With Real Madrid unceremoniously dumped out of the Champions League in the first knock-out stage, you can't help but feel Florentino Perez will cast a wistful eye over to Germany and Italy as he ponders his decision last summer to cast Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben out of the club. Call it poetic justice, but with the two Dutchman scoring crucial goals in their midweek semi-finals for Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, the stage seems set for both to make a triumphant return to their former home in this years Champions League final. A big fat two fingers at Messers Perez and Valdano. Robben and Sneijder hardly set the world alight at the Bernabeu, but were they really as ineffective and toothless as Karim Benzema and Kaka have been this season? Did they deserve to be treated with the disrespect and ruthlessness shown by President Perez as he tossed them out of Spain against their will in search of some quick money? Madrid fans may point to Robbens tendency to spend more time in the treatment room than the pitch, but Kaka has hardly been a shining beacon of health. Neither has Benzema. As for Sneijder, they were mad to let him go. Do they really believe Van der Vaart, Gago and Diarra have provided the energy and incisiveness that Sneijder has offered Inter this year? A euro for Manuel Pellegrinis thoughts.