Real Madrid is in one of its lowest points in its history after the 0-3 drubbing at the hands of Barca. The worst part was certainly not the result, but the attitude showed by the majority of players as they lacked any sort of commitment, or effort. They simply watched impotently as Barca ran over top of them. Simply disgraceful.

In come the mighty Olympique Lyon, a side that matches up very well against Madrid. A solid defense, with a rock hard midfield, the speed in attack and the magic of Juninho. The last time these two teams faced it wasn't even close, Lyon showed that they are miles ahead of the galacticos and they will come in as the favorites on Wednesday (something nearly unheard of in Real Madrid history. A side being favored at the Bernabeu).

This could be a statement game for the Galacticos.
If they can put on a dominating performance and beat Lyon soundly by, say, 3 or 4 goals, it would really send a message.
They should definitely have some motivation and inspiration for this game, and if they don't at least stay even with Lyon, it could be the end of the line for Lux and for Real's hopes of winning anything this year.

beat Lyon by 3 or 4 goals? Madrid are in trouble. If they play half as bad as they did against us, they will lose. If Lyon field a full team, they can be just as deadly as Barca. They are one of the best teams in Europe. I say Lyon win this 2-1.

I think this will be a close game. Much closer than the last time we met. Maybe a 2-1 win for madrid or even a draw. I do expect it to be pretty tough though without Raul and Ronaldo as our two up front.

I wonder how the fans will accept us after that humiliation this past sunday....

Lyon haven't lost a game since last April, and have the kind of team that Real Madrid simply cannot handle ATM. Real Madrid can deal with the slower teams as they can take the game due to their superior talent. However, with a team that plays fast paced football with a solid midfield, Real Madrid has virtually no chance.

However, Real Madrid may have some hope for this game as Lyon only need to avoid a 3-0 loss to maintain top spot in the group. If Lyon was at full gas, I dont see Real Madrid really challenging them.

This game is a sort of ultimatum for Wanderley Luxembourgo. If Real Madrid lose this game it is very likely that Florentino Perez will sack him (IMO a necessary move). What is ironic is that one of the top candidates to succeed him is none other than Paul Le Guen, the very man who built this formidable Lyon side.

For this game Gravesen, Raul, Ronaldo and Zidane are all out. Ronaldo had his ankle injected with cortisone before the Barca game so that he could play. It turns out that it was a brilliant move as that left his ankle weak and exposed, but without feeling so, naturally, he re-injured it. Now his presence in the weekend game against Sociedad is in doubt.

Zidane too suffered a small relapse of his groin injury. In another one of his brilliant decisions, Luxembourgo left a 34 year old player, who hadnt stepped onto a field in a month because of an injury that has plagued him for nearly two, on the pitch for 90 minutes against the best team in La Liga, and maybe the world. It must of come as a shock to us all that Zidane reinjured his groin. Who saw that coming?

Anyway, this is what I think should be the starting lineup and may God have mercy on us:

-----------------Soldado---Robinho-----------

-----------------------Baptista---------------

------------Guti----------------------Beckham (on the right for fuck's sake)

--------------------Pablo Garcia-----

Carlos-------Ramos--------Helguera--------Salgado

----------------------Casillas

I think this could be another sad day for Real and their fans. Lyon are really a stronger team than Real Madrid right now.

I'm not saying Lyon kill them again 3-0, but I do think it will be a 3-2 or 2-3 match. No draw here, and many goals.....

If Lyon win this, injuries or no injuries, Lux could be out. My expectation though is that Perez and co will only drop Lux once they have a HUGE replacement lined up.

I fear that you are right ROGA. At the moment, I would take ANY Lyon midfielder over ANY Real Madrid midfielder, and that is the key. Our midfield stands very little chance for Diarra, Tiago and Juninho.

Hi folks.
Of course, Lyon is coming to Barnabeu to win
I am quite sad to see that a lot of Madrid's players won't play tomorow. Zidane, Ronaldo, Raul? That's too bad, I would have prefered facing a full Madrid team.

Our team is nearly full, the only player that is injuried is Eric Abidal.

---------------Coupet-----------------
Revellière - Cris - Caçapa - Berthod
-----------Diarra - Tiago-------------
--------------Juninho-----------------
Govou --------------------- Malouda
--------------Carew-----------------

with Monsoreau, Pedretti, Fred, Wiltord and Ben Arfa on the bench.

3500 lyon's fans will be at Barnabeu. It's an honor to face the Real in its legendary stadium.
Good luck! And fear Juninho!

1-0, Beckham FK.

0-1 OL, juninho freekick....

I like that line-up, except I feel that Baptista nad Robinho should swap places. Robniho is much better as a creatoer then as a finisher, and we all know Baptista can score.

The midfield looks to weak like that. I think we should play 4-5-1, two wingers, 3 central midfielders and Baptista up front. There is no need for 2 strikers.

i agree, put baptista where he scored 20 goals last season with sevilla... cmon, you dont have ronaldo, no raul just robinho and soldado... young guns, we need a stone presence up there...

i can see becks and guti stepping up in this match... maybe we'll see RC score a goal too... a possibility that is itching to happen...

my prediction for this is carew will score the first and on half time the doors will close as baptista scores with a header on a corner. and at the end of the day, guti will score a poach that will seal a 2-1 real madrid win.

if that prediction hits the mark call me crazy and maybe change my name to something like papa shanggo

win or lose... HALA MADRID!

Rmd, i think you're right. In Lyon, our strongpoint is our midfield. I think our defence is not as good as last year's. The young Berthod is not bad, but can makes errors if que left wingers is fast and technic. Caçapa is also not as good as usual, a fast striker could take advantage of this.
But your wingers and your striker should participate to the defence. Lyon plays a fast football, and in the madrid's play i've seen, toyr attack was too high and did not defend enough. And remember to avoid faults at less than 35 meters in the axis, it's like a penatly for us with Juninho

a defeat tonight could mean the end of lux's reign. lux is underpressure and am not too optimistic about tonights game.

PPLive: Dragon TV

Thanks.

UEFA.com shows the following lineup for real Madrid... and this is crazy, Pavon as a forward?@!?! It must be a mistake from uefa.com:


Casillas
Diogo / Helguera / Ramos / RC

Guti / Beckham / Garcia / ZZ

Robinho / Pavon

I have to assume they have got the players in the wrong place on their diagram of the lineup, right?!?!!

Lux is playing with 5 defenders today (virtually)

He is placing Ramos in the Midfield with Garcia, and then a line of 4 midfielders, and Robinho alone in the tip of the sword.

UEFA.com has now changed it. They now show it as Carlos says:

Casillas

Diogo / Helguera / Pavon / RC

Ramos / Garcia

Beckham / ZZ / Guti

Robinho

This is how we need to play. Ramos is real good at CM and Garcia needs a partner. It was obvious in the game against Barca. PROBLEM: replace Robinho with Baptista. Robinho is no striker and Lyon will be all over him.

I'm not sure if robinho is going to be able to handle the attack by himself...

We're attacking pretty well so far!

i hope Robinho scores today. madrid will find this a hard game. Lyon are a class side.

can some one give me a PPLive link of Dragon TV PLease?

Seems like RM is controlling the game from what I'm reading at as.com, and at Marca.com

you can get live english commentary on uefa.com

for some reason i can't get pplive to work me this game...

juninho misses his 2nd freekick of the day
amazing

correction 3rd

yeah, I dont have speakers at work , and I'm Spanish so it doesnt matter what language it is.

oh, well that sucks. Yeah i'm spanish too (spanish not so great though). I was kinda mentioning that to anyone else who wants to follow the game other than pplive or reading.

How much do you pay for PPlive?

PPLive free Carlos, get with it

real 1-0
gutti

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL GUTI!

Uefa.com commentary is like 5 minutes late

small fight

Good job Guti!!! Damn it i was on the phone so i missed it.

guti misses next match

??

yup
he got a yellow card

Guti is out for next match! two yellows

Yeah I just read it, apparently Tiago was a dirty bastard, so all the players jumped on him.

Next match not important anyhow.

its true next match isnt important

Good to se Guti scoring, he was playing really well a few weeks ago. In other news, Luis Figo scored, what at the moment, is the only goal in the Inter - Artmedia Bratislava game.

Adriano scored too, it's 2-0 Inter.

actually 3-0 adriano scored again 1 min ago

Robinho almost scored of a volley!

okay i just heard that on uefa. i guess the feedback is behind a minute or so...