Rey Ronaldo

Real Madrid defeated Barcelona 1-0 after extra time at the Mestalla in Valencia to win the Copa Del Rey for the 18th time.

After the draw that was played out at the Bernabéu at the weekend, it was expected that this game would be a lot more exciting as there was a lot more at stake. It seemed that Madrid had accepted that the title was Barcelona's before a ball was kicked at the weekend but this was the first chance of the season to win some silverware and silence the critics, who had recently turned on a defensive-minded José Mourinho.

What was served up, however, was another poor match. Not that the thousands of Madridistas will care.

Ronaldo's header proved to be the winning goal

Containing Barcelona appears to be José Mourinho's gameplan. And it works just as well with Real Madrid as it did with Internazionale.

In the first half Barcelona didn't have a sniff as Madrid were very compact in their own half, harassing the Barcelona players and not giving them time and space on the ball though the movement from the Catalans was virtually non-existant. A few players seem to be running on empty after a long, hard season competing on all fronts.

Madrid, inversely, were a lot sharper and first to the loose balls which gave them the chance to send Ronaldo away over the top - their only hope from their tactical set-up was to hit Barcelona on the break with the pace of Ronaldo and Di Maria.

For all of the tiki-taka from Barcelona there were no signs of any potential penetration of the Madrid backline and it was Los Blancos who came closest to scoring in the first half; Pepe's header crashing off the post with stand-in goalkeeper Pinto stranded and Mascherano clearing from inside his own six-yard box when Ronaldo had the first real opportunity of the game.

Barcelona didn't test Iker Casillas at all in the first 45 minutes - the seriously off-form David Villa, who hasn't scored in 11 games now, was anonymous and looked like a shadow of the player purchased from Valencia before the World Cup last Summer.

David Villa has now gone 10 games without scoring

Guardiola must have had serious words at half-time because Barcelona came out playing like a completely different team. They stepped it up a notch and Messi began to find space where he could start to cause trouble to the Madrid defence. Casillas was finally tested as Barcelona began to pepper his goal with shots; Iniesta and Pedro went closest with the latter scoring but his effort was ruled out for offside.

Real pushed forward in search of a winner, Ronaldo looked set to score but was denied by a brilliant tackle from Dani Alves and Angel Di Maria's deflected effort was palmed over the bar by Pinto with minutes of normal time remaining. Neither side could find a breakthrough which meant 30 minutes of extra time would follow and eventually Madrid struck in the 102nd minute.

Good build-up play down the left-hand side between Marcelo and Di Maria set the Argentine winger away and his pin-point cross found Ronaldo, who crashed his header beyond the despairing dive of Pinto to put Madrid within 20 minutes of a first trophy since 2008 and a first Copa Del Rey triumph since 1993.

Di Maria saw red for a second yellow card, making sure that a team managed by Mourinho didn't make it through to the end of the game with the full compliment of players again, as time ticked away.

This was Madrid's first trophy since 2008 and their first Copa Del Rey win in 18 years.

Barca pressed for an equaliser but they could not break down a stubborn Madrid rearguard, meaning Los Blancos defeated their arch-enemies in a foul-ridden game to give José Mourinho tangible reward for his efforts in his first season in charge at the Bernabéu. The 'Special One' has now won a trophy every season since 2003 with four different clubs: Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Madrid.

The victory was Real Madrid's first over Barcelona since 2008 and sets things up very nicely for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final which is to be played on 27th April at the Bernabéu.

José Mourinho has his way of playing against Barcelona and it is clearly effective. The Catalans looked frustrated at times last night and don't seem to have an answer to the questions Madrid currently pose. A sign, perhaps, that the balance of power may start to swing back towards the most decorated club in the history of Spanish football.

Wembley awaits the winners of the Champions League semi-final.

The league may be Barca's and the Cup Madrid's but the real fight starts now. Madrid's obsession with the Champions League is not as discreet as they'd like it to be and Mourinho's stranglehold on the tournament leaves them in good stead to go through to the final at Wembley.

As we sit half-way through the war, looking at the way the two games have gone so far I don't think it would be beyond exaggeration to call the 5-0 Barcelona win in November a fluke result. Mourinho has proved himself, again, to be a master tactician and I'd suggest he got his tactics horribly wrong at the Camp Nou. Now he knows Madrid have what it takes to beat Barcelona and the players know they have what it takes, I think the next two games will go in Madrid's favour as they now have the psychological edge.

And, should they make it to the Wembley final with Manchester United, what price a Ronaldo winner?

Curse-Breaking Kitten of War Karim Finally Starts To Purr

It's taken a while but Karim Benzema has finally found his feet at Real Madrid.The 23 year-old French striker struggled to make a significant impact in his first season at the Santiago Bernabéu but he is now putting in the performances to justify the €35 million that Madrid stumped up to Lyon for his services in the Summer of 2009.

In fact, his season was so poor that he was not even included in the 30-man preliminary France squad for the World Cup in South Africa last Summer. Despite the protests of national team manager Raymond Domenech, who said that Benzema's omission was due to incidents in his private life involving a prostitute, it was obvious that the youngster had missed out due to his erratic club form and not his off-field antics.

Benzema celebrates scoring yet another goal for Real Madrid

Benzema has not always been flavour of the month with his club manager either.Jose Mourinho requested in pre-season that Real Madrid sign another striker as he did not feel there was enough strength in depth up top. "if Higuaín or Benzema gets injured we'll have to pray," Mourinho said and, following the inevitable injury to one of the players (Higuain the unfortunate recipient), he was left with Benzema as his only striker.

The Portugese manager simply did not pick Benzema for the side, preferring instead to use Cristiano Ronaldo as a striker and was openly critical of the French star: "Karim is playing because I have got nothing else," he said in one press conference.

Criticism came from other quarters, too, with team-mate Kaka saying, "We have the feeling that Karim could do rather more."

Eventually Madrid caved and signed Emmanuel Adebayor on loan from Manchester City. Mourinho's distrust of Benzema forced Madrid's hand. The arrival of Adebayor seemed to breathe new life into Benzema, who suddenly improved tenfold to become one of the first names on the team-sheet.Following the turn of the year, it appeared that something had changed in Benzema. He was working harder, acting as if he were a team player and was suddenly reaping the rewards. He was no longer lazy and stroppy but has instead been showing his qualities and traits that are befitting of owning the number 9 shirt at the Bernabeu.

The arrival of Adebayor sparked an improvement in Benzema

His run of goals currently sees him with 10 from his last 8 games. Overall, he has 21 goals in 40 games with plenty more still to come, you feel.This goal return is much better than that of last season when his 8 league goals were virtually irrelevant - he got two against relegated Tenerife, the fourth in a 5-0 win over relegated Xérez, the sixth in a 6-0 win over Zaragoza, the fourth in a 5-1 win over Athletic.

But, such is his improvement that his goals are not only abundant but also of vital importance. He scored against his former club, Lyon, both home and away in the Champions League to break Real Madrid's last sixteen curse as well as scoring a crucial goal against Sevilla in the Copa Del Rey to seal a place in the final against arch-rivals Barcelona.

Only the untouchable Lionel Messi has scored more goals than Benzema in La Liga this calendar year and Cristiano Ronaldo lies equal with him on 12 - a testament to the marked improvement in his game.

Benzema celebrates the winning goal for France against Brazil

One man who would love to see Benzema succeed is Real Madrid President, Florentino Perez. Benzema is one of his big signings since taking the mantle and he has a lot to live up to as the previous President secured the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for a world record £80m fee. In a rare public display of emotion at a Madrid match, Perez punched the air after Benzema scored away at Lyon just 40 seconds after coming on as a substitute.

A re-call to the France squad has seen him start up front as the attack now appears to be built around him. It is a move from new manager Laurent Blanc which has been rewarded as Benzema popped up with crucial goals in friendlies against England and Brazil - games which France both won. He will look to shoot down Luxembourg this evening as Les Bleus look to take another step towards qualification for Euro 2012.

Mourinho once referred to using Benzema up front for Real Madrid as "hunting with a kitten" but now must see him as one of the most feared predators in Europe. This kitty has already helped to break a European curse and it would be a fairytale ending for him were he to get his paws on his first - and Real Madrid's tenth - European Cup at Wembley on May 28th.

Lack Of Away Goals Could Cost Liverpool

Another European away game and another lackluster attacking display from Liverpool.

The Merseyside outfit, fresh off the back of a 1-0 defeat away at Braga, face a tricky test in the return leg at Anfield next Thursday and should the Portuguese side score the cat would be well and truly placed amongst the pigeons.

The away goals rule is something that is meant to encourage sides to attack away from home rather than play for a 0-0 draw to take back to the home leg. However, this message does not appear to have been received by Kenny Dalglish and his predecessor Roy Hodgson despite away goals being the sucker punch which Diego Forlan delivered at Anfield to send Atletico Madrid to last season's final at the expense of the Reds.

A quick glance at the statistics shows that Liverpool have scored just five goals in seven European away games so far this season; four of which came before the group stages. A miserly record given the array of attacking talent at the disposal of Kenny Dalglish.

Luis Suarez's ineligibility leaves Liverpool with little attacking flair

Granted, the ineligibility of January acquisition Luis Suarez, who has slotted into Dalglish's system perfectly with a man of the match performance against Manchester United, is a big blow for Liverpool; as is the loss of captain and talisman Steven Gerrard but players such as Raul Meireles, Joe Cole and David N'Gog have failed to sufficiently step up to the goalscoring plate in European competition.

Liverpool's other major January signing, Andy Carroll, offers something different up top but the manner in which he uses his aerial ability and physical presence is sure to come under close attention from European referees, who tend to be a lot stricter than their English counterparts when it comes to physical contact. Perhaps the old-fashioned number 9 role is a thing of the past on the European stage?

A defensive imbalance within the side also restricts the attack-minded play of the five time European Champions. Deploying Lucas Leiva, Jay Spearing and Christian Poulsen in the same midfield is a tactical maneuver which looks to restrict goals rather than look for them.

Dalglish must alter his tactics if Liverpool are to progress in the Europa League

Liverpool's performances away from home in Europe this season, with the exception of Trabzonspor, have been nothing to shout about. The shackles have been well and truly put on, particularly under Hodgson, with attacks at a premium as defensive steel appears to have taken priority over bagging a priceless away goal.

If Liverpool are to progress to the latter stages of this tournament, they must come out of their defensive shell and show more attacking endeavour or they run the risk of losing on away goals as they did last season.

In the group stages, perhaps, clubs can get away with a defensive set-up when playing on the road but in knockout football, scoring nil away from home leaves the side in a precarious position heading into the second leg. One goal for Braga at Anfield next Thursday could be the final nail in the coffin of Liverpool's Europa League dream.