Defense woes as Real battles Juve
SCORING hasn’t been a problem for Real Madrid recently, especially with Cristiano Ronaldo in top form.
But the European champion could have issues in defense when it hosts Juventus in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals today.
Real will try to protect its three-goal advantage from the first leg with coach Zinedine Zidane unable to use his best players in central defense.
Real captain Sergio Ramos is suspended and his immediate substitute, Nacho Fernandez, is out injured. Raphael Varane just returned from injury, and the other central defender in the squad, 21-year-old Jesus Vallejo, hasn’t been fully fit and it remains unclear if he will be able to make it to the match at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
Real won the first leg 3-0 in Turin, with Ronaldo scoring with a spectacular bicycle kick for his second goal of the match. Real can reach the last 4 for the 8th straight year even if it loses today’s game by 2 goals.
Zidane probably would have liked not to force Varane’s return in the Spanish league derby against Atletico Madrid this weekend, but he couldn’t rest him because Vallejo was bothered by muscle discomfort in practice last week.
Tests showed no major injury to Vallejo, but he trained separately from the squad on Monday before joining the rest of the team yesterday.
“Jesus had a good practice session, he didn’t feel anything,” Zidane said. “Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will see who gets to play. We shouldn’t have any problems. If we do, we will adapt.”
Vallejo is Zidane’s last option to play in central defense, and the youngster didn’t impress in the few times he got to play this season. He has made only eight appearances, mostly when Zidane chose to rest his regular starters. His last match was against Las Palmas following the international break last month. Vallejo’s last Spanish league match before that was against Sevilla in December.
“Jesus is a good player,” Varane said. “He doesn’t have experience in this competition UCL) but he has a lot of quality. From what we’ve seen in practice, he is fine. If he plays, all of us will be confident that he can get the job done.”
Real didn’t concede against Las Palmas, but before that it conceded at least once in five straight matches, including three times against Girona in a league game at home.
In attack, Real has scored in seven straight matches, with Ronaldo continuing to impress. He has found the net 20 times in his last 10 games, including in the 1-1 derby against Atletico on Sunday.
The match against Juventus will be his 150th in the UCL.
Real has won three UCL titles in the last four seasons, including the last two in a row. The team defeated Juventus 4-1 in last year’s final.
No team has ever overturned a 0-3 home loss in the UCL.