Madrid - XINHUA
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has called for patience as his side prepares to try to overturn a 2-0 deficit in the return leg of their Champions League quarterfinal at home to Wolfsburg on Tuesday night.
Real Madrid produced a poor performance a week ago against a side which is barely above mid-table in Germany, but hope that in front of 80,000 fans in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium things will be different.
Real Madrid still has possibilities of progressing to the last four in the competition, but after confirming that Karim Benzema has recovered from a knee injury, Zidane asked for fans and players not to expect the game to be won in the opening minutes.
He said the players were "concentrated and prepared".
"It is an important game and we know that, but we need to use our heads because it is not going to be won in 10 or 15 minutes," he said.
The coach admitted an away goal for Wolfsburg, which would leave Madrid needing to score four goals, would "complicate things, but it is something that can happen."
"What we have to do is to concentrate from the first minute until the last and be determined to show people who we are."
He said that he didn' t need to say much to players about the game. "They know what lies ahead of us and what we have to do. I wanted to see my players' faces and they are thinking about this and that lifts the pressure."
"We have to score, but we have to remember that the game lasts for 90 minutes and not five, so the message is patience," insisted the Real Madrid coach, who said that playing well was "not just scoring goals, but also having balance in our play and defending well".