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15 Stories on Real Madrid CF
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SI.com: Gabriele Marcotti: Midterm grades for Champions League group stage

We're halfway through the Champions League group stage, which means it's midterm report-card time for Europe's elite. In this evaluation, though, you don't get a straight grade -- you're on a curve based on how you've performed relative to expectations.

SI.com: World Soccer: Bayern appears to be on collision course with Ribéry

Forget the mustard deposited in the shoes of teammates, the water fights and the madcap episode in Dubai when he drove the team bus into a bollard. Bayern Munich's attacking maestro Franck Ribéry no longer seems in the mood for pranks; his usual happy-go-lucky demeanor considerably darkened by the club's steadfast refusal to allow him to leave for Real Madrid during the offseason. It's a severe shock to the system for any headliner to be told his desires are of no account.

SI.com: World Soccer: La Liga is Europe's most attractive league once more

Even the proudest of Spaniards had to accept defeat; even the most enthusiastic La Liga cheerleaders were forced to pack away their pompoms. The warm glow of the European Championship success still endured -- but the national team was one thing, the nation's teams quite another. The lineup for the 2008-09 Champions League semifinals brought Spain crashing back down to earth.

SI.com: Gabriele Marcotti: Sizing up all eight groups in Champions League

Finally, the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League draw is done and we know who's playing who and when.

SI.com: Gregory Sica: Top 10 South American transfers to watch in Europe

If this summer's transfer window is any indication, we can look forward to one of the most exciting European seasons in decades. With the three most expensive transfers in the history of the game recently made for amounts previously unimaginable, the stakes are higher than ever.

SI.com: Gabriele Marcotti: 11 questions for 11 clubs in strange transfer season

It has been a weird summer of transfers. Most of Europe's top leagues kick off next month and yet, with a few exceptions (Real Madrid and, to a lesser degree, Juventus and Bayern Munich), there hasn't been too much going on. The window won't close until Aug. 31. In the meantime, here's an attempt at making sense of it all, with 11 questions facing 11 big clubs:

SI.com: World Soccer: Restocked Real Madrid making a $400 million gamble

Return of the Galácticos. Galácticos Strike Back. Revenge of the Galácticos. Galácticos Part Deux.

SI.com: The Limey: Transfer market heats up in the EPL, and ESPN moves in

Credit crunch and slow economy be damned, the soccer world is still spinning from the record-busting $131 million fee Real Madrid is on the verge of pumping into Manchester United's coffers for FIFA World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo. That's on top of the $92 million the mysteriously loaded Spaniards already paid for last year's World Player of the Year, Kaká. But there's far more to come in the transfer market. This week, we run through the English Premier League looking at possible transfer targets, and who might be heading for the exit door.

SI.com: Gabriele Marcotti: The rules don't apply to rebuilding Real Madrid

Nine years ago, Florentino Pérez walked into the game and ushered in a new era. Call it "the Galáctico Age," call it "the Zidanes y Pavones experiment," call it the destruction of conventional wisdom, call it what you like.

SI.com: Gabriele Marcotti: Six ways to improve Real Madrid's European chances

It was Real Madrid's most humiliating European night in a long, long time. And in some ways, the 4-0 loss to Liverpool on Tuesday hurt more than the 5-0 defeat to Arrigo Sacchi's AC Milan team 20 years ago.

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