Well, we drew out to a 1-1 draw (I was extremely disappointed), but I don't really mind because it's the beginning of a new season, and it'll take some time to hit our stride. My takeaways are as follows...

1. Ronaldo

He was invisible for the first 40 minutes out on the left wing. It seemed like Ancelotti's plan was to allow the Atletico defenders to dedicate bodies to marking Ronaldo, and give the ball more to Bale whenever Kroos or Modric got a hold of it. It didn't work out as well because Atletico covered up the space where Bale likes to sprint to, and he was unable to create and chances to cross or score. Ronaldo then switched wings with Bale at around 40 minutes, and immediately flashed a header wide from Bale's cross. I think that putting Ronaldo on the right against Siqueira and leaving Bale to deal with Juanfran is much better. However, Ronaldo got injured, and was removed for James.

2. Ramos vs. Mandzukic

Two idiots paired up against each other. Once more, I repeat that putting Ramos and Pepe together is disastrous. It has to be either Ramos and Varane, or Pepe and Varane. Ramos loses his head when he plays with Pepe. He could've easily been sent off yesterday for punching Mandzukic on the chin. He made a defensive error too from a mis-control from Pepe's erratic pass that led to Mandzukic having a shot on Iker. Horrible night from Ramos in general.

Mandzukic seemed to be instructed to piss off Ramos as much as he could, and could've gotten sent off himself for a handball. He was making the most of every contact, and him and Ramos basically tried to get each other sent off for the whole 90 minutes. Mandzukic didn't play like a striker, and Ramos didn't play like a defender.

3. Navas for Iker

Iker has been decent last night. He performed when called upon, but the one moment that bothered me most was when he comes out for crosses. Goddammit Iker, you're a f*cking tiny goalkeeper. You're not Courtois or Neuer to be able to jump over defenders and fist the ball out. He almost cost us a goal, but Mandzukic hit the shot right into Iker's gloves, and Marcelo and Pepe immediately went on the goal line to cover for Casillas. I want Navas to play next time. It's not that Casillas has done bad, but his irrational thinking when coming out for crosses annoys me to the limit. He is excellent at reflexes and diving, but horrid at coming out to punch crosses.

4. James and Kroos

James was off-touch at first, but his goal gave him massive amounts of confidence. He started laying off incredibly accurate crosses, and had a couple flashes at goal too. Kroos was excellent on the night, but could've had a goal from that Bale free-kick. I don't blame him because Bale's shot deflected off Moya so fast that Kroos was off-balance when reacting to the rebound. However, he was involved in the build-up to James' goal, so I'm happy with his performance.

5. di Maria required

With Kroos and Modric both in the team, we had two midfielders who liked to dominate the middle of the park, but neither of which could make direct runs at the opposition's defense and carve out a chance. di Maria made an immediate impact, and should play alongside either Kroos or Modric, but not both. di Maria is a must, Kroos/Modric should be alongside him, with Alonso/Illarra/Khedira as the DM. Otherwise, we might as well keep 70% possession and draw at home.

6. Atletico goal

That was bullsh*t defending. How did that ball get past Marcelo, Pepe, and Ramos? Absolutely ridiculous. You can't switch off like that in the final minutes. That should've been a 1-0 win, but stupid defending cost us the match.

7. Atletico dirtier than ever

The amount of calls that they got against them is ridiculous. They had 5 yellow cards to our 2, and almost double the amount of fouls we had. They committed a foul once every 4 minutes (basically). Hacking down Kroos, Ronaldo, and Bale every time we were about to get ready for a cross or shot, or even lay off a key pass. Disgusts me because even Pepe was completely foul-free that match. Ramos was the only player on our team playing dirty (and only against Mandzukic too). Their entire team was full of foul play, and it reflects Simeone's principles perfectly (vs. Beckham anyone?).

8. Sh*tty ref

Did decent for a while, but he had poor decisions.

1. Missed Ramos punch
2. Didn't give Mandzukic second yellow for handball
3. Completely missed Suarez handball to stop goal. 100% red and penalty
4. Called back a free-kick to book Garcia after Ramos had already shot the ball and it went out of play
5. Ignored plenty of fouls in the final 10 minutes from Atletico
6. Blew the final whistle while Kroos had the ball just outside the 18 yard box

Garbage referee

I was a little shocked that Real lost. I mean with all that fire power, surely they could have at least tied it?

@tiki

Ok yeah it is very debatable . I agree , and take it back . Can't blame the Casillas.

Ancelotti did not come up with anything creative at half time . And he did not have his best player on the pitch , Di Maria .

I would blame Ancelotti for not standing up against board and keeping players that make Madrid a team . Ozil left last season and now Di Maria . IMO Those transfers are killing team chemistry and creativity .

@Ashwin

It is more difficult than you think. Atletico are immensely organized, energetic, and physical. Our players are powerful, but they are not as physical as Atleti's. We have a lot of firepower, that's true, but our players aren't fit to be in one team like Atletico's are. It's almost impossible to tactically fit together Ronaldo, Bale, Benzema, Modric, Alonso, Kroos, and James into the same lineup. It just screws up our team.

We keep possession with Kroos and Modric, but Kroos was taken off at halftime in favor of an injured Ronaldo. It was a political decision that didn't pay off. We lost control of the midfield, and I'm sure that even though I didn't watch the match, this decision played a big part in our failure to score.

We also had James up as a winger, which is not his position. He needs to be in a 4-2-3-1, not a 4-3-3. Bale cannot play against Atletico because they intelligently cover up all the space he can possibly run into, and a Gareth Bale that cannot run is a useless Gareth Bale.

@Dynast: I agree with what you said. I watched only the highlights, and from what I saw, Real had quite a few chances to score, and they should have scored at least one goal. I mean this team has no reason not to score at least 1 goal. Was Athletico dirty? They probably were. But teams like Real, PSG, and Mancity should have no excuses to not get on the score board especially with all the money they spend. Ancelotti not playing DiMaria was a mistake too. He was the one who opened Athletico's defence last year....

@Ashwin

He probably didn't play di Maria because he already handed in a formal transfer request. Ancelotti plays the players about to move without transfer requests (as proven by Ozil and, previously, di Maria), but I don't think he's willing to play a player who's not willing to play.

Di Maria wouldn't have given his all for the team so Carlo was probably right in not choosing him. Spanish club football is at a top class level but boy do the big 3 play rough against each other.

The problem was there was no fast building attacks swtiching kross was correct imo He was abit off. I would say

isco alonso modric
Bale benzema James

And in the last 30min pepe for Benzema and making Ramos play st would have made all useless crosses into something.