Mijatovic: We Have To Beat The Best
After drawing one of their fiercest foes in Europe for the Champions League group stage, Real Madrid sporting director Predrag Mijatovic was philosophical about the team’s challenges.
After drawing one of their fiercest foes in Europe for the Champions League group stage, Real Madrid sporting director Predrag Mijatovic was philosophical about the team’s challenges.
Nine-time European champions, Real Madrid will begin their quest for a tenth title in a fairly tricky-looking Group H that also includes continental arch nemesis, Juventus, UEFA Cup champions Zenit St. Petersburg and newcomers, BATE Borisov from Belarus.
But Madrid’s sporting director, Predrag Mijatovic, who although described the group as complicated, was looking at the positives of the draw.
“In order to win the Champions League, we have to beat the best teams,” he declared to www.realmadrid.com.
“It’s good to have a complicated group because it’s better that we fight hard straight away and face tough competition.”
The 39 year old declined to make any predictions for the group but he did understandably hand-picked Juventus, the team that he scored against to clinch the 1998 title for Madrid, as the toughest obstacle of all.
“In these types of groups, few analysis can be done. Juventus are a great team and they are always a danger."
“They will have a lot of desire and motivation after not competing in the past few years,” he commented about the Serie A giants.
Mijatovic then praised Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg: “They are a fashionable team, but also a very dangerous rival with a lot of quality players.”
Finally, he touched on his Matchday 1 opponents, BATE: “They are a modest team but we still need to respect them because they can surprise anyone and if we drop points from the outset, it might be difficult to recover."
Real Madrid will indeed welcome the Champions League rookies to the Bernabéu on the 17th of September to kick-start their campaign.