In The Bowels Of The Bernabéu

Real Madrid vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Real will step out this evening as clear favourites, European aristocracy with the type of silver-tinted history that most clubs covet. Tottenham, blue collared for the evening, are undoubtedly the young pretenders on nights such as these. Should the same type of panic that beset them on their first visit to the San Siro overcome them tonight, in the bowels of the Bernabéu, their hopes could be dashed before half time. Their fans would hope that magnificent victories in the campaign have since steeled the team from such displays of naivety.

Much has been written of Cristiano Ronaldo’s contribution to tonight’s proceedings, and anyone familiar with the direct and powerful runs which typified his time in the Premier League will need no reminding that in his stride and in moments of virtuosic skill he is nigh on impossible to stop. Instead, it would be more prudent for Tottenham to concentrate on the man with the ability to flay a midfield with a single pass: Xabi Alonso. It is hard to argue that Liverpool haven’t missed his incisive passing. Conjuring from possession deep in his own half, razor sharp passes that find the No.10 – be it Steven Gerrard then or Mesut Özil now – cutting the opponent’s midfield out of the game and placing huge pressure on the opposition’s defence. Should he be able to find Ronaldo with these types of passes Tottenham’s defence may find themselves faced with the world’s most dynamic forward bearing down on them.

With possession Alonso can spark an attack from the slightest kindling, and it should be this that Tottenham look to snuff out. Without question Real have the ability to artfully construct attacks and to place enormous pressure on an opponent, but should the pace of their attacking be slowed it should allow Tottenham to better engineer their defence, to defend with the play in front of them rather than finding themselves in a foot race with Ronaldo, Özil or Di María.

With the ball Tottenham can hurt Madrid. It will be interesting to see how Real set out their stall: there have been murmurings from Real players, particularly from Álvaro Arbeloa, who discussed in the Guardian recently the difficulty teams in Europe have found dealing with Peter Crouch’s knock-downs in the 18 yard box. He has suggested that should Crouch play, Madrid will play a high line as he lacks pace. This would be a gift to Tottenham as it would create space behind the Real line for Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon to exploit. One wouldn’t expect Mourinho to be so tactless in his approach. Expect Madrid to sit deep and allow Ricardo Carvalho to deal with Crouch and invite Tottenham up the pitch to attack looking to hit them with explosive counter attacks.

As with any Champions League quarter final first leg this will be a cagey affair and Mourinho has already suggested that he wouldn’t have a problem heading to White Hart Lane needing to score to progress. However, with Tottenham’s electrifying performances so far, a betting man would be wise to place his roll of twenties back in his pocket. Real have waited six years for this opportunity, Tottenham vastly longer, and both sets of 11 will be lacing up tonight with the hope of lifting the biggest cup in Europe aloft.

~Ed