Real Madrid: Blancos Aim for the Impossible in return leg
Real Madrid welcomes Borussia Dortmund to the Spanish capital in the hopes of overturning a behemoth, 4-1 aggregate lead for the Germans.
Polish striker Robert Lewandowski put on a clinic in Germany, and Real Madrid will have to do the same to have any chance at reaching the final. Lucky for them they have an away goal to speak of that Barcelona doesn’t as they lost 4-0 in Munich against the newly crowned German champions.
Madrid boss Jose Mourinho wouldn’t give up hope saying in sport, not a thing is scripted and that leaves only possibilities.
“We will go out to play, and try and get in front,” Mourinho said. “If we are 1-0 up, we need two goals to win. We must go minute by minute, goal by goal, until the last minute of the game. We must first try to win the game, then if we are ahead, try and score more and see if we can make the final. Football is football, and everything is possible.”
Mourinho added that his team might not have been as ready for Lewandowski as they first thought.
“We are so pure and so innocent and so naive, that Lewandowski scored four times and we did not even foul him,” he said. “You play a game for 90 minutes, and there is no foul on a player who scores four. Ronaldo was fouled four or five times. You must be concentrated, with mental aggression, and we must be more a team like that,” he finished.
The best coaches seem to think alike as Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp used the phrase “everything is possible” in his pre-match language in a strikingly similar fashion.
“In football, everything is possible,” Klopp said. “Something historic will happen tomorrow. If we get to the final it will be historic. If we get knocked out, that will be historic too. Our main concern is that we focus.”
Given their current standing, the match Tuesday could ask for a less attacking approach from Dortmund in a attempt to protect the lead. But that isn’t what Dortmund has done and it’s not what they look to do according to the manager.
“Real Madrid can pose us trouble, we know that,” Klopp said. “But we also have great potential, attacking potential. We proved that in the first leg. We’ll see whether we need it but it is clear we have the necessary strength.
“The important thing is balance in football, between defense and forward. When we attack, we all attack when we defend, we all defend. I don’t have any problem with that. That plan is applicable to all matches,” he finished.
It only a match worth seeing no matter the outcome, and Klopp said it better than anyone could. If Dortmund gets to the final, that would be huge. And if Madrid overturn their deficit, that would be huge too. One of the two will happen.
