CL Preview: Real Madrid v AC Milan

When two of football's true giants meet on Wednesday night at the majestic Santiago Bernebau in Madrid, it should be a sight to behold. Nine-time winners Real Madrid host five-time winners AC Milan in a clash that could very well turn out to be a Champions League final later in the season. However, the fact that Milan have qualified from Group C as group winners with two games to spare may just be the needle that sucks the juice out of this mammoth clash.

The Italian outfit have won all four of their Group C encounters 1-0 and our untouchable at the top. That, put together with their recent domestic misadventures may well mean that Carlo Ancelotti will go into the game with a weakened side.

The European champions on the other hand will be doing exactly the opposite. They know that a draw might mean curtains for them and hence will be ploughing forward right from the word go, whether their opponents are full strength or not. Victory is what Madrid need, and that is what they must achieve to avoid what would be arguably the second biggest upset in this season's competition following Bayern Munich's first round capitulation.

Vicente Del Bosque has been bothered primarily with defensive frailties as Fernando Hierro has been on the injury list for some time now, while Ivan Helguera recently picked up an ankle strain. Even young Pavon was shot down by the flu, but the latter both seem to be recovering. The big question mark seems to have suddenly shifted to the attack where in-form Golden Boot winner Ronaldo has been included in the squad, but is apparently not fully fit having limped off in training. Del Bosque does have plenty of options in Morientes, Portillo and Guti to partner Raul, but his first choice in such a huge game would obviously be Ronaldo. Figo, Zidane and Solari will provide the firepower from midfield while Claude Makelele will be the holding midfielder.

Carlo Ancelotti should be lucky that injuries have only hit his team during these few weeks, where CL qualification has been sealed. Ambrosini, Gattuso, Inzaghi, Roque Jr., Chamot, Ba, Kaladze and Serginho have all stayed home in light of injuries or lack of fitness. However, such is the luxury when you are at a club like Milan that the line-up that Ancelotti will put out there will have the likes of Rui Costa, Rivaldo and Tomasson in attack, while he can still afford to put Andriy Shevchenko (who scored the winner when the two sides last met) on the bench. Former Madrid fan-favourites Fernando Redondo and Clarence Seedorf will start either side of Andrea Pirlo in midfield, while Paolo Maldini may be rested in which case Martin Laursen will step in to central midfield alongside Nesta, Costacurta and Simic.

FORM GUIDE

Real Madrid last 6 (all comps): LWWDWW

Real Madrid seem to be peaking at the just the right time (any surprises?). With Ronaldo firing on all cylinders, the Spaniards have exploded, especially so in the last two games, which have seen them demolish their opposition 5-1 and 4-1. What's more…they have battled their way back to the top of La Liga and may be looking to add another Spanish League title to their trophy cabinet. But, ask any Madridista, and he will tell you that bowing out of the CL early would be a sin for this Royal Club.

AC Milan last 6 (all comps): DWWWDD

AC Milan have played slightly better than their form would suggest. In fact, it can be said that the team is going through a horrible patch of bad luck. Crossbars galore, missed penalties, own goals, bad calls (well, those are nothing new in Italy), crowd trouble and most notably opposition that defend with ten men behind the ball. As the last game against Chievo would demonstrate, things are not falling for the rossoneri this time of year. They dominated the entire game and came within a whisker of scoring a gazillion times without ever succeeding to do so.

PROBABLE LINUPS

Real Madrid (4-3-1-2): Casillas, Salgado, Pavon, Helguera, Roberto Carlos, Figo, Makelele, Solari, Zidane, Raul, Ronaldo.

AC Milan (4-3-2-1): Abbiati, Simic, Nesta, Laursen, Costacurta, Seedorf, Pirlo, Redondo, Rui Costa, Rivaldo, Tomasson.