Vulture delighted with Real's draw
Former Real striker Emilio Butragueño, who represented the club at the Champions League draw today, was delighted with the outcome.
Former Real striker Emilio Butragueño, who represented the club at the Champions League draw today, was delighted with the outcome.
The Madrilenos have been pitted with Panathinaikos, Porto and Sparta Prague in Group C of the second phase which gets underway on November 20.
Real were fortunate to avoid some of Europe's big guns and could quite so easily have been thrown in with a combination of Liverpool, Galatasaray and Bayer Leverkusen as a result of the draw in Geneva.
Afterwards Butragueño, known as 'The Vulture' during his predatory goalscoring days with Real and the Spanish national side, was delighted with the outcome.
He said: "It is obvious that we are favourites to qualify for the quarter-finals. It's a good group for us, probably the best of the four, but a club with our reputation and our history must be in the last eight."
Butragueño also expressed his relief at Real avoiding one of the three English teams and added: "We've been lucky to have missed the English clubs, it seemed likely that we would face one of them. The English clubs are the ones we fear the most although we must respect all of our rivals."
Real played Leeds United in Group D in the second phase of last season's Champions League and the year before that they beat Manchester United in the quarter-finals. Real midfielder Steve McManaman was also said to be relishing the opportunity of playing against his former club Liverpool.
Click in on http://www.realmadrid.dk/standings/championsleague/ to see our Champions Leagu pages.
Click in on http://www.realmadrid.dk/standings/championsleague/ to see our Champions Leagu pages.