Real Madrid need to learn from there mistakes.
Honestly - they can't afford many more European failures like the past 7 years. They have a strong expensive squad now - they must deliver big performances sooner rather than later, or it will be the end of the road before it's even started.
But the only way to improve everything is to beat Lyon tonight, I'm sure if Real Madrid lose to Lyon tonight Perez, Valdano etc will try to put a positive spin on it, but they can't, keep getting knocked out in the knockout rounds will mean Real Madrid need to go back to the the drawing board and damage there project and repuation big-time, for Real Madrid's business model to work they need success and to get far in the Champion's League, for companys/fans to want them, otherwise there will be different teams that look more attractive.
For Real Madrid to do worse then last season is embarassing, and this is with Cristiano, Kaka etc joining for huge sums of money, what happens when there is no big name "star" signings and no success??