Next week, the Champions League quarterfinals get underway with Real Madrid taking on Galatasaray. Many feel that Madrid benefitted from the draw and are the clear-cut favorites to win the double-header. However, the team is not so confident.
"We have to keep a clean sheet at home and score goals because I'm convinced that they're going to make it very difficult for us in Turkey," Madrid defender Sergio Ramos told Spanish publication Marca. "Being drawn against Galatasaray isn't a stroke of luck, far from it. You must never underestimate a team. They all deserve to be where they are."
Ramos noted that the team has only improved with its latest additions. "Galatasaray have been strengthened by the arrivals of [Didier] Drogba and [Wesley] Sneijder but danger comes from the team as a whole, which is quite strong," he stated.
Madrid coach Jose Mourinho also spoke of Drogba, who he coached for a few years in Chelsea. "I have had a lot of truly special players, but if I had to choose one I might go for Didier," Mourinho told Real Madrid TV. "As a player he is out of this world. I would like to have him by my side, so just imagine."
Aside from Drogba, Madrid will also face off against former teammate Hamit Altintop, now a midfielder for the Turkish side. Altintop admitted that that Madrid will be a tough team but also argued for his side's chances of coming out victorious.
"Of course we have options. In football anything is possible. I have played many matches where we were favorites and then lost. The key to the tie will be in the first leg. If we survive that, we can finish it off at home. Here in Istanbul, anything is possible," Altintop told Marca. "We are a passing team who are very comfortable on the ball. We are the Barça of Turkey. But the best thing about the team is that we use three different systems. At the Bernabéu we will attack. We have a brave manager."
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