The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods you’d totally do a cocktails night with: Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, YoSnail, Ezek Ix or... your Emperor of the Banhammer!

Our beloved Bernabeu is now 74 years old

In case you were wondering: “How pissed are Real Madrid, regarding the UCL (re)draw?”

This is an interesting article by Juan Ignacio Garcia-Ochoa (say that 5 times fast). If you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, I’ve selected a few parts to share with you, which you can read instead.

From a relatively favourable draw, with due respect to the club currently third in the Liga Portugal Bwin, to a tie against old foe Lionel Messi, transfer target Kylian Mbappe and the rest of their well-paid teammates, the frustration at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu is understandable if not justified.

Not only, then, have Real Madrid got a tougher draw than initially, but the combination of UEFA and their allies PSG rubs salt into the wound. This stirs up many previous disagreements, including Real Madrid’s perception that UEFA’s loosened Financial Fair Play rules to benefit PSG.

For UEFA, the French club’s president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is an ally against Florentino Perez and his European Super League plans. PSG at the time were in favour of kicking Real Madrid out of the Champions League ahead of Los Blancos’ tie with Chelsea.

Behind closed doors, Real Madrid are said to be even more furious than they are revealing publicly, with terms like ‘scandal’ and ‘disgrace’ being bandied about.

Well at least he is the best according to SOME magazine

Yes, this week’s threads aren’t on Ezek, but why not make him - among others, including myself - happy, by sharing the information that Robbie 5-in-9 is the best according to another magazine - Tuttosport!

COMLETELY OT: What’s your favorite movie?

I’ve wanted to do this for a good while. Since “increasing the engagement” was a major theme a few threads ago, I thought “You know, why not share stuff like fav song or film. If, for any reason, you feel like sharing your favorite movie is going to put you in danger due to passwords or anything else, then... well, avoid sharing it.

I’ll go ahead and share mine in the comments

Have a great day and may the Madridismo be with ya all.