Champions League Preview: Real Madrid-Lokomotiv Moscow
It was not easy for Real Madrid to bow down to AC Milan in San Siro two weeks ago. Fortunately for Vicente Del Bosque's men, this defeat was followed by a successful Japanese odyssey during which they won the Intercontinental Cup.
It was not easy for Real Madrid to bow down to AC Milan in San Siro two weeks ago. Fortunately for Vicente Del Bosque's men, this defeat was followed by a successful Japanese odyssey during which they won the Intercontinental Cup.
Sake was apparently the booster they needed to put their season on track: Real came home to take red-hot and black Mallorca to pieces in Son Moix. The 1-5 defeat inflicted to the fast-rising Balearic side said it all about Real's renewed ambitions.
In the Champions League, Lokomotiv Moscow's stop in the Bernabeu looks like the perfect occasion to win again on the European stage. In order to derail newly-crowned Russian champions Lokomotiv, Real look to field their best team, unlike in precedent occasions.
"Do not expect to steamroll over them", manager Vicente Del Bosque warned media and socios in the pre-match press conference. "Lokomotiv are a valid opponent. They need to be respected. It's not because we crushed Mallorca that we are going to win all of our games 5-1".
Del Bosque also spoke about Claude Makelele's latest bout of revolt: "He is a fantastic professional who would never leave the team down", he said about his French midfielder, who is looking to be given a new contract by Real asap.
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Real Madrid will have to do without central defender Ivan Helguera, suspended for one match.
Lokomotiv Moscow also have a suspended central defender Dmitri Sennikov and as many as five players one yellow card away from a one-match ban. Evseev, Lekgetho, Nizhegorodov, Obiorah & Pashinin all could miss the next clash with AC Milan when the CL resumes in February.