Mourinho and Özil weigh in on RM's chance of defeating Dortmund

Real Madrid face Borussia Dortmund in the return leg of their Champions League meet-up, this time at home in the Bernabéu.  20 men have been called up for duty in their fourth fixture in the European competition.

Selección de Real Madrid:

Goalkeepers: Casillas, Adán, Jesús

Defenders: Arbeloa, Varane, Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Nacho, Carvalho, Albiol

Midfielders: Kaká, Xabi Alonso, Álex, Özil, Essien, Modric, Callejón, Di María

Forwards: Cristiano, Pipita

 

José Mourinho announced the confidence he has in his men, in spite of the 2-1 defeat to the German side.  He stated, "It's a very hard group, [so] to get anywhere is good.  Losing is bad and I think all the teams are at risk.  Dortmund and us are better off than the other two teams."  The Portuguese manager continued in saying, "But City may win more points in the second half of the group stage [fixtures] and rise [up the table.   It is very entertaining because it is very complicated and all the teams are under pressure.  Borussia are strong, but we are at home and we can do well."

German international Mesut Özil also weighed in on the upcoming Champions League fixture.  "Our goal is to give the best of ourselves and play as well as we can," he said.  "It's true that we didn't start off very well and we lost some points, but now we've regained our self-confidence and we're back on track."  Real Madrid played a La Liga fixture this past weekend up against Zaragoza, claiming a 4-0 victory, which certainly restored some morale in los Blancos and their fans.

Özil went on to add that he was not fully satisfied with his personal performance, acknowledging his need and intent to keep on improving, in addition to the need for RM to win.

Los Blancos will have to beat the German side without Karim Benzema, who has been deemed unfit to play due to an abductor muscle problem.  The French forward will be taking time off to recover.  For how long, Mourinho is unsure, but it is for certain that Benzema will be out for the Champions League fixture.  There is no contesting the fact that a win against Dortmund will be a difficult task for the men of Madrid tomorrow, but this Madridista has the utmost confidence in her team.  Until then, keep calm and ¡Hala Madrid!

written by Gail Hidalgo