For Real Madrid, the trashing at the hands of Liverpool was not simply an exit from the Champions League but a serious blow to their prestige. Who could have thought that the defense of the Madrilènes headed by Fabio Canavaro and Iker Casillas (pictured) would be so shaken at the seams?
Canavaro committed an unusual, for him, mistake in the first half, which led to his exit at the 64th minute, something not seen very often, and a loss of 16.79 rating points. Sergio Ramos, another big-name Real Madrid star, lost 14.24 points and exited the list of best world players. Ramos now only has 107.47 points.
The list of best world football players now has no Real Madrid name. Iker Casillas was the most miserable on this night: 4 goals for a keeper of his class was way too much. And despite his brilliant multiple saves, his rating fell by 18.69 points, to 107.79 points.
But the most disappointing performance came from striker Raul Gonzales. He was virtually unnoticeable in the entire first half and allowed himself to miss two excellent chances in the second, failing before an empty goal. He has lost a whole 29.13 points in the rating, and the man who not long ago led the list of best forwards in the world now barely makes it into the list of best Spanish forwards.
“We lost to Liverpool in all components,” Raul said. “We are ashamed but we’ll try to rehabilitate ourselves in the Spanish championship. We still have a shot at the championship, and we will fight for it till the end,” he added.
© FTBL