Real Madrid faces tough competition
Real Madrid coach Vicente Del Bosque has the chance to field his "Fab Five" for the first time when the Spanish giants join fellow heavyweights Arsenal and Valencia for tough, top-of-the-table ties in the European Champions League soccer on Wednesday.
Real Madrid coach Vicente Del Bosque has the chance to field his "Fab Five" for the first time when the Spanish giants join fellow heavyweights Arsenal and Valencia for tough, top-of-the-table ties in the European Champions League soccer on Wednesday.
Real Madrid hosts AS Roma in a much anticipated Group C match that should boast Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos and Raul together for the first time.
Raul and Figo trained normally on Monday after muscular problems and Zidane, who hurt his right knee against Villarreal, said: "I don't think it will prevent me from playing."
Reigning champions Real Madrid, twice runners-up Valencia and English Premier League and FA Cup winners Arsenal all had contrasting fortunes in the run-up to Wednesday's penultimate day of first round matches.
At the weekend, Arsenal lost 2-1 at home to Blackburn in the English Premiership and in Spain, Real Madrid could only draw 1-1 against Villarreal though Valencia warmed up in style with a 5-1 thrashing of Athletic Bilbao.
A Group A draw for Arsenal at Borussia Dortmund would ensure its passage into the next phase and Valencia also needs just a point at Liverpool to advance from Group B.
In Group C, Real Madrid's galaxy of stars host AS Roma, recovering after Sunday night's 2-2 draw in the Rome derby against Lazio, also knowing a draw would put it into the last 16 group phase of Europe's top club competition.
Meanwhile, Arsenal has been branded a cheat by Dortmund coach Matthias Sammer, according a report in the News of the World newspaper on Sunday.
Former Germany sweeper Sammer described the Arsenal players as arrogant and accused them of diving repeatedly when his side went down 2-0 at Highbury in the opening group A match last month.
"A lot of my players came away from Arsenal wanting to knock the arrogance off the faces of some of the Arsenal players," Sammer was quoted as saying.
Arsenal's Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp will not travel to Germany even though he insists the trip would not be a major obstacle for him.
Arsenal, in desperate need of a morale boost after three straight defeats, will not be using Bergkamp although he is fit after an Achilles injury and came on as a substitute in Saturday's defeat by Blackburn.
In the other Group A game, third-placed Dutch side PSV Eindhoven hosts French league leaders Auxerre in a match between the also-rans of the group.
Liverpool hosts Valencia in the return match knowing that it was comprehensively outplayed in their first fixture in Spain which it lost 2-0.
Should striker Michael Owen hold his nerve on Wednesday as he did at the weekend it will certainly do the Merseysiders no harm.
Owen got over his penalty jinx to hit the winner in a 2-1 win over Tottenham to extend their Premiership lead to four points on Saturday.
Owen had missed six of his last 12 penalty attempts before Saturday.