Perhaps inspired by Clive Tyldesley's one hundredth mention of the Harlem Globe Trotters last Tuesday night at the Bernabeu as Real Madrid undressed Manchester United before an agog British TV audience, Logica and Deportivo Galicia took it upon themselves to re-enact this already legendary football match in the style of a basketball game.

Logica seemed to have the ideal cast. A sublime and mesmerising midfield play-maker; sleek of foot, elaborate of fanny, a toe-stepping Steptoe with vision beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals. A gleaming pated panther in attack whose sole business is goals: not quite as good as he was at his peak, but you write him off at your peril and still a keeper's worst nightmare. A defender whose attacking qualities are oft thought to exceed his defensive capabilities: a man whose stealth belies his abundant years, a man who can shoot from anywhere, at either goal.

They scored three. It could have been so many more as they carved out chance after chance, far more than their opponents, whose defenders were sometimes left standing in stunned bewilderment at the attacks unfolding in front of them. Was this the Real Madrid of Zidane, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos? No it was the Logica of Reeves, Banoub and Brown. And they lost 7-3.

Perhaps still drunk on the champagne football bubbling over at the Bernebeu, the Deputy Stand-in Muppet Supremo had opted for an outlandish attacking line-up involving himself, Fazel, Hoyland, Lambert, McWilliam, Reevaldo, and Gautam (who was certainly still drunk on something). That left just Trovato and Mainwaring as recognised defenders.

The policy looked like it would pay dividends early doors. Lambert latched onto an incisive through-ball only to lash his shot just inches wide of the post. Soon the same player was gamely chasing a bouncing ball to the bye-line and hooking it acrobatically back over his head. Abbott had followed up, and fizzed a snappy half-volley just over the bar.

The experienced striker came even closer minutes later when he glanced a Reevaldo corner on with his head, and turned to see it bounce back off the bar. Adjusting his sights, he directed another deft header slightly lower, this time from the same supplier's free kick, only to see the keeper finger-tip it onto the almost the same spot on the cross bar. But the same combination really should have opened the scoring shortly afterwards. Reevaldo glided down the left touch-line and looked up to see the Lag striker all alone at the back stick. A pin-point cross took out the keeper and only needed to be guided home, but Abbott screwed his volley horribly back across goal and the ball was cleared.

By now, Deportivo had settled into their own rhythm, and were trading attacks basketball style with the visitors. Despite the dry and dusty pitch, and the strong wind, both teams were playing some quality attacking football, and it was a tad ironic when Deportivo opened the scoring with a soft goal. It was brawny defender Hoyzone who conceded the free kick on the edge of the box with a Repkaesque barge in the back, but the flighted dead ball kick was straight at keeper Pendleton. Uncharacteristically the ball slipped from his grasp, and it was a Galician predator who was quickest to react and bundle the rebound home from close range [0-1].

Logica continued to attack. Fazel burst clear on a couple of occasions only to have his effort blocked. Stevey Lambert was also played through with a rapier-like pass, but he knocked the ball too far forward and the keeper was able to clear. The lively Lag made amends soon afterwards however. Winning the ball in his own half, he started a sweeping move that saw Abbott and Fazel move the ball onto McWilliam. The under-appearing Hull star powered past one challenge before flicking a deft pass between two defenders into the path of the move's starter. This time Lambert made no mistake, and fired the ball past the exposed Deportivo gloveman to level the scores [1-1]

So it was that Logica emerged for the second half in optimistic mood. Fifteen minutes later however they trailed by four after an astonishing goal-burst from the home side that left them stunned. Deportivo signalled their intentions with a shot straight from the kick-off that had Pendleton back-pedalling just a little too quickly for his liking, to save just under his bar. But sixty seconds later a clever reverse flick left the Logica back-line for dead, and a home striker was free to fire home clinically from an acute angle [1-2]. Another counter-attack at pace added a third goal minutes later, and Logica were still reeling when they conceded a free kick in Deportivo's next attack. The ball was fired across the box, and as the Logica defenders stood like statues, a Galician player snuck in to calmly convert at the back stick [1-4].

Logica nearly pulled a goal back when a Reevaldo header was cleared off the line, but crucially it was Deportivo who went straight up the other end and added a fifth goal [1-5]. It was time for a change, and Abbott acted quickly to replace himself and Hoyland with Banoub and Taylor. McWilliam exemplified Logica's belief that anything was still possible, when he unleashed a blistering forty yard shot from close to the right touch line that only a sprawling finger-tip save prevented from going in.

Reinvigorated, the visitors returned to carving out chances. Fazel broke clear only to be denied once more. Gautam was also seeing things a little more clearly now, and fired a couple of trade-mark howitzers just wide. But it was once again Lambert's calm experience that unlocked the door. Another defence splitting pass played him in, and his pace took him away from the last defender. As the keeper came out to meet him, the Lag unselfishly squared to the supporting Banoub, who doesn't miss from that kind of distance [2-5].

Based on the number of chances they were creating, Logica believed they could still turn this around. The yellow shirts urged one another on, and soon another goal was pulled back. The ball was moved swiftly across the box past a stretched Deportivo defence to Lambert loitering on the left. As he cut back inside, a desperate lunge sent him tumbling to the ground, and Banoub bravely exorcised his recent spot-kick demon with an emphatic penalty conversion [3-5].

The momentum was with the visitors now and they piled the pressure on. Chances came and went, with the best nearly giving the substitute a remarkable hat-trick. Pouncing on a loose ball inside the box, Banoub swivelled only to fire a foot too high. Ever his own sternest critic, the striker was still castigating himself when Deportivo were gifted a chance to kill off Logica's spirited fight-back. In their urgency to plough forward, a short goal-kick saw Mainwaring's pass go astray. One striker intercepted and passed quickly to his partner, who fired home unerringly [3-6]. The game was up now, and Deportivo mercilessly added another goal shortly afterwards, as another quick break ended with a low shot poked past Pendleton and just inside the far post [3-7].

And then it was all over. There was ample scope for criticism of Logica at both ends, with a hatful of chances wasted and seven goals conceded. However, some hope was offered the same evening when Real Madrid were walloped by Real Sociedad, and one was reminded that even the best of teams are excused the occasional defeat. Vicente del Bosque Gonzalez, one feels, is unlikely to be pressured into curbing the expressive, attacking instincts of his trotters, and the Logica Supremo should likewise stick to his guns.