Lesser known players get the credit for Real victory

Real Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz says his team's hard-earned victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League has shown that they are more than a collection of big-name stars.

"Individuals and personalities are very important in football, but it is teams that win titles," Queiroz said after his side's 1-0 victory at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

The nine-times European champions had to make do without injured leading striker Ronaldo and suspended fullback Roberto Carlos, but a first-half strike from Zinedine Zidane was enough to earn them a 2-1 aggregate victory and a place in the quarter-finals for the seventh season in a row.

Although it was World Player of the Year Zidane that scored the crucial goal, it was the lesser known players in the side such as defenders Michel Salgado and Ivan Helguera, midfielders Guti and Santiago Solari and keeper Iker Casillas that were given credit for the victory.

"Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo weren't able to help us out this time," said Queiroz. "But our performance out there showed that all the footballers in this team are important."

Salgado, who was instrumental in the Zidane goal and also produced a clearance off the line to deny Bayern an equaliser, echoed Queiroz's comments.

"We showed that Real Madrid are much more than just six 'galactic' superstars," he said. "We proved we are a team. People were saying that Bayern were our bogey side, but we have now gone through against them in three of our last four ties."

Bayern joined Juventus and Manchester United on the list of past winners to go out in the first knockout round and Salgado said that proved how difficult it was to win Europe's premier club competition.

"With the elimination of Juventus, Manchester and Bayern, three of the big favourites have now gone which just goes to show how evenly balanced and difficult this competition is," he said.

"It doesn't matter who we get in the quarter-finals, because at this stage any side can win. The only thing I really want is for us to play the return leg at home."

Real's safe passage into the last eight -- the draw is on Friday -- keeps them on course for a domestic and European treble.

They have a six-point lead over Valencia at the top of the Primera Liga and are looking forward to a Cup final appearance against Real Zaragoza on March 17.