Last night Spanish giants Real Madrid suffered a 4-0 defeat to third tier team Alcorcon in the Spanish King’s Cup, making it their third defeat in five games. Real have not won the cup in 16 years, and this is more than slightly reminiscent of the result that began their slide in the first half of last season, when they were knocked out by another third-tier side Real Union in the fourth round.



The Carling Cup in England reached the fourth round this week, with wins for Man Utd and Blackburn over Championship sides Barnsley and Peterborough Utd. Tottenham and Portsmouth qualified after two rather more difficult fixtures, beating, respectively, Everton 2-0 and Stoke 4-0.

The most mouth-watering of fixtures this week, though, is Arsenal v Liverpool, guaranteeing that there will be at least one less Big Four side in the Carling Cup come the more crucial stages. Wishing to build on their success against Man Utd at the weekend, Liverpool will travel away to an Arsenal who have the derby against most bitter rivals Spurs at the weekend to look forward to, so this should make for interesting viewing tonight.