Confident Morientes looks to keep Real on course

Real Madrid's in-form striker Fernando Morientes believes his side will gain an important psychological advantage if they defeat Panathinaikos in their second group C game on Tuesday.

Real lead their second-phase group with three points following a scrappy 3-2 win away to Sparta Prague last month.

"It's a very important match on Tuesday," Morientes said on Monday.

"Victory will serve to keep us calm going into the winter break, knowing that we're perfectly placed to meet our first target, which is to be in the quarter-finals."

"It will be an intense game against a good team but I think that being at home we can beat them. We haven't had too many problems at the Bernabeu."

A second straight victory would leave the eight-times European champions firmly on course for the quarter-finals and would be the perfect result in terms of team morale with the competition to shut down until February after this week's games.

Morientes has been instrumental in Real's return to domestic form of late, with five goals in his last three league games helping the Spanish champions climb back up to fifth in the table, within two points of new leaders Alaves.

"Collectively, I think we've taken a huge step towards being where we should be," Morientes said.

"I'm pretty pleased with the way things have been going for me personally as well."