Schuster Urges Madrid Players To Brace Themselves

Real Madrid coach, Bernd Schuster has warned his players to be mentally prepared for what could be one of their toughest battles of the season.

Los Merengues will head into Tuesday night’s Champions League clash with BATE Borisov in Minsk in dire need of a win to inch closer to securing a place in the knockout phase and to prevent their crisis spiralling out of control again.

But the men in white will not be helped by their mounting injury woes and the plummeting temperatures in Belarus. Expected to play in freezing conditions and a less than presentable pitch, coach Bernd Schuster has warned his players to be ready from the get go.

“If we are not well prepared, especially in these conditions, we are going to suffer because it will take us a while to get into the game,” he told reporters during the pre-match interview, before going on to add, “It is necessary to be fired-up from the first minute.”

Schuster is also fully aware of the threat posed by the opponents themselves: “They are a dangerous team and they will be very motivated to play against us.”

The German-born coach then confirmed that unfit Wesley Sneijder will be in the starting eleven as he acknowledged that his team cannot afford to hold back and rest key players for such a crucial clash.

“We must not reserve anything or anyone. Even I will have to play,” he joked.

“We cannot allow ourselves the luxury to rest players. But he (Sneijder) seems to be doing well and I believe that he will be able to play just fine,” he assured.

Finally, Schuster decided to ask for a little favour from their old foes, Juventus.

“I am hoping that Juventus will be able to beat Zenit because it is important that we secure qualification before we play them in the final group game."

“Ofcourse, we have to win our match, too, but it would be nice if Juventus can help us a little,” he concluded.

Madrid will only book their ticket to the last 16 if they win at BATE and Zenit fail to beat Juve.