Real-ity strikes

The dream is over.

Real Madrid have been dumped out of the Champions League and have failed to reach the quarterfinal stage for the fourth season running.

Am I sad?

Most definitely.

Am I surprised?

No.

Schuster is coaching a team in the Champions League for the first time, and he clearly isn't ready for a club of this magnitude. With the squad we had, winning the cup would be nothing short of a miracle.

Thanks to the reputation the club's board has, Schuster has his work cut out.

Win silverware and please the crowd, else start looking for another club.  Its quite evident in his tactics that he's insecure and his main objective is to just last the season.

Playing the likes of Ruud, Raul, Ramos, and Casillas week in week out, not giving enough chances to the youngsters (even against lesser opposition), totally ignoring the Castilla players, and rushing players back from injury into the starting 11 all reinforce the fact that he was afraid to lose, and afraid to take risks of any kind.

And when some of our key players got injured or were unavailable, it exposed our inexperienced bench.

Soldado clearly cannot be expected to perform miracles in the last five minutes of a Champions League match, not because he isn't good enough, but because he simply hasn't played enough minutes this season.

What next for Madrid?

A tough league match against Espanyol, which they cannot afford to lose. In fact, winning La Liga is the only way Schuster can redeem this season.

It's not going to be easy considering the form Barcelona is in and the fact that round two of 'El Clasico' happens on week 36 of the league. The injury to Messi should hit them hard though.

Its a good thing Milan crashed out as well. The tag as the most successful team in Champions League history looks safe for now and the near future, but I hope its not another 32-year wait before we win our next one.