I fear for Aberdeen in Madrid tonight. The likes of Kun Agüero up against Zander Diamond could provide one of the biggest mismatches since Anne Boleyn hooked up with Henry VIII.

It may be that Atletico Madrid will rest some of their key players but if Kun Agüero plays, the Aberdeen defence could be in for a seriously hard time. This diminutive Argentine striker became the youngest to play in his country’s top league when he made his debut for Independiente shortly after his fifteenth birthday!

In his second season at Atletico Madrid he is beginning to live up to the hype. Think Maradona, Messi, Riquelme, Pablo Aimar... What do they put in the water in Argentina which results in an abundance of these sorts of players? Whatever it is, we could do with just one player like this in Scotland.

Even if Agüero is rested Atletico have plenty of other South American firepower in the shape of Diego Forlan (don’t laugh if you only remember him from Man U as he was top scorer in Spain a couple of years ago) and Maxi Rodriguez – remember him?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8VZ_P_GjMiU

Atletico Madrid have been banging in the goals in La Liga this season where only their great city rivals have scored more. Aberdeen will have to hope the Atletico defence is in a generous mood – as it often has been of late. Atletico’s last three home games in the league have finished 4-3, with wins over Sevilla and Valladolid and a defeat by the same score to Villarreal. On their last UEFA outing Atletico drew 3-3 with Locomotiv in Moscow.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7T7x9_TEvr8&feature=related

With Aberdeen coming off the back of heavy defeats at Tynecastle and Celtic Park the form book points to plenty of goals tonight with the Dons likely to be conceding most of them.

Gordon Brown is the latest to jump on the Home International Championship bandwagon. I have fond memories of the home internationals and Auld Enemy clashes in particular. But part of me says it would be better if it remained that way. It could turn out to be like a remake of Starsky and Hutch – just wouldn’t be the same.

I’ll be watching the European Championships with or without British participation. In fact, there will be some great football on show and there is the added bonus of not having hourly updates from the England camp or on Rooney’s latest injury. Talk about an island mentality though when the BBC are suggesting other sporting ways to spend the summer just because England won’t be there. So if you fancy watching squash or synchronised swimming instead then have a peek here:

Alternative Summer Guide

Wales were the only home nation to achieve a good result this midweek with a goalless draw in Germany. Meanwhile Northern Ireland, the reigning British champions (the Home International Championship was last held in 1984), put up a respectable fight in Spain and took their campaign to the wire.

For Scotland it was an all too familiar story. So near, yet so far. But let’s examine some of the other claims made about last week’s game at Hampden. The Sunday Mail went with the headline Scotland Robbed as ref Gifts Italy Last Minute Winner. Well, how the ref saw that as a foul by Hutton rather than on him is beyond belief but after being “robbed” Scotland fans woke up to the replays in the cold light of day. These showed Italy scored two good goals in the first half and could have had their qualification virtually sealed by half-time. Not only that but the Scotland goal looked slightly offside.

So let’s forget the conspiracy theories and victim mentality that seem to follow some Scotland fans around and move on. When it came to the crunch the Scots were just a little short of both the world cup finalists over 12 games. That's impressive and means the country can look forward to the draw for the World Cup qualifying this weekend with a renewed sense of optimism.

England is a nation in mourning today. Was there once again a believe that they were better than their recent results and performances suggested? Was gaining a point against Croatia considered a mere formality in front of a large Wembley crowd? England really needs to get real about its football team. Croatia look a very decent side but England have lost out to a Russian team who couldn’t get a point in Israel in a key fixture and could only put one goal past the mighty Andorra.

Little wonder then that fans in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are champing at the bit to take on England as soon as possible.