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Real Madrid vs Fc Zenit Preview
Champions League, Group H, Matchday 6
Real Madrid (2nd, 9pts) vs Zenit St. Petersburg (3rd, 5pts)
Wednesday, 10 December 2008, Kick-off: 20:45 CET
Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
Schuster has been sacked. Juande Ramos will take charge from now on and his first game will be at home against a lowly Zenit.
Qualifying as group leaders would give Real Madrid the home advantage in the return game of the Last 16, but it wouldn’t necessarily make things easier; important sides such as Inter Milan and Chelsea have gone through to the next round as runners-up in their respective groups.
Zenit are already out of the Champions League and Real Madrid also have nothing to play for in this match as Juventus is very unlikely to loose their match (which, if Real Madrid win, would put Juventus in the 2nd position in the group and Real Madrid will qualify as group leaders).
The advantage of that would be that we would not face the big teams in the next round. Round, not rounds. Also, there are many other complications to this matter so lets just skip them all.
Very fortunate for Juande Ramos that his first match in charge does hold much of a significance, so he can use this liberty and chop n change while he can because next week we will face Barcelona.
Which will be Ramos’s first real challenge and a match that could have long term consequences given the delicacy of the situation Real Madrid are currently in.
Anyway.
I think Juande Ramos is going to rest most of the first team players, so that they can face Barcelona at full fitness.
Having said that, I think it is going to be difficult for him to field a second string as we have so many players out injured that there are hardly any fit players that can replace our first team players.
So the question arises that whether Real Madrid players should conserve their energy for the Barcelona match or not?
I think they should, as we should go to the Camp Nou ( Bareclona’s home) with the whole squad well rested.
Last night I was watching Barcelona’s match against Shakhtar Donetsk at Camp Nou, which Barcelona lost 2-3 in an embarassing defeat. The point to be noted is that Barcelona fielded their absolute second string. Here is the Barcelona’s line up which they put out in last night’s Champions League clash:
Jorquera
Sanchez
Pique
Caceres
Sylvinho
Vazquez
Sergio B.
Keita
Hleb
Bojan
Pedro
Only 4 first team members from 11. So that should tell you that Barcelona is not taking this Clasico lightly just because Real Madrid are in a crisis.
I think Real Madrid should also do the same by playing their youth system squad but having said that, I don’t think, the home crowd is going to tolerate that given that Real Madrid lost to Sevilla 3-4 just few days ago.
Add to that, does it even matter if Real Madrid finish the top of the group? Remember last year. We finished top of the group and faced Roma in the last 16. Roma is not really what you call, EUROPEAN POWERHOUSE, still Real Madrid lost, both away and at home.
So I think thatr Juande Ramos should take this game easy and just go for a draw.
There are enough problems already in hand for Real Madrid to be focusing on Zenit game. We must prepare well for Barcelona in order to have any chance at the league title in the second half of the season.
Another defeat, could really push the fans over the edge, so I think Juande Ramos is definitely going to play some of the first team members, if there are any, fit at that moment.
Zenit News
All I know of them is that they won the UEFA cup and beat Manchester United for the European Super cup. They play very attacking football which can really hurt this fragile Real Madrid defense.
Zenit have so far been very dissappointing in the Champions League and have not won a single game.
They will head into their final group match against Real Madrid with something to prove, especially considering that this will be their last Champions League game for a while. They have failed to qualify for next season’s competition after finishing fifth in the recently concluded Russian Premier League, although they will participate in the inaugural UEFA Europa League (UEFA Cup).FORM GUIDE
Real Madrid
Dec 07 Real Madrid 3-4 Sevilla (LA LIGA)
Nov 29 Getafe 3-1 Real Madrid (LA LIGA)
Nov 25 BATE Borisov 0-1 Real Madrid (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE)
Nov 22 Real Madrid 1-0 Recreativo Huelva (LA LIGA)
Nov 15 Real Valladolid 1-0 Real Madrid (LA LIGA)
Zenit St. Petersburg
Nov 25 Zenit 0-0 Juventus (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE)
Nov 22 Spartak Moscow 1-3 Zenit (ROSGOSSTRAKH)
Nov 16 Zenit 1-1 Dinamo Moscow (ROSGOSSTRAKH)
Nov 09 Amkar Perm 1-1 Zenit (ROSGOSSTRAKH)
Nov 05 BATE Borisov 0-2 Zenit (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE)
Team News
Real Madrid
Mahamadou Diarra is out of action for six to nine months after undergoing surgery to repair damaged ligaments in his right knee. Royston Drenthe looks likely to miss out after picking up a knock on his knee during Monday’s training session.
Miguel Torres, Pepe, Gabriel Heinze, Wesley Sneijder, Ruben de la Red and Ruud van Nistelrooy are all injured, while veterans Fabio Cannavaro and Raul could be rested. Marcelo and Arjen Robben, both of whom will be suspended against Barcelona, look certain to start.
Line Up
No idea. Though, if I assume that Juande Ramos will only use players from first team then I think, there are hardly 11 players fit at the moment so I wouldn’t get a prize for guessing the probable line up.
Prediction
Real Madrid should be aware of Zenit’s star player Andrei Arshavin. Juande Ramos is a huge fan of this boy (27 years old) and it will be a perfect opportunity for Arshavin to show Ramos and Real Madrid some of his talents for the sake of a possible future transfer.
Avoiding defeat is going to be the number 1 priority for Real Madrid in this match but I think, most of the players would have their minds set on Barcelona clash, so I predict that it is going to be a draw.
0-0, or 1-1 at best.
