The swagger is back in the Bernabeu

I guess it's time for Arsene Wenger to officially relinquish the tag of "miracle worker." As for Fabio Capello, his disastrous World Cup stint with England, he can forget that winner tag as well. I figure you'd know I'm leading up to Jose Mourinho. While he has yet to win a title in La Liga, the fact that Real Madrid under him this year has yet to lose a game is way huge!

So Mourinho has won with Porto, Chelsea, and Intermilan. If takes Real Madrid to the top of La Liga, I'm never going to take him to task for his ego which is the size of Louvre. One thing is sure -- he's got Madrid believing.

And the back four of Ricardo Carvalho, Pepe, Marcelo, and Alvaro Arbeloa did a great job of protecting keeper Iker Casillas. Surprise there with Arbeloa who didn't shine that much in Anfield. Guess what was needed was a change in scenery and in the coach.

I must confess that my busy sked has made me unable to catch as many La Liga matches as I'd like but I did have a chance to watch that Champions League game against AC Milan at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Yes, Cristiano Ronaldo is one heck of a football player but he is a ham as well. I thought that some of the fouls called on the Rossoneri who were marking him were a result of the Portuguese's diving and acting. If I were Kevin Prince Boateng, I would have kicked him in the nuts and yell at the referee, "Now that was a frigging foul!"

I watch Madrid because I wanted to see first hand how Mezut Ozil and Sami Khedira fared with their new club. Impressive were they. I loved the way they teamed up with Xabi Alonso and Angel Di Maria as they made mincemeat out of AC Milan's midfield. Ozil sure quickly established himself with this club.

What was painful to watch was Ronaldinho's plight. Now playing behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he looked out of sync as he constantly lost the ball and barked at teammates for their inability to corral the loose balls. Great, Ronaldinho. That's the quickest way to being an unpopular teammate. Get your shit together first.

I know Milan is behind -- shock here -- Lazio (I hate these damned fascist ultras) by only two points but the former Brazilian wunderkind is a shadow of his Player of the Year self. When he was taken out, I thought that Milan's offense and passing got better.

So Real defended their turf with a 2-0 win with goals coming from Ronaldo (13th minute) and Ozil (14th minute). Marco Amelia, Milan keeper had to earn his keep today. But I thought he was more lucky than good as Gonzalo Higuain was a klutz for missing several gimmes. Yes, that's true and Marcelo had a cow for those misplays. In the next leg, Los Blancos will be playing at the San Siro. This is where the tough get going. Any bet that Mourinho will lead Los Merengues past the Rossoneri? The expectations just got higher for Mourinho and his team.