At the start of the season, journalists lucky enough to be working for Marca and AS had three stock questions they would ask Real MadridâÂÂs footballers whenever they saw them: Would you like to win the Champions League? Would you like to win La Liga? Would you like to win the Copa del Rey?
The players in turn would give three stock answers: Yes. Yes. The Copa del what?
Thanks to the mighty Alcorcón and a French side described by Guti as âÂÂnot one of the great teams of EuropeâÂÂ, hacks may simply be probing their subjects on the state of the weather come the middle of May, if the defeat of Lyon eventually sends morale-sapped Madrid into a nose-dive.
The pressure of five years of knockout failure, the quest for La Décima, insane summer spending and the failure to score an away goal at Stade Gerland had already given the Real Madrid players the biggest of willies ahead of WednesdayâÂÂs tie.
But the knowledge that the final was being held in the Santiago Bernabeu could well have pushed the footballers to the limit. This extra fear factor was like an arachnophobe finding a tarantula their tights.
After the early goal from Cristiano Ronaldo, Madrid looked calm and confident and on the way to racking up an Arsenal-sized score against their Gallic opponents.
But when the second never came, passes went astray (or were never made) and chances were missed, tempting Lyon into their second half revival that sent the home side crashing out of the Champions League in the last 16 for the sixth time in a row.
Pjanic! Lyon level and Madrid are on their way out
Within minutes of a tearful Gonzalo HiguaÃÂn trudging off the pitch and Guti attacking his teammates for being too individualistic on live television, Marca had set out its journalistic stall with the paperâÂÂs website leading with âÂÂGoodbye Champions, Goodbye Pellegrini.âÂÂ
It was a theme that was developed in the following morningâÂÂs edition with the somewhat rude instruction for the Third-Choice Chilean to âÂÂLeave!â on the front cover.
The paper â and unofficial mouthpiece for Florentino Pérez â has been calling for the Madrid managerâÂÂs head now for months and WednesdayâÂÂs knockout disaster sees them ramping up the campaign to dizzying levels, with Roberto Gómez noting that âÂÂMadrid will not be in the final at the Bernabeu, but it is the final for Pellegrini.âÂÂ
MarcaâÂÂs Thursday editorial echoes these thoughts by announcing that Madrid "need to start looking for a coach for next season. Last night must never happen again."
The paperâÂÂs other traditional target is Gonzalo HiguaÃÂn, on the simple grounds that he was a Ramón Calderón signing and is popular with the fans. There have been renewed attacks on the Argentinian striker, who comes third from bottom of their midweek list of doom.
âÂÂIt would be unfair to make him fully responsible for the defeat but had he been more on target then things could have turned out differently,â tutted Marca.
AS are a little less political in their post-match protesting and simply call the knockout to Lyon a âÂÂcatastropheâ on their front cover. âÂÂThis is the disaster that never ends,â sobs the next page.
The maddest of Madridistas, Tomás Roncero, mopes over the club having thrown their enormous summer spending into the bin and vents his righteous spleen in KakáâÂÂs direction. âÂÂA footballer who cost â¬68m cannot behave like a trainee whoâÂÂs on probation,â rants Roncero about the Brazilian God-botherer.
Kaka: Down the dumper
Over in the offices of Barcelona-based Sport and Mundo Deportivo, the aroma may be getting a little unpleasant as their journalists appear to have wet themselves over Real MadridâÂÂs latest mishap.
âÂÂThe Great Failure KO,â yells Sport, using bold white letters on a sombre black background.
âÂÂIsnâÂÂt football great!â beams Josep Maria Casanovas, having the time of his life in his Catalan column. âÂÂFlorentino Pérez spent the worst night of his life watching his big dream turn to s**t.âÂÂ
âÂÂThe faces of Ronaldo and co heading back to the dressing rooms were those of losers, of failures,â continues Casanovas, evidently warming to his theme.
Mundo Deportivo spent some quality time turning global sports headlines about Real MadridâÂÂs defeat into a cackling collage and finger-point that âÂÂfootball doesnâÂÂt have a price.âÂÂ
âÂÂOnce again they crash out in the last 16 because no one in Europe allows themselves to be intimidated by âÂÂVillaratosâ or other ridiculous inventions,â writes Santi Nolla, the paperâÂÂs director.
In the yin and yang nature of football in Spain, what has been a genuine, all-out, abandon-ship disaster for one club has turned out very nicely indeed for another.
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