Jose Mourinho
Buoyed by the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, José Mourinho has called on the backing of the Real Madrid CF fans when the Liga giants aim to end their run of six straight round of 16 defeats with. Olympique Lyonnais arribving the scores level at 1-1 - hoping to avoid elimination by Olympique Lyonais at this stage for a second successive season.
José Mourinho, Madrid coach
"We all have a positive and negative past, but our history in the competition doesn't [come into] play. It's an open match. Real Madrid have a little advantage but it's not enough. One team will be alive in the competition tomorrow at midnight.Everybody wants to play in this match and nobody is scared. There is no special pressure."
"Karim Benzema is the main person responsible for his good form. His team-mates and [Zinédine] Zidane have helped him a lot. Our fans should play tomorrow because we always play against 12 players in our away matches, I haven't seen the Santiago Bernabéu really playing with its team yet."
Team news - Madrid
Ronaldo came through a full training session on Tuesday afternoon and looks set to return from his thigh injury. Pedro León (knee strain), Fernando Gago (adductor), Gonzalo Higuaín (back) and Kaká (knee) are all definitely out, though. Sami Khedira (thigh) and Ezequiel Garay (adductors) were back on the bench at the weekend. Sergio Ramos, Ronaldo, Raúl Albiol and Ángel Di María are within a booking of a suspension.
Lyon
Aly Cissokho (thigh), Yoann Gourcuff (toe) and Cris (tendinitis) sat out the weekend league game, although Cissokho did train at the Santiago Bernabéu on Tuesday. Ederson (thigh) is back on his feet but is not in the squad having been out since August. Michel Bastos is suspended and is also set to undergo knee surgery; Dejan Lovren and Jérémy Pied are within a booking of a match ban.
Latest results
Saturday: Madrid 2-0 Hércules CF -(Benzema 24 56)
Madrid made it 21 wins in as many home matches this season, keeping their 14th clean sheet in the process. Benzema scored both goals, and has now struck twice in each of Madrid's last three games following similar efforts against Real Racing Club (3-1) and Málaga CF (7-0).
Saturday: FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 0-2 Lyon -(Lisandro 22, Pjanić 64)
After a perfect hat-trick against AC Arles-Avignon the previous week, fit-again Lisandro made it four goals in two games as Lyon stretched their unbeaten run to seven matches. Eighteenth in Ligue 1 at the beginning of October, OL now lie third having been defeated once in 20 league outings since.
Fun Facts
Lyon have lost all six UEFA competition ties in which they drew the initial leg at home, including four when the score was 1-1 at the Stade de Gerland. The most recent reverse came in the 2008/09 round of 16, when a 1-1 draw in France preceded a 5-2 loss at FC Barcelona.
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