Lokomotiv's counterattacks became a real nightmare for Real Madrid

Lokomotiv's counterattacks in the game against Real Madrid were "deadly" and kept the fans at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium "frozen in fear". The final whistle that sounded exactly at the moment when Lokomotiv's forward Julio Cesar, brilliantly outplaying Real defender Flavio, remained face-to-face with goalkeeper Casillas and "let the team from Madrid escape the worst".

That's an opinion presented by the popular Spanish sports newspaper Marca. The newspaper gave a thorough account of the match between Russian Lokomotiv and Spanish Real (which ended in a 2-2 tie), saying that "the outcome of the game puts the team from Madrid in a precarious position in the Champions League" and that "constant counterattacks conducted by the Russians became a virtual nightmare for Real." Despite the fact that Real's coach Vicente Del Bosque issued constant warnings that the Russian team is "hard to play against" and thoroughly evaluated Lokomotiv's possibilities and characteristics before the match at Santiago Bernabeu, Spanish radio and TV commentators were shocked with the second half when Locomotive took the initiative, "putting its opponents in the state of utter confusion", as one of the experts pointed out.

According to various sports commentators, Russian players "stabbed home" unexpectedly, while Real was constantly pressuring Lokomotiv's defences.