It's been 7 days since the beginning of the Dragon Year – and here we are 7 points ahead of Barca in the league table. Our 3-1 over Zaragoza and Barca's 0-0 (their first scoreless game in 15 matches) made sure of that. In a league where the margins of error between a league title or a bridesmaid finish is a hairline, 7 points is gold – it gives us that all-important precious margin for error: to account for that somewhat inevitable match that will see us drop points against a Levante, Sporting or.

The fallout from last week's El Clasico loss was astounding. The fallout from the coming El Clasico – should we lose (which is a likely event) will perhaps be equally astounding. . The players are shit – we need to buy 6 new players. We need a new defense We need a new midfield, We need better strikers.

En la foto Ronaldo y su carnal Marcelo.

Este video esta lleno de jugadas espectaculares de Wilfried Zaha, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil, Gael Clichy, Villarreal, Marcelo, Valencia y muchos mas, pura clase.
El gol del Real Madrid es buenisimo y el de Gaizka Toquero simplemente inspiración, y eso que solo llevamos dos semanas en el año.

Zonal Marking's Michael Cox wrote a fantastic piece on our very own Mesut Ozil on ESPN Soccernet. Have a read here:

José Mourinho acaba de mostrar mais uma vez que tem a "estrelinha" e o mérito que só está ao alcance dos grandes campeões. Super-favorito no confronto com o Málaga a contar para os oitavos-de-final da Taça do Rei, o Real Madrid viu-se a perder em casa por dois golos de desvantagem aos 29 minutos.

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The lousy folks at Singtel's Mio TV who charge me a fortune to watch the EPL and the Champions League didn't have the courtesy to show the match live. So I was forced to try to stream it... . When I finally managed to hop onto a stream, the score was already 1-0. . When I opened a new web browser to check who scored that goal, it became 2-0.

Despite the String of Missed Chances especially in the first half, I would say that we generally played well last night.
Last season, when asked about who I'd like us to face in the Champions League on our way to the final, I asked for the following teams: Olympique Lyonnais, AS Roma, Bayern Munich and Arsenal – I would have asked for Liverpool or Juventus too if possible.

Feliz Martes! The FIFA Ballon d'Or preliminary list of 23 men has been finalised and although the final 3 names will be announced on December 5th, you have an entire month to gloss over this. There haven't been many surprises and we've highlighted whom we think will probably and predictably make the cut based on the votes and if it doesn't work out, they can still make this into a Ballon d'Or reality TV show!

"Do you guys do Pizza delivery? Or Falafel?!! " : Mesut Ozil at the Germany-Turkey match in Istanbul / via Reuters

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There's nothing that screams "German Simon Cowell!" more than this shot of Joachim Loew sitting comfortably at yesterday's German NT press conference. Yeah, it's totally normal to put a black sofa at the training ground my dad did it once, Dunga sat on it.

Apologies.

When the names read across the back of the shirt read Ozil, Kaka and Ronaldo, one expects the spectacular from time to time. Or much of the time.

One of the continents great providers of technical footballers was given a lesson in skill and fluidity today when Ronaldo poked in Real's absurd team goal with a finish which wasn't insubstantial, but rendered a complete afterthought to the buildup.

Pipita Scored and Kaka had another good game. Great Signs ‘Assumptions are the mother of all Fuckups!' – I once heard my brother (who's an associate Regional Director of a Fortune 500 Company) scold one of his subordinates. Filipinos have a similar adage: ‘Maraming Namatay sa Maling Akala' (Many have died from the wrong assumptions), I was often told when I was young.

No, Real Madrid is NOT in Crisis. We are merely in a slump. 5 dropped points over 2 games against La Liga teams whose objective is to stave off relegation is proof of that. Maybe Jose Mourinho's sarcastic remarks prior to the Levante game about just wanting to stay up were taken seriously by the team: prompting them to play as if we were a team battling relegation.

There was Benze-cat, and now there's Cris Charming. Yuck.
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"He's NOT handsome!" was my wife's instant reply when I read Cristiano's post-game comments to her. I can only suppose that this is what happens when you read out comments that epitomize the arrogance of an ex-Manchester United Player to a Liverpool fan.

Marcelo shows us what Real Madrid did to Zaragoza: Turn them upside down
Another La Liga game, another goalfest. Another Ronaldo Hat Trick. If no one paid attention to the fact that the team was sporting new away jerseys (I LOVE the Black Kit while the White Home kit has still failed to grow on me), and the energizer bunny with bleach-blonde hair (Coentrao) = the game might as well have been a continuation of last season's La Liga Campaign.

ESCANDALOSO!! It's interesting to consider how the media has analysed the aftermath of last night's Supercopa Extravaganza between Madrid and Barca. Fractions of the British press believe that the attention heaped onto the Portuguese coach this morning is a much welcomed one while the Madrid-based media chose to laud Barca's performance over the bust-up.

It was an El Clasico: Real Madrid vs. Barcelona.
.One team, pressed, controlled possession and created chances, while the other one tried to keep up and with their first 2 opportunities to strike, scored 2 goals on the back of the super talents of their players. Which one was Real Madrid?

Ozil : "So Sami, as I was saying to you for the thousandth time, we really need to figure out this Bromance..." / via Bellazon forums

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If Real Madrid were a deck of cards, new signing Fabio Coentrao would be the Joker. There has been much speculation on what Mourinho's Madrid was going to look like for the 2011-2012 season. Many had speculated that Mourinho was just about to return to the use of the Trivote (the 4-3-3) at Real Madrid.

Wie gehts, amigos?!! Simply because this goal made Mesut Ozil a worldwide trending topic on Twitter last night, here's his goal in Germany's Euro 2012 qualifying match against Azerbajian.

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(This article of mine was first posted on Real Madrid Football Blog) - Feel Free to post your thoughts and comments on either site :) )
Ronaldo's Goalscoring Numbers have just been Awesome
.Fighting to win games when the outcome of the season for your team is already decided is a very tricky one – and this is exactly the case for Real Madrid version 2010-2011:.

(This article of mine was first posted on Real Madrid Football Blog) - Feel Free to post your thoughts and comments on either site :) )
Ronaldo's Goalscoring Numbers have just been Awesome
.Fighting to win games when the outcome of the season for your team is already decided is a very tricky one – and this is exactly the case for Real Madrid version 2010-2011:.

(This article of mine was first posted on Real Madrid Football Blog) - Feel Free to post your thoughts and comments on either site :) )
Ronaldo's Goalscoring Numbers have just been Awesome
.Fighting to win games when the outcome of the season for your team is already decided is a very tricky one – and this is exactly the case for Real Madrid version 2010-2011:.

Ozil DESTROYED Sevilla Last NightLast night, Real Madrid made their annual trip to the Sanchez Pizjuan to face Sevilla. It was a match that has been, based on recent history, fraught with plenty of danger: not just danger of dropping points (we've lost quite a bit in those parts these past several years), but also the danger of embarrassment.

Ozil DESTROYED Sevilla Last NightLast night, Real Madrid made their annual trip to the Sanchez Pizjuan to face Sevilla. It was a match that has been, based on recent history, fraught with plenty of danger: not just danger of dropping points (we've lost quite a bit in those parts these past several years), but also the danger of embarrassment.

Ozil DESTROYED Sevilla Last NightLast night, Real Madrid made their annual trip to the Sanchez Pizjuan to face Sevilla. It was a match that has been, based on recent history, fraught with plenty of danger: not just danger of dropping points (we've lost quite a bit in those parts these past several years), but also the danger of embarrassment.

So here I am, half-disgusted-and-sick-and-tired of these El Clasicos, but also half-nervous and begging for a miracle tonight. The realist in me tells me that it's game over. But I am overcome with the desire to dream. Call it the spirit of Juanito, call it the heart of Pipita (Real Madrid's current Patron Saint for Refusing to Lose).

So here I am, half-disgusted-and-sick-and-tired of these El Clasicos, but also half-nervous and begging for a miracle tonight. The realist in me tells me that it's game over. But I am overcome with the desire to dream. Call it the spirit of Juanito, call it the heart of Pipita (Real Madrid's current Patron Saint for Refusing to Lose).

So here I am, half-disgusted-and-sick-and-tired of these El Clasicos, but also half-nervous and begging for a miracle tonight. The realist in me tells me that it's game over. But I am overcome with the desire to dream. Call it the spirit of Juanito, call it the heart of Pipita (Real Madrid's current Patron Saint for Refusing to Lose).

I went back to work the next day with 30 mins. of sleep but I didn't feel like it at all. Victory does wonderful things to you.
.It was the day before I was to meet one of our dreaded clients at work... something that usually meant a night spent at the office making sure that everything we were to show him had to be beyond impeccable.

I went back to work the next day with 30 mins. of sleep but I didn't feel like it at all. Victory does wonderful things to you.
.It was the day before I was to meet one of our dreaded clients at work... something that usually meant a night spent at the office making sure that everything we were to show him had to be beyond impeccable.

I went back to work the next day with 30 mins. of sleep but I didn't feel like it at all. Victory does wonderful things to you.
.It was the day before I was to meet one of our dreaded clients at work... something that usually meant a night spent at the office making sure that everything we were to show him had to be beyond impeccable.

Less than a week after their hard fought tie in league play, Madrid and Barça met in the final of the King's Cup. Mourinho sent his defensive set into the midfield again, then put in Özil from the start for an added touch of creativity in attack, and sprinkled the whole side with an extra dose of aggression dust.