One of the best treats I’ve had this year was a late invitation to go to the Liverpool v Real Madrid Champions League game.

Champions League nights are very special, particularly when you’ve got two of the most talented teams and the world’s best player on show.

My trip to Anfield certainly didn’t disappoint.

The presence and power of Ronaldo is just something to behold.

He was totally in control of everything he did throughout the 75 minutes he was on the pitch.

Everyone will look at the 3-0 and think Liverpool were battered, but there was nothing in it early on when Madrid didn’t get one opportunity, chance or shot.

But that’s when the best players deliver, when the game needs changing, and Ronaldo did exactly that. He finish was simply brilliant.

After that, people started to focus more on Liverpool’s weaknesses in defending – but the reality was that Madrid were just so superior to their hosts it was untrue.

One of the biggest mistakes Manchester United made last year was not signing Modric when they could have done to replace Paul Scholes.

Modric cruised through the game at Anfield, didn’t give the ball away that I can remember and hardly put a foot wrong.

The left winger, Isco, is someone I had not seen before but he was brilliant. He left Johnson for dead every time he got the ball.

Generally, it was just one of those nights when it was a joy to watch a team in perfect control.

With Liverpool, everyone is talking about Balotelli, but I think they have a bigger problem when it comes to going forward – how to replace Steven Gerrard.

He still has amazing authority around the team and the club.

I stayed in my seat at half time rather than going inside for a cup of tea and the first player to come out of the tunnel for the second half was Gerrard.

Mignolet followed him reasonably quickly, but then it was 30 or 40 seconds before anyone else showed their face.

Gerrard was, in my opinion, trying to set the tone for his team. He was trying to say to them that they had a job to do at 3-0 down and they needed to get out there and do it, to salvage some pride.

He played well too, doing all the things you want from a senior pro, but at some point the mantle is going to have to be handed on.

As Manchester United have found out, it’s not easy to replace club icons, and I think that’s going to be a far bigger problem for Brendan Rodgers than the Balotelli roller-coaster.

I was fortunate to be at Ascot last weekend for Champions Day – and what an enjoyable experience it was.

Racing has been faced with trying to put a square peg in a round hole with regard to Champions Day and its place in the calendar.

They have had to make the best of a bad job in many ways, but what happened last Saturday was exactly what racing needed in terms of a story.

The battle between Noble Mission and Al Kazeem in the Champion Stakes was just magnificent – and for Lady Cecil to emerge victorious was a thing of folklore.

A full brother of Frankel, Noble Mission provided a fairytale end to the season and it’s one we will remember for a long, long time.