Champions League day 2 preview
Real Madrid looks for a rebound in the second game of the Champions League after surprisingly losing at home to Shakhtar during the opening game. The LaLiga defending champions lost back-to-back games before redeeming themselves in El Clasico against FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou 3-1. Under Zidane, Real Madrid have never lost in Barcelona recording three wins and three losses.
Zidane catches a break
The victory in El Clasico is arguably one of the most important matches of the season for either club. Zidane’s squad responded and secured the French as head coach in a club where a couple losses in a row can get you into crisis with all the pressure from the media and the socios. The champions sit at the second place in the league with a 6-point lead over their eternal rivals.
The manager and club’s legend comments on the great reaction from his team:
We’re pleased with how we performed in El Clásico and are happy with how we did. We put in a good team performance for the 90 minutes and we know that we face a tough side tomorrow who are capable of causing you problems at any time. That’s why we’ll have to stay strong for the whole 90 minutes to try and reproduce our performance from the weekend and take the points”.
Solid German side
Borussia Mönchengladbach are rather inexperienced with the Champions League. Successful club in the 70’s and 80’s, Gladbach was pretty much nonexistent on the European scene till recently. Make no mistake they are a solid team that was able to get a point from Inter 2-2 in Milan in the Champions League opener. This will be a tough test for Real Madrid and Zidane knows it:
“The performance we delivered in El Clásico is exactly the kind of display we need to produce tomorrow. We played well, fought as a team and the most important thing is that we try and do that tomorrow. We’ve got to reproduce what we did at the weekend. We’ve got to put in a good performance and we know the situation we’re in this, our second Champions League game. We’ll have to stay focused for the 90 minutes, fight and battle. It’ll be tough and we’ll have to be focused on what we do out on the pitch”.
“We know it’s a long season and that we’ll need all of them. I’ve always said that and will say it again. We’ve had some problems with players in the right-back position, but there are other players who can come in for them and there’ll be no problems tomorrow”.
