UEFA Champions League 2010-11: Real Madrid v Auxerre - Match Preview
Former European champions, Real Madrid will face Auxerre in their 2nd match of UEFA Champions League 2010-11 Tuesday night. The team’s coach, Jose Mourinho has confirmed that the French striker, Karim Benzema would also be in the starting eleven
for the game.
Real Madrid squad was built up to be a force to reckon this season with the arrival of the special one, Jose Mourinho. But the season’s start hasn’t been an ideal one for the all whites as Madrid have scored only 8 goals in their last 6 matches. Despite
creating numerous chances, they have not been able to make good use of them. Their lack of bite in front of the goal was evident in their goal less draw at the weekend against Levante.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain, Angel Di Maria and Mesut Ozil have been trying to work out some cohesion but they haven’t been able to net in too many goals. Benzema hasn’t started for Madrid since their match against Osasuna, a fortnight ago but now
he is expected to be in the starting 11 in Europe.
"Benzema is working well. It's time to give him more confidence. He will start tomorrow," said Mourinho, who is also confident that his side will soon be taking full toll of the chances they have been creating. "Building a team has many stages and my team
is doing well in every aspect, but it isn't scoring goals, or at least it isn't scoring enough for the chances it gets. The goals will come, there's no problem."
Real Madrid didn’t have a great start to their domestic campaign but in Europe, their first group match was quite impressive as they won against the Dutch side, Ajjax Amsterdam. Mourinho stated that his team would be looking to carry the momentum in Europe
and come up with a big result against Auxerre. "We have three points and we want to try and continue on from the positive start that we had against Ajax”.
The Real Boss maintained that his team hasn’t had rub of the green as far as the draw for Champions League is concerned. He further added that their group may not be the easiest one but still his team would be able to come through. "Real Madrid are in a
difficult group. There are teams in the other groups who are more typical of the UEFA Cup than the Champions League, but we haven't had this luck”.
Jose was also put on the spot regarding his decision to leave out Pedro Leon form the squad for the Champions League tie. Leon was sent on in the 2nd half against Levante. The youngster was quite impressive and in Spanish press there were speculations
that he may be a strong contender for the match against Auxerre. However, Leon was not even part of the 20-man travelling party.
Mourinho has never been the one to be cornered by the media and normally he is the one who dominates the press conferences. So, when he was asked for the 3rd time about the midfield, he said: "I don't have to justify his absence. If the president
(Florentino Perez) asks me, I'll tell him, but he hasn't asked me. You talk of Pedro Leon as if he was Zidane or Maradona or Di Stefano, he's a player who not long ago was playing at Getafe. He is not called up for one game and it seems like you are talking
about a great player. When he works how I want him to, he will play, and when he doesn't, it will be harder for him to play.”
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