A new day at Real

Now that Madrid has won out in the Xabi Alonso saga and failed on Ribery, it looks like their best starting lineup would be:

----------Casillas-----------
Ramos-Pepe-Albiol-Arbeloa
------Lass----Alonso----
--CR-----Kaka'---Robben-
-------Benzema------

I'd a hard time leaving the extremely talented Robben on the bench but I still have questions about his defense. Sneijder and Higuain should see plenty of playing time as well. This lineup has 6 new starters and should be a vast improvement from last year's mediocrity.


How does it match up with Barca's Ibra injected lineup?

------------Valdes----------
Alves-Marquez-Puyol-Abidal
------------Toure----------
------Xavi-------Iniesta----
Messi--Ibrahimovic--Henry

One heckuva matchup - can't wait to see this. Madrid's defense better develop some chemistry in a hurry. But more importantly, getting Xabi Alonso was paramount in matching up with Xavi and Iniesta. At least this is a fair fight now...