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Journalism of Courage
The most successful club in the 53-year history of European football8217;s most prestigious competition, Real Madrid is making hard work of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League and the pressure continues to build on coach Bernd Schuster.
While more of its biggest rivals could clinch spots this week, Real Madrid is still in danger of being left behind in what would amount to a humiliation for the nine-time winner.
Madrid will make it to the knockout phase with a victory at BATE Borisov on Tuesday. But current form makes the long journey to Belarus look far more daunting than it should be.
Madrid8217;s 1-0 victory over next-to-last Recreativo Huelva in the Spanish league on Saturday ended a run of three winless games in a row for a team which appeared to be coasting toward the Champions League knockout phase until it lost two matches to Juventus.
Now Madrid has only a two-point advantage over last season8217;s UEFA Cup winner Zenit St. Petersburg with two rounds of group matches to go.
8220;It is a difficult situation. We8217;re not scared, but not happy and we didn8217;t play well against Recreativo,8221; said midfielder Rafael van der Vaart. 8220;It8217;s good that we win this game. It was not a great day for us, but we played like a team today.8221;
Winger Royston Drenthe admitted there was an edgy atmosphere at the club.
8220;Of course, tension is normal. We have to win games, you know,8221; he said. 8220;You play for a club like Real Madrid, the people outside start talking. It8217;s not easy to play football here, the people are very strong. A couple of losses and it8217;s difficult.
8220;But this is Real Madrid. You go out to play football like you know, not like the crowd but how your trainer and you know.8221;
Going into the next to last round of group games, only Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon and Juventus are through to the last 16. But 10 more clubs could charge through in this week8217;s games on Tuesday and Wednesday including defending champion Manchester United.
The Red Devils go to Spain8217;s Villarreal in Group E knowing that a draw will put both teams through and eliminate Celtic and Aalborg, who meet in Denmark.
Villarreal comes off its first league defeat of the season, a 3-0 loss to Valladolid, while United was held 0-0 by Aston Villa.
Italian champion Inter Milan will get there with a draw with Panathinaikos on Wednesday when English Premier League leader Chelsea will advance by winning at Bordeaux.
Bayern Munich and Lyon only need to draw against Steaua and Fiorentina on Tuesday and advance from Group F and Arsenal hopes to shake off its domestic woes by advancing with a victory over Dynamo Kiev at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners could also get there a game early with a 0-0 draw. But Saturday8217;s 3-0 loss to Manchester City and revelations by defender William Gallas that there is discord among some of his teammates have rocked the usually calm atmosphere at the Emirates.
Atletico Madrid and Liverpool are on the brink of qualifying from Group D and only need to avoid defeat at home to PSV Eindhoven and Marseille on Wednesday.
Unbeaten in eight games, Atletico will have to do it in an empty Vicente Calderon stadium however. UEFA ordered it to play the game behind closed doors because of crowd trouble at the 2-1 victory over Marseille Oct. 1.
Marseille won its last visit to Anfield last season in group play and, despite having five points to make up with two games to go, hasn8217;t given up.
8220;As long as the second place is mathematically available, we8217;ll try to go for it,8221; said Marseille midfielder Lorik Cana, whose team is top scorer in the French league with 29 goals in 14 games.
8220;Everything will be really decided in Liverpool. We8217;re coming a long way, we won8217;t try to calculate, we8217;ll go there to win.8221;
