Real Madrid vs. Hertha Berlin Open Thread

Hey all! Real Madrid is scheduled to play against Hertha Berlin in about 10 minutes (18:00 Spanish time, 12:00 EST). It should be a good match--as I frantically search around the internets for a live stream. Apparently it's on "GolT," and both of Madrid's fanboy papers, 1 and 2, have live streams that will be rocking (kinda). 

So as you also frantically search around, here's the starting lineup for los blancos:

REAL MADRID: CASILLAS; ARBELOA, PEPE, CARVALHO, MARCELO; XABI ALONSO, COENTRAO; CALLEJÓN, ÖZIL, CRISTIANO; BENZEMA 

HERTHA BERLIN: KRAFT; LELL, HUBNIK, MIJATOVIC, KOBIASHVILI; NIEMEYER, OTTL; EBERT, RAFFAEL, TORUN; LASOGGA 

Interesting choices from Mourinho: three of the main attractions in Germany (and by "main attractions" I mean "Madrid's German ex-pats"), Nuri Sahin, Hamit Altintop, and Sami Khedira will not start (the first two are injured), while wunderkind** Mesut Özil gets the nod in the front along with CR7, Callejón (selected over Kaká--I'm sure some paper is already writing his obituary), and Benzema. 

A couple things I'm interested in seeing: 

• How will Madrid's defense look when it's tested by a high-level European side? I'm particularly interested in the new signings Coentrão and Varane (we'll have to wait 'til the second half for him), and how they adjust to Mourinho's tactical demands on defense.
• How will Kaká and company play against the increased competition? Now, I know this is a bit unfair, because there's no way to know whether Hertha is better or worse than the Union, for example, but there's no denying that going in to the olympiastadion with 99% Hertha fans is a bit more intimidating than the Rose Bowl with 60% Real Madrid fans.

They're doing a moment of silence for the victims of the massacre in Norway. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims.