The game was missing Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso, but I absolutely loved it.  I think Madrid played really well because they knew there was no pressure on them, and so they could just enjoy themselves.  And one of those who did was Karim Benzema – chapeau in more ways than one for him, as he finished the night with a hat trick.  The other news of the night that I really liked was that two canteranos got their debuts (the third and fourth of this season, after David Mateos and Juan Carlos), although one of them not in the circumstances that I would have preferred.  And a team made up mostly of habitual substitutes showed that they too can make us go home happy from the Bernabéu.

One. The debuts.  I am so, so happy for our canteranos; they totally deserve this.  Antonio Adán came on for Jerzy Dudek in the 45th, and Pablo Sarabia for Cristiano in the 78th.

Two. You could actually see Karim Benzema getting more confident as the night went on.  He was quite restrained in celebrating the first goal, got a bit more animated with the second and with the third you could really see the emotions on his face.  It was a great hat trick – one goal with his head, one goal with his right foot and the third with his left foot.  Maybe the presence of Zidane – watching the game from a palco with his wife Veronique – is really helping.  And Álvaro Arbeloa had a nice gesture after the game (see item eleven).

This is the reaction to the first goal.  I love how everyone on the bench is so happy for him.

His second goal came off a Lass pass, and so of course the two of them had to celebrate, and they were so cute.

And Karim’s third goal made everyone – the Bernabéu, the TV viewers, the bench (look at them cheering him there!), his teammates and the player himself ecstatic.  And who can blame them (us): it was a real beauty, and his third goal of the night.

He’s the third Madrid player to score a hat trick in the Champions, after (original) Ronaldo against Manchester United in 2003 and Raúl against Ferencvárosi in 1995.

After the game, Benz said he was very “happy, happy” with his goals, and that he feels much better as a result of his performance and the team winning.  And Marca produced a fun cover.

Three. And of course, we have to mention Cristiano’s goal, which came off a beautiful pass from Marcelo.  Cris hugged his teammates, then sucked his thumb and pointed to the box where his family was sitting, including grandma Dolores, holding Cris Jr.  And then Cris celebrated with his two other loves, Marcelo and Pepe.  How cute was their celebration?

And look – Cristiano celebrating a goal with a Spaniard!!!  I suppose Sport’s new angle, since their previous one didn’t work out, will be that Pedro León doesn’t really count as a Spaniard, since he’s half Ecuadorian.

Cris behaved last night, meaning that he didn’t get another yellow, ensuring his presence in the first game of round of 16.

Four. The bad news of the night was of course the injury to Jerzy Dudek, who had a stellar game up to the moment when he collided with Contout and had to leave the game with a fractured jaw.  He went directly to Sanitas La Moraleja for a CAT scan and x-rays, which showed the extent of the injury.  Today, he saw a surgeon, and surgery was ruled out.  However, the recovery time is estimated at six weeks.  This was his first official game in more than a year (13 months).

Here are the two fantastic saves he had before he got injured.

The injury looked painful, no?

As he left the field, his teammates all tried to comfort him, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation.  ¡Ánimo Jerzy!

Five. They look like mirror images, no?

Six. More from Cristiano.  He’s so fun to watch.

Seven. Other game notes:  Third captain Mahamadou Diarrá wore the captain’s armband, and it was also great to see Ezequiel Garay back in action.  This was his first official game of the season.

I don’t know why, but Benz’ feet looks so big in this photo.  He looks like he’s wearing clown shoes.

Eight. More on the debutantes.

Eighteen-year-old Pablo Sarabia will always remember this day:  “it’s something great and a feeling that I will never forget.  It’s only a matter of time before more canteranos like me get their chance.”  He also praised his “big brothers”:  “all of them were very nice and helped me out a lot with things… Cristiano and the coaching staff wished me luck before I went on.”  He told El Larguero after the game that he thinks Madrid’s cantera has no reason to envy Barcelona’s, and that now he was heading to have dinner with his family and celebrate.

Antonio Adán, meanwhile, said some similar things: “it was special because this has been my home since I was 14… it was unforgettable and I felt the affection of the Bernabéu.  The support of my teammates also made everything easier.”  He revealed that Karanka’s words made him confident and calm, and that Iker had also come up to him in the locker room at halftime and given him some words of encouragement (stay calm, you’re prepared for this), and said it was a shame that his debut came as a result of an injury to a teammate, and added that Dudek had been having a great game.  Antonio told El Larguero that he kept his shirt from the debut, and it’s for his family, for supporting him all these years, and he was heading to his hometown of Mejorada del Campo to celebrate and have dinner with them.  We also find out that he got a ton of messages on his mobile.

I did not know that the goalkeepers wore a green shirt under the green jersey.  Shame on you Iker for never taking your shirt off!

Other postgame comments:  Granero said that everyone was very happy for Benzema and that he was very happy for the debuts of Adán and Sarabia, because it meant that the coach is watching the cantera.  Meanwhile, Garay returned after a nearly four-month absence, and said he’s recovered and very happy to be playing again.  And Cristiano congratulated all his teammates, especially Benzema, and added that “I always celebrate the goals with my teammates.”  ¡Toma!

Nine. MFC Álvaro Morata didn’t get to debut (doesn’t he look wistful above as he watches Antonio get dressed?) and Aitor Karanka explained why (see item ten) although he did warm-up.

Once the third substitution was used, he had to go back to the bench since there was no point in him warming up anymore.  The others on the bench were having a much better time.

Ten. After the game, Aitor Karanka praised Benzema (we know what he is and how important a day like this would be for him), Lass (Lass is important) and Dudek (he had two great saves, it appeared that he was enjoying himself and then the poor guy got injured).  He also said that due to the injury to Dudek, which used up a substitution, he couldn’t put MFC in, so Álvaro Morata still has yet to debut.

Aitor was acting very Mou-like during the game.

Speaking of Mou, he was absent from his first game this season (since UEFA wouldn’t let him sit right next to the bench) and so he watched the game on television from Valdano’s office in the stadium.  He went down to the locker room to congratulate his team after the game (after the 15-minute limit had expired, of course).

Eleven. The cutest scenes occurred after the game.

Pepe and Morata celebrated Sarabia’s debut, with Pepe dumping water on the kid.  A better angle here.

And Álvaro Arbeloa (this won’t surprise you at all if you’ve been reading Los secretos over on conlaroja) made sure to get the ball after the game and give it to Karim, so that he could put it in his trophy cabinet.  What a sweet gesture!

Twelve. Front and back.™

Antonio Adán, making a big splash in this feature in his debut.

Raúl Albiol.  Bonus here.

Álvaro Arbeloa.  Note the tongue (and in Raúl’s photo as well).  I’m so kind to you all.

Cristiano Ronaldo.  Looks like his hair has grown out and he doesn’t have a stegosaurus on top of his head anymore!  I’m also constantly debating which side of him is more fun to look at.

Peter Lion, with a bit of bonus Karim Benzema on the back front.

Ricardo Carvalho.

Thirteen. Fun Marcelo and Carvalho.  Don’t miss what Marcelo does to himself in the first gif.

Fourteen. Other notes:  Iker and Xabi Alonso had their own little training session at the Bernabéu several hours before the game, while Sergio Ramos joined the chavales of Castilla in their morning training session.  This is the closest we’re going to get to The Xabi Alonso pose section™ for this game.

Fifteen. Looking ahead:  the draw for the round of 16 will take place on Dec. 17.  The possible rivals are: Inter, Olympique Lyon, Copenhague, Roma, Olympique de Marseille and Arsenal.

Eight players trained behind closed doors today at 11h, with Iker, Adán, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos, Mateos, Pepe, Özil and Morata starting to prepare for the Zaragoza game.