So, this is easily our most difficult match so far this season. Real Madrid have won the CL for the last 2 seasons and they have a strong squad. Also, we have never beaten them in our history, drawing 1 and losing 3 of our 4 matches against them. In fact, we have never scored any goal against them in all those matches, conceding 6 in return. Both our matches against Real in the 2011 CL quarter final were decided by Crouch's red card in the first leg at Real and Gomes' error in the second leg at WHL. We need to do much better than that if we want to have any chance of doing well this time.
No doubt our key man will be Kane. We will need him to be at his best in front of goal. When he plays well and scores, we do well. But can see him being tightly marked in this match. This is why we also need others like Son and Eriksen step up their game and threaten the Real goal. Want to see Eriken take a good freekick for once, if we do get any. We still have not seen the best of Llorente in front of goal even if he didn't play much. Hope he can come on and do something if we need him.
I think this match will be won or lost in midfield. We simply need to control the midfield to have any chance of getting something from this match. But can't help but worried about our midfield now. Without the injured Wanyama and Dembele, our midfield have not been very good this season. The likes of Dier and Winks are either too young or error proned. I think Sissoko should start this match. He has been in good form lately. Maybe he will be our secret weapon against Real.
Our defence need to be air-tight against Real. We cannot afford to make any unforced errors as Real have players like Ronaldo who can take advantage of that. Want to see Alderweireld, Vertonghen and Sanchez concentrate fully in defence rather than joining our attack. We also need Lloris to be alert all the time. Remember, Gomes let in a soft goal against Real in 2011. We simply cannot afford to make such mistakes in defence this time.
Since we are playing away at Real, a draw will be a great result for us. But if we want to become a top team that everyone respects, we need to beat the big teams like Real home or away. After all, if we have any ambition of winning the CL one day, we should be ready to beat all the teams. Hope we will turn up with the right team and mentality to make history by beating Real !