Morning everyone,

I know that most of you are still very upset about what happened last night, but I find it irritating to hear comments from some fans such as they will no longer support the team, Juande is a failure, the players don't deserve to play for the club, and even to an extreme extent, a fan wished that all players on the team would die.

This is crazy. What the hell is going on here. It is either Real Madrid fans are all dump, or the majority of them are. Yes, we were humiliated last night, but had Real won, would you have said the same things about them? Hell no, because you'd be subjective. 

However, I know that there are those who are smart and understand the situation very well. It hurts to see us beaten like that and eliminated from the competition we have always done well in, but that's football. We have to accept the fact that Liverpool were better.

Having said that, I think we should stand and be proud. Just look at how Casillas performed last night, even those who hate Real to death, they admitted he was a quality goalkeeper. For me, it was Liverpool Vs Casillas. He made outstanding saves and hadn't been him, we would have lost 6-0 or 7-0. Saint Iker is truly a legend.

I also think that Lass worked really hard. He couldn't change anything in the game, and nor anyone would have could, but I think he did his best. It was tough for him to keep the ball as he was overwhelmed.

Liverpool Vs Real Madrid - Champions League Second Leg | 10/03/2009 - 22:45 CET | Anfield Road, England.

I've been very busy during the last few days and as a result, I'm overwhelmed with emails, catching up with RSS subscriptions, and that kind of stuff.

Though, I managed to watch the derby and I was only able to post a few of my thoughts on the game. Although it was an entertaining game, I was disappointed at Real's lack of "creativity" in midfield and strength in defense. We had to attack, but we couldn't deal properly with their counterattacks.

But anyway, we need to concentrate on our match against Liverpool tomorrow night. It is not going to be easy especially that they have won the first leg and their goal will probably be a decider when it comes to aggregate results.

Rather than talking about statistics, match-ups or the performances of both teams in their leagues, I'll highlight a few factors that I think will influence the game.

The better team loses

In football, what matters the most is goals. That's no brainier, but sometimes it is is unfair when a team plays better than its opponent, and in the end loses. That's what last night was all about -- at least in my opinion.

Real Madrid didn't play their best football, but they performed better than Liverpool. The English team knew how to deal with them, how to disallow them from scoring, and more importantly when to kill them off.

As both of the coaches had said before the match, small details would decide everything -- and that exactly what happened.

I'm sure by now you've read a few reviews of the match, and you don't need a recap. So I'll just mention a few things here.

Pepe

Looked solid and managed to stop Torres.  His brilliant anticipation skills and confidence helped us recover possession. There were many times when I thought Torres or Kuyt would beat Pepe, but he was a wall standing in their way.

Cannavaro 

Fabio was comfortable having Pepe besides him. He did have a good game, but it wasn't one of his best. Truth be told, he couldn't have done anything more.

Heinze

If you are a long-time reader of this blog, then you know that I'm not a big fan of Heinze. Objectively, though, he had a bad game. I'm not holding him any responsibility for the goal -- but overall, he was not good.

Robben

Arjen was strictly marked and couldn't deal with it. He had a couple of decent changes on goal, and made a great assist to Rau'l in the first half, but Liverpool's defenders managed to reduce his danger.

Guti-Marcelo

During the match, I was tweeting and said that Ramos should send Guti in. What was I thinking? Well, I thought we needed someone as talented as Guti to break Liverpool's defense and make that killing pass. Guti didn't certainly deliver that, but considering that he had only played 20 minutes since his return from injury, it was not an awful performance from him.

Real Madrid Vs Liverpool - Champions League First Leg | 25/02/2009 - 20:45 CET | Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid.

Both of Real Madrid and Liverpool have a lot in common.

Real have won the Champions League 9 times, while Liverpool have won it 5 times most recently in 2005 against AC Milan.

They both sit second on their respective league tables and they are both out of their respective domestic cups.

As such, the Champions League is theoretically the competition they should be concentrating on.

Form-wise, however, Real look to be better as they saw their ninth straight league win against Real Betis last weekend. Their incredible form and consistency, combined with Barcelona's recent poor performances, have revived Real's hopes of keeping their La Liga crown as the point difference has been cut to just 7 points.

On the other hand, Liverpool are not at their best at all, partly due to missing Steven Gerrard for injury, and for the team's overall poor form.

However, the performances of both teams in their leagues is totally irrelevant when it comes to the Champions League. In other words, the Champions League is a total different competition that has a different atmosphere.

And this clash in particular is one that promises to be the most thrilling and entertaining this year.

With an improved performance from both the team and captain Rau'l, Real Madrid qualified for the next round of the Champions League as they beat BATE Borisov 1-0 thanks to a goal from the captain in the seventh minute.

Bernd Schuster started with Casillas in goal, Torres, Pepe, Ramos and Heinze in defense, Guti, Gago, Sneijder in midfield, while Drenthe, Rau'l and Saviola all started in attack.

The German used a 4-3-3 formation which I didn't like at all (Helmet_o9, one of my readers had a funny feeling before the match that Schuster would use that formation and it turned out to be true).

If I were the coach, I would play with only two strikers in attack unless I had Villa, Ruud and Ibrahimovic all on the same team. Additionally, playing with 4-3-3 requires a strong midfield with an exceptional defensive midfielder (wish we have but injured - Diarra) and a very talented attacking midfielder to feed the three strikers.

Anyway, it was good for the German that Sneijder was fit and able to start. He really played exceptionally well and was probably the man of the match after Rau'l. 

I'm currently in a very bad mood, obviously, because Real Madrid and Schuster frustrated the hell out of me. And because my own father, who happens to be a Juventus fan, called me "arrogant kid" simply because I told him that Real Madrid were as prestigious as Juventus.

I knew we were going to lose once I saw the lineup. "Cheat me once, shame on you, cheat me twice shame on me" - Schuster again went with the 4-3-3 formation that he used in the first leg - he made the same mistake twice and so he isn't a smart guy.

I'm by no means a professional coach, player nor analyst but the way Schuster dealt with the game was unprofessional. I understand that Pepe was injured and so was Robben (or wasn't he?) but again playing with the same strategy, lineup and group of players was wrong.

Why the hell would you bench Van Der Vaart? Drenthe worked his ass-off but he wasn't enough to break into Juve's defense. There should have been another winger to help him out through the other flank and I thought Van Der Vaart would do the job.

Another thing which pissed me off was playing the so aggressive Heinze. Schuster obviously had a few options, but I think Metz who is out form would have been better than Heinze.

Real Madrid VS Juventus | 05/11/2008 - 20:45 CET | The Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

NOTE: This post is going to be updated daily with news, press comments and such.

This fixture is extremely important for Real Madrid. Not only because they are playing Juventus, but because they want to restore their pride and take revenge.

We lost to Juventus 2-1 in Turin a couple of weeks ago. Before that match, Juventus hadn't won in a month or so but after that match, they have won all of their games. This means that it gave them a big boost and so this time around they'll be coming to the Bernabeu with more enthusiasm, determination and strength.

Real Madrid

I criticized Schuster for playing with a 4-3-3 formation in the first leg because we simply didn't have the ability to dominate the midfield and feed those three strikers. He played with Gago, Sneijder and Van Der Vaart in midfield while Higuain, Van Nistelrooy and Rau'l in attack.

Gago was overwhelmed and didn't do his job properly. He couldn't recover balls or even assist his teammates. On the other hand, Sneijder and Van Der Vaart were not able to do Gago's job because they suck at it. Sneijder tried to do his job and he did some good things but it wasn't enough.

Sisoko, Nedved and the other folks at Juventus simply dominated the game (especially in the first half).

Now, however, with the return of Guti and Diarra the midfield should improve. I wouldn't play with the same formation but rather with something like this: 4-1-3-2 or the standard one 4-4-2.

As I expected, Juventus gave a hell of a game. Although they had many players injured, each player on the pitch was a "key player".

Just five minutes after the kick-off, Del Piero scored a fantastic goal from 25 yards. How did the ball get to him is beyond me, but what I know is that the midfield was absolutely crap. I'm not a professional coach but playing with Sneijder, Gago

 Juventus vs Real Madrid | 21/10/2008 - 20:45 | Estadio Olímpico de Turín

Real Madrid Vs Juventus Second Leg Preview here.

NOTE: This post is going to be updated daily with news, comments and photos.

This is probably the most important match in this Champions League round. Juventus and Real Madrid, two teams of history, prestige and pride.

We are playing the Old Lady. We...