Returning Morientes spearheads Monaco attack against Real

Real Madrid hope Monaco striker Fernando Morientes will not feel too much at home when he returns to the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

Strong in the air and quick to pounce in the area, Morientes is just the sort of player capable of exploiting weaknesses in Real's defence in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.

Loaned out at the beginning of the season to Monaco, Morientes has played down talk he has a point to prove in a match between two sides who have allowed large leads in their domestic leagues to melt away.

"There's no doubt that it will be a special day for me," he told Spanish sports daily Marca. "But I'm going to try and keep a cool head. I don't have anything to prove to anyone there, only to myself and my coach."

The 27-year-old, who won the Champions League three times with Real, believes his new side can cause an upset.

"Real are the favourites, but we have a chance of knocking them out if we work harder and are more enthusiastic. If I didn't think we could win I wouldn't be going there."

Both teams have suffered an ill-timed loss of form ahead of the most crucial part of the season.

Monaco have surrendered their 10-point lead in Ligue 1 to Olympique Lyon and lost in the French Cup quarter-finals against second division Chateauroux.

Real's comfortable eight-point lead in the Primera Liga has been whittled down to just one point.

Just two weeks ago the talk was of Real completing an historic treble, but a shock extra-time defeat to Real Zaragoza in the King's Cup final and a 4-2 loss to Athletic Bilbao in the league has brought the "galacticos" down to earth with a bump.

The good news for the nine-times European champions is the likely return of leading scorer Ronaldo, who has recovered from a thigh strain and should make the starting line-up.

However, they will have to do without his Brazilian compatriot Roberto Carlos, who is serving a two-match ban for lashing out at Bayern Munich defender Martin Demichelis.

A late decision will be made on captain Raul who has a minor thigh injury.

Monaco welcome back their captain Ludovic Giuly but midfield pacemaker Lucas Bernardi is doubtful after suffering a head injury in a 1-1 draw with Sochaux at the weekend.

Centre-back Sebastien Squillaci returns to the squad after recovering from a leg injury but is not sure to start. Probable teams:

Real Madrid: 1-Iker Casillas, 2-Michel Salgado, 6-Ivan Helguera, 33-Alvaro Mejia or 22-Francisco Pavon, 15-Raul Bravo; 10-Luis Figo, 23-David Beckham, 14-Guti, 5-Zinedine Zidane, 7-Raul or 21-Santiago Solari, 9-Ronaldo.

Monaco: 30-Flavio Roma, 3-Patrice Evra, 27-Julien Rodriguez, 19-Sebastien Squillaci or 32-Gael Givet, 4-Hugo Ibarra or 32-Gael Givet, 7-Lucas Bernardi or 14-Edouard Cisse, 15-Andreas Zikos, 25-Jerome Rothen, 8-Ludovic Giuly, 9-Dado Prso, 10-Fernando Morientes.

Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia).