Now that we have another matching set of clásicos in the drawer it is time for another edition of winners and losers.  This time we will cover who has had their stock rise since the previous player review (Hot or Not) and without any further ado:

Hot

Cristiano Ronaldo- A part of you has to feel bad for the guy, even when he has a good performance against Barcelona, out shinning Messi, he still has so few wins to call his own.  It seems as though his little slump in form has finished and I fully expect to see the most expensive footballer in the world gracing many more of these hot spots in the near future.

Karim Benzema- Quickly building a case for why he is the world's best striker.  Now don't get me wrong, he certainly has a lot of competition, but this time a season ago we were all dreading the prospect of seeing him on the pitch for us... now I don't know there is a player in the world that I would trade him for.

Sergio Ramos- Quite unfairly shown a red card for a non-existent foul against who else but Busquets (what, I guess I shouldn't say "who else" since there was about a 50-50 shot it could have been Alves) does not remove him from the hot list for me.  There is the argument that he deserved a red card earlier in the match, but I don't buy that argument for a second.  Should have kept his big mouth shut though, but despite that and due to a dominant performance both on the defensive side of things and in a more offensive sense on set pieces, Ramos finds himself on the hot list.

Esteban Granero- A start in La Liga?  I was simply shocked, but pleasantly surprised.  Then he gets his chance against Barcelona and shows a patience that few on our team can match.  Hopefully he has finally impressed Mourinho enough to get his chances, since besides being a youth product, he just offers something different and I am a big proponent of making use of all the tactical options.

Mesut Özil- Wow, his most dominant performance against Barcelona that I can think of.  Abidal will be having nightmare of little Mesut for quite some time to come.  Good to see the German has learned how to play his game against Barcelona.

Ricardo Kaká- An unexpected winner in my books.  Last time, if you remember, I was discussing Kaká's rapidly dwindling chance here at Madrid.  Confident performances like the one at the Camp Nou will at least buy him a little more time.  He finds himself on the winners list just because he went from atrocious to showing positive signs, but he has a lot of work to still do if he wants to justify being on this squad come next season.

Losers

Pepe- While his play might have been impressive, he certainly did much damage to his already dinged reputation.  Many people are questioning whether or not a player with the behavior record of Pepe deserves to be on a team like Madrid and I don't think I have a firm opinion on the matter yet.

Altintop- Showed in the first match against Barcelona that he simply is not up to Real Madrid standard.  I will grant that he has a decent bit of technical ability, but his ability to find a pass is atrocious and his movement is substandard.

Sahin- If he can't find some playing time then he will find it hard to get off this list.  Especially with Sami out injured, Sahin should find opportunities.  Unfortunately it looks like Granero is taking chances away from Sahin which makes it even more difficult.  Hopefully Mou will give him a shot.

Di Maria- Still out injured, he is on the loser list by default.

Luke Warm

Mourinho- If not for an impressive match against Barcelona, he would surely have found himself on the loser list.  He might very well be on his way out at the end of this season, Madridistas must just hope that he leaves with something more than the one CdR trophy in hand.

As usual, my list was about 10, 6, and 2 long respectively , so cuts were made to the lists, but why don't you tell me who should have made the list and where?

[For more about the Copa del Rey's Clásicos, check out our Q&A with Aaron, Tanuj and Apakshit! You can listen to it as an mp3 file, on our Youtube channel or on iTunes.]