The Eiffel Tower awaits Cristiano tonight
The night for Real Madrid fans started brightly and ended well but not without a dangerous dip in between. In that period of time, Borussia drew level and Varane was forced to leave the game through injury. Why did he start? It's easy to criticise with hindsight but it surely would have made sense for Achraf to have started with Nacho as centre back? Madrid are now without Carvajal, Sergio Ramos and Casemiro with doubts surrounding Vallejo's fitness. I really fail to see the need for Varane to have played last night, with the player prone to injury and indeed as fate would have it, the French international duly retired from the action leaving a threadbare rear-guard for the Sevilla game ....How we could do with Pepe!
Win the battle...
Al least Madrid won the game in a "Pírrica" style. That world comes from the Real Madrid legend Pirri and recalls a time where the team would win each game but at a cost, losing players in the process. They would go on winning battle after battle but ultimately would lose the war. Madrid won 3-2 and the overall feeling from the game was one of positivity with plenty of the younger talent getting a run out. Yesterday both Asensio and Ceballos ignited the game just as it felt the home side were starting to wobble. With Borja Mayoral opening the scoring early on, only time will tell if Zidane will start to deposit more faith in his younger players.
Cristiano
The second gol of the night was scored by Cristiano and it was sublime. He's far from goals-shy in the Champions League having bagged nine goals in six games. The player is visibly anxious to keep scoring and this was apparent on the times when he went close and his reaction following a second-half goal being disallowed. Today we'll see a more relaxed version of CR7 as the Madeira-born player is set to be awarded his fifth Ballon d'Or in Paris. This latest award sees him draw level with Messi, which is quite a comeback considering he was trailing 4-1 and Messi is ...well Messi. Next February the player will turn 33 but still manages to display all the ambition of a rookie. Real Madrid need his goals and the supporters enjoy celebrating his personal triumphs.