Cristiano Ronaldo
European
champions Real Madrid will expect to take another step closer to
becoming the first team in 25 years to retain the Champions League when
they host Schalke on Tuesday holding a 2-0 lead from the first leg of
their last 16 tie, AFP reports.
Real have strung together 10 consecutive
victories in Europe stretching back to their successful run to their
10th European Cup last season, but have found the going a lot tougher
domestically in 2015.
Los
Blancos surrendered their lead at the top of La Liga at the weekend as
they were beaten 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao, whilst Barcelona thrashed Rayo
Vallecano 6-1.
That was Real’s fourth defeat in 14
games this year with coach Carlo Ancelotti admitting he was at a loss to
explain how his star-studded strike force of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim
Benzema and Gareth Bale has so suddenly gone off the boil.
“It seems strange to say Real have a
problem up front when we have scored so many goals throughout the
season, but I think it is the truth,” said the Italian on Saturday.
However, captain Iker Casillas has insisted that they won’t suffer a hangover from their La Liga woes at the Bernabeu.
“This competition is different. For Real fans it means everything,” he told the club’s website.
Schalke were on the receiving end on
Real’s run towards the title at the same stage of the competition last
season in a 9-2 aggregate hammering.
And Casillas is adamant that Ancelotti’s men still have all the qualities required to go all the way once more.
“We know that it will be very difficult
but we will fight to achieve it. We are ambitious and we have a mixture
of youth and experience so why not?
“Last year we played against teams that
had caused us problems in the past and we were capable to play good
football and get to the final. We will give everything to get to
Berlin.”
No comments :
Post a Comment