i am sure its more of di maria
but ronaldo, what a performance.....
ronaldo 4 - zlatan 2 on aggregate

sahin is rarely getting a game at dortmund, i dont think he can get a place in madrid's midfield....
morata's finish, nice....although it came late when the result was secured, but it showed he has the confidence. nice

my bad, but i thought he rarely started when he returned to dortmund initially, or when he was at liverpool.

i think he is playing in place of gundogan for dortmund now. i still dont think he can get a game in madrid's midfield.

speaking of vidal, that imaginary/self trip was hilarious and embarrassing for a player of his calibre.
i think we have good and enough covers in midfield spot, but if there is one that real madrid can sign, it should be pogba. at that young age, he is marvelous.

pogba with attitude problem? all he wanted was to play and he isn't getting play time in man united. fergie made quite a mistake letting him go but it's understandable given the players man utd had that time.

i think pogba is good. just that news made it sound otherwise.

depth of squad looks good compared to previous seasons. covers in almost all areas. highest total passes so far for real madrid in this game.

personally, i would prefer cristiano to shunt the event even if he wins it. if he turns up to accept the award if he wins it, he will have to answer lots of questions.

didn't he skip the event the last time?

xativa's pitch was everything. the artificial turf made everybody's life difficult. ball control was hard, as the ball moved very fast. imagine playing futsal in an oversized pitch.

agreed. i thought modric took something like a flailing arm from the osasuna defender, should have been a penalty.
ronaldo not tucking that chance early in the game had repercussions, that was what i thought when i saw it.
one of those games where it's hard to say madrid were good for clawing back to 2-2 or bad because of the red card and lost of concentration.
sergio ramos seems to have this habit of slightly naughty little actions which costs him. pepe too has this bad habit. hard to judge if ramos put out his arms to intentionally touch the player.
osasuna was always going to be a tough game.

interesting to see how arbeloa perform in central defence. i thought he could fit in just nice at central defence, seeing ramos and pepe's tendency to provoke, you may say.

arbeloa will be at 1 of the full back positions i think.....

di maria is being investigated for that gesture.....i think some fans booed him, which led to him grabbing his crotch. but the thing is, he did it nonchalantly, hard to tell if it was really a gesture to the fans.

xabi alonso is good news! but his ears.....

diego lopez - no comment

marcelo - very busy attacking / sometimes dragged out of position when defending

carvajal - solid / balanced attacking and defending

pepe - grabbed the 3 points for real madrid / prone to silly defending

ramos - solid

xabi alonso - the one with the perforated ear drum (check Marca), the usual self with good defensive skills last night

di maria - energetic, but clueless sometimes

MODRIC - monster, player of the season so far for real madrid in my opinion

bale - non-existent i would say, contributed near to nothing

ronaldo - profligate last night, powers on the wane, is not his usual self for past 2 to 3 games

benzema - lazy is not the word to describe him, nonchalant is.....very good with movement and very technical. you try that volley from a cross, although it didn't go in the net. with weaker foot at that

ancelotti has said isco could play as a false 9 for real madrid. cant wait to see that. i am sure he will at least bring another dimension to madrid's game, if not better benzema. 2nd half of the season will bring at least 1 surprise in ancelotti's tactics as he looks to continue the march for the top spot.

the false 9 position requires someone who is adept at it, like messi and thomas muller from bayern. ronaldo does his thing best on the left and cutting in, thus getting ron to play false 9 cripples him somewhat.

isco is different. while benzema could glide, if you will, along the defenders, isco can conjure those small tricks essential to penetrate the defence. isco is very much the man for ancelotti's possession style football. benzema is the more direct option, along with morata. overall, the team has good options for minor tweaks here and there.

looking back, ozil sale was the best deal madrid did. sometimes, he is invisible in the arsenal team nowadays. i think he is best suited to the counter attacking, where he is the main outlet to make that killer pass, as seen in the real madrid vs barcelona match. arsenal should have taken di maria, where he is more direct and provides the necessary drive for arsenals short but patient passing game. but real madrid needs him as well, for his work rate.

but during his tottenham years, bale did his most damage from the right cutting in field.

And just what is ancelotti's signature?

compared to the bilbao game, this time real madrid played with more intensity. there were some element of luck in the goals, but i'd say you create your own luck sometimes.

good for jese that he scored. he has still got a lot to learn and with him, real madrid has got options. i thought that apart from his goal and that one particular dribble where he took out 2 atleti players to cross, he was a little nervy with the ball. you could see he was playing the simple passes and generally hugged the line. but right now, i think he is doing better than bale.

speaking of whom, had bale played he would have been skinned by the physical atleti players. glad he didnt play else his confidence would have taken a hit.

modric is really something special. he glides with the ball, something like iniesta. he has got this start stop to his run which takes out many players when he is on the run.

very good physical game. 68% possession as well. diego costa is always diego costa, always an outlet upfront and always riling the opposition. that is his game. this morning, i think where he acted almost alone, ramos and co riled him in packs. but he is a very sporting player. one of the only few atleti players who stayed and applaud on the pitch after the game.

return leg will be tough despite the 3 goals margin.

Agreed....the sociedad game was superb, griezman and vela doing their thing. Sociedad is a good team, and I think griezman leaving is just a matter of time

just like when barcelona and atletico had a 3 point lead against real madrid, everything can change. it's only 3 points.

having said that, i think atletico is feeling the pinch now. not good enough squad depth to last the whole season.

barca might be tiring too although they are a slightly different side currently with tata martino.

but real madrid is not without problems too. i think isco, for sure will be a surprise story somewhere in the near future games. his movement is superb. it could be jese or bale will make way for him. surely ancelotti can see that isco is better than jese and bale currently.