but whenever he hears them he makes sure he gives them a shoutout in the next game
He has written himself into Madridista folklore and soon he will turn into legend
5 years of brilliance from our own El Pipita

"Higuain is one of the best in the world. Only a fool would want to sell one of the best. Even when he is not scoring goals, he remains one of the best and a very special player, so I have no intention for him to leave Madrid," he stated.