On the cusp of a second straight Champions League quarterfinals appearance, Real Madrid must not relapse into its recent history of slipping up at the last-16 stage come today’s return leg against CSKA Moscow.
Madrid holds the away-goal advantage following a 1-1 first-leg draw, and it has won all 17 games at the Santiago Bernabeu apart from two losses to Barcelona. Jose Mourinho’s team has outscored all other opponents 74-17 at home and the Portuguese coach has helped erase a run of underachieving that saw Madrid fail to emerge from the last 16 in every season since 2005 until a semifinal appearance last year.
CSKA scored a stoppage-time equaliser to deny Madrid a win in Moscow, and the Russian side caused another of Spain’s powerhouses problems before, eliminating defending champion Barcelona from the second round 19 years ago with a victory at the Camp Nou after a 1-1 draw in Moscow.
“CSKA created a lot of problems for us in Moscow,” said Madrid midfielder Kaka, who is enjoying his best run since joining the club. “We have to be attentive because they can cause us trouble. These are always difficult games.”
Madrid has lost once in nine fixtures against Russian opponents with Spartak Moscow’s victory in the return leg of a 1990-91 two-legged series the last time the Spanish giant exited from Europe after securing a first-leg draw away.
Madrid remains without injured forward Angel di Maria, while France striker Karim Benzema returned from the injury picked up in the first leg to play some minutes in Saturday’s 3-2 win over Real Betis. Hamit Altintop will miss the match while Fabio Coentrao has missed two straight games to injury.
While Lionel Messi is scoring goals at a record-defying rate, Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo is not far behind. His Spanish league-leading 32 goals make up the bulk of his 40 this season.
Ronaldo has scored in six straight games - a total of eight goals - to steer Madrid’s offence on course to set a new record for league goals in a season.
CSKA is winless in five league matches after salvaging a 1-1 draw against Dynamo Moscow over the weekend.
Midfielder Pavel Mamaev and defender Kirill Nababkin return from bans while midfielder Alan Dzagoev is suspended. Japan midfielder Keisuke Honda is expected to be available despite a thigh injury while Igor Akinfeev and Mark Gonzalez remain sidelined.
CSKA has lost just two of its last 23 road games in all competitions, winning 10 of those. A draw will suffice if it scores more than two goals.