One thing that's got me feeling more optimistic about facing Real Madrid this time is that we've moved on from relying on Walker. Last season, the fate of that tie basically hinged on whether Walker was fit to face Vinicius, and we went to shit at the back whenever he wasn't involved. It turned into a shoot-out. We conceded six goals across both games and they were all let in while Walker wasn't on the pitch. As soon as he went off injured in the 3-1 away leg last season, Cancelo got moved over to RB and we all know how that fucking went. Whereas this time, we don't need to overplay Walker in the league or rush to get him fit and, on this occasion, if we lined up with a back four of Stones, Akanji, Dias, and Ake/Laporte, I don't think there'd be much cause for panic. It means we can play Walker to try and contain Vinicius but he's not absolutely essential to how we function defensively.