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VfL Wolfsburg |
| Manchester United |
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| AC Milan |
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Olympique Marseille |
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Marseille and Real Madrid, who are both among those eight teams, clash against each other at the Stade Vélodrome in France on Tuesday.
Marseille must beat Real Madrid 3-0 or by a four-goal margin if they want to qualify into the last sixteen of the UEFA Champions League.
The French champions went down 3-0 in the first leg of this encounter which was played at the Santiago Bernabeu. Unfortunately for Marseille, they weren’t rewarded for their defensive hard-work.
Instead, they stumbled against Cristiano Ronaldo’s influence which powered Real Madrid to score three goals in the space of seven minutes.
As a result of that heavy and sudden defeat, Marseille have been left with an uphill task to overcome in the last match-day of the group stages. Creating history by winning and possibly eliminating Los Blancos from the UEFA Champions League is a must for the French side.
As the home side, Marseille will have to emulate Alcorcon’s achievement of trouncing Real Madrid on Tuesday.
On match-day five of the UEFA Champions League, Marseille put up a good performance against AC Milan at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium to earn a vital point. Their approach to that game was brave enough and Marseille might have clinched all three points if a couple of their shots had crossed the goal line instead of crashing against the crossbar or the post.
Goals will definitely be needed on Tuesday evening for Marseille to fulfill their wish of qualifying into the last sixteen of the tournament.
The French champions do not depend on any other team in the table to qualify and their fate is pretty much in their own hands although the mission to accomplish seems astronomically huge.
Thus, the public could expect a very physical an open game at the Stade Vélodrome with Marseille always looking to attack unless the game fully goes to the visitors, Real Madrid.
Unlike the situation is in La Liga, Real Madrid top their table in the UEFA Champions League. Los Blancos slipped against AC Milan – losing 3-2 at the Santiago Bernabeu and only drawing 1-1 at the San Siro.
All the same, Real Madrid now top Group C with 10 points, two ahead of AC Milan.
Qualification into the last sixteen is almost set for the Spanish giants but the prospect of dropping from the first spot to the second or even the third place in the table also exists.
To keep hold of the first spot in Group C, Real Madrid need to make sure that they don’t finish with the same points as AC Milan as such a thing would see them drop onto second due to the head to head factor.
Meanwhile, should Los Blancos suffer a cruel defeat in the hands of Marseille on Tuesday evening, then their hopes of reaching the second round of the UEFA Champions League will be blown off.
Finishing as the leaders of their group is something very important for Manuel Pellegrini and his club, considering the advantages that it presents.
Therefore, with the return of Cristiano Ronaldo in attack, Real Madrid will try and tie the knot by beating Marseille and thus progressing into the last sixteen of the competition.
Real Madrid will definitely play to win as a draw might see them lose hold of the Group C’s first spot.
Psychological distractions for CR9?
The public and the media will be curious to know how Manuel Pellegrini will use his number 9 forward on Tuesday evening.
One or two goals might put Real Madrid in the comfort zone and Cristiano Ronaldo could just be the right player to inspire Los Blancos against a Marseille side expected to show a lot of ambition.
However, Cristiano Ronaldo could fear playing against Marseille as memories of the painful ankle injury that he sustained against the French might still echo in his mind.
With Marseille’s defender Souleymane Diawara insisting that he would redo to Cristiano Ronaldo the tackle that caused the Portuguese a period of around two months on the sidelines, Manuel Pellegrini could advise the attacker to approach the game differently.
Either way, Real Madrid fans will not accept any excuses should Real Madrid lose the first spot or crash out from the competition.
What Los Blancos must clinch at the Stade Vélodrome on Tuesday is a victory to finish the job that they started earlier in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.
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