Madrid: Real Madrid look to the return of one of the great European football nights at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium as they look to overturn a 0-2 first leg deficit in the return leg of their European Champions League quarter-final against VfL Wolfsburg on Tuesday. Madrid produced one of their worst displays under Zinedine Zidane’s coaching a week ago to give Wolfsburg, who are having a poor season in mid-table in the Bundesliga, a surprise advantage against the Spanish giants, reports Xinhua.
Zidane has already commented that if his side fails to progress he would expect to pay the price with his job at the end of the season, such is the importance of the return leg and the Champions League for the club.
He was able to rest key players on Saturday and saw how the fringe players brushed past Eibar in the Bernabeu, but he will also have seen how the fans are on edge with some boos and chants asking for more effort in the second half despite the comfortable 4-0 lead.
Players such as Marcelo, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Tony Kroos should all be rested for the game, while Zidane should also be able to count on striker, Karim Benzema who has recovered from a slight knee injury, and central defender, Rafael Varane, who has shaken off muscle problems.
Cristiano Ronaldo has made a call for the fans to get behind the side saying he “loves the Stadium full of 80,000 fans cheering us on. That gives us a big help… the team and the coach are all confident we will go through”.
The fact Madrid were unable to score in Germany is a problem as it means should Wolfsburg hit the target in the Bernabeu, Madrid would need to score four goals to progress.
“We are at 100 percent for Tuesday night, we know what is at stake and we are going to run as if our lives were at stake. There are going to be fireworks,” said Wolfsburg striker Andre Schurrle, who added that the town had spoken of nothing else for the past week.
The saying is that 90 minutes in the Bernabeu can be a long time, but Real Madrid know that anything other than a special performance will see another season end in failure.
