Champions League on wednesday

Real Madrid V Liverpool

Kick-off: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
20:45 CET – Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

Real Madrid
Real come into this on the back of a successful weekend’s work in La Liga where they cut into Barcelona’s lead at the top with a convincing 6 – 1 win over Real Betis. They have now won nine games in a row, scoring 22 goals in the process while conceding just two. This run has helped them overcome a terrible opening to the season and has helped take the pressure of them somewhat as opposed to other seasons when they were heavily weighed down with expectation. Obviously the fans still expect success but firstly Real Madrid will attempt to get past the last 16 for the first time in five years.
They comfortably defeated BATE Borisov and Zenit St Petersburg at home in the group stages but were beaten 2 – 0 by Juventus.
It was at this stage last year when they made their exit in a 2 – 1 defeat to Roma.
Lassana Diarra came into the squad in January and has been a success story so far in the middle of the park. Also the signing of Huntelaar has recently begun to show promise though he is ineligible for the champions league. However attacking threat is not a problem with the likes of Robben, Raul, Higuain and Sneijder all able to pose an attacking threat.
Team News
Juande Ramos has the welcome luxury of having all his squad available for selection. Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder have fully recovered from their knocks and should start.

Liverpool
Liverpool had the complete opposite of Real in the last weekend of premiership action. The 1 – 1 draw with Manchester City not only lost them valuable points but further underlined the importance of the absent Steven Gerrard. Although he is included in the travelling squad to Madrid, there are concerns about his fitness having been out for three weeks out with a hamstring injury and at time of writing it is unknown if he will start.
This clash has probably come at the wrong time for Liverpool as they seem to have lost the confidence that put them top of the League. A tough run of fixtures saw them depart the FA Cup at the expense of rivals Everton and struggle to a 3 – 2 win over Portsmouth where 2 late goals saved their blushes. In Fernando Torres though they have a match winner and Real will need to watch him at all times as he is capable of striking out of nowhere. He will be eager to impress going back to play against his former club rivals. He never scored for Atletico at the Bernabeu but will be hoping to change that stat.
Team News
Gerrard is back but it’s hard to imagine he is at full match fitness. Sami Hyypia will replace Daniel Agger who has a back injury. Xabi Alonso returns from suspension.

Verdict
Real Madrid have only lost once to an English club at the Bernabeu, a 1 – 0 defeat to Arsenal in 2006. I think Real hold all the aces in this game. They have the confidence, the scoring power and home advantage, Gerarrd has scored 5 times in the last 5 champions league games and is pivotal to his teams chances but is he fit?. They have a good pedigree in Europe but for a team renowned for their defence have only one clean sheet in their last 10 Champions League matches and face a big task to keep Real out. Liverpool will be happy to defend and do the work at Anfield but I fancy Real to come through Wednesday night with a narrow win. Winning is important but keeping Liverpool without an away goal is also very important so expect a low scoring affair .
1 – 0 to Real Madrid


PICK
Real Madrid win (2.1 @ boylesports) 6 points