csconstantine.com

MADRID (AP)—Real Madrid will be looking to end its jinx against Lyon in European competition on Wednesday and reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the first time since 2004.

Madrid drew 1-1 in the first leg with Karim Benzema providing the away goal advantage ahead of the match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, where the teams have drawn in all three previous meetings—including last year when the French club knocked the nine-time champions out at the same stage.

Juventus, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, AS Roma, Liverpool and Lyon have all sent Madrid out since it’s last two-legged triumph in the round of 16—against Bayern seven years ago. Miralem Pjanic’s second-half goal earned the French club a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu last year to go through 2-1 on aggregate.

“Yes, this run of bad results works against Real Madrid. But the game will be open and Madrid has a small advantage,” Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said Tuesday. “But if we don’t get through this year it’s not a big problem. Big problems are what is happening in Japan right now.”

Mourinho said he would make a decision on Cristiano Ronaldo’s availability after training later Tuesday as Madrid looks for its first victory over Lyon in seven Champions League matches. The Portugal forward, who leads the team with 37 goals in all competitions, has missed two league games with a leg injury.

“It’s the first time that Lyon plays its second match here without an advantage. At this point we’re qualified and they have to play a big game,” Mourinho said. “We will play very defensively. We’ll stack the back and hope (goalkeeper Iker) Casillas makes a lot of stops so if it ends 0-0 we’re through.”

Mourinho’s future at Madrid could depend on the result as the Portuguese coach was hired to end Madrid’s drought in the competition.

So far, Mourinho’s first season has been successful. He has led the team to the Copa del Rey final and into second place in the league, five points behind Barcelona.

But Madrid yearns for European glory and another early exit may leave even the brash Mourinho in trouble.

“Madrid is the champion of champions but obviously they need to win it again. Mourinho is one of three coaches to have won Champions League twice with different clubs so if I don’t win another I’ll still go down in the competition’s history. But I still want to win another,” said Mourinho, who is vying to become the first to win the European Cup with three different teams following title runs with FC Porto and Inter Milan. “(But) everybody wants to play, nobody is afraid. There’s no special pressure for it.”

Madrid, which as won all 21 games played at the Bernabeu this season and has advanced 19 of the 20 times it has drawn away in the first leg of UEFA competitions, also has an inform Benzema to count on. The France striker is finally showing why Madrid paid ?35 million ($49 million) for him from Lyon, and he has scored 19 goals in all competitions with five in Europe.

“He’s changed, it’s true. But Karim himself is the main reason for it, as well as the other players and myself,” Mourinho said of Benzema, who has been helped by Madrid official and former France great Zinedine Zidane. “I also think the psychological work that Zizou has done with him has been very important.”

Mourinho also has Emmanuel Adebayor to choose from in attack in the absence of injured Brazil playmaker Kaka and Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain.

Lyon can count on Argentina striker Lisandro Lopez, who has scored four times in two games since returning from injury. Left back Aly Cissokho, who is still recovering from a thigh injury, traveled with the team and has a good chance to start in place of Thimothee Kolodziejczak, while Brazilian midfielder Michel Bastos is suspended.

Midfielder Yoann Gourcuff is available despite a bruised toe.

Lyon is currently enjoying its best form all season and moved within four points of French league leader Lille with a 2-0 win at Sochaux last weekend.

“Everyone is sharing the same positive state of mind at the moment,” France midfielder Jeremy Toulalan said. “(But) even if we did it last season, Real Madrid has improved defensively. Last year, their central defense was left abandoned.”

AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.

Agences de presses

Labels: downplays, Madrids, Mourinho

{

By Sportsmail Reporter
Last updated at 9:24 AM on 22nd February 2011

Jose Mourinho has offered his strongest hint yet that he would relish a return to the Stamford Bridge hotseat.

Pressure is mounting on under-fire Italian boss Carlo Ancelotti following Chelsea's alarming lack of form that has seen last season's double winners lose a grip on their Premier League title and dumped out of the FA Cup.

There has been a growing clamour among Blues supporters to see The Special One return after the Portuguese coach was axed by Russian owner Roman Abramovich in September 2007.

Special treatment: Jose Mourinho, who watched Chelsea draw with Fulham last week, is open to a return with the Blues

Mourinho, who guided Chelsea to two championships, two league cups and the FA Cup during his three-year tenure, revealed he still loves the west London club and is unsure whether he will see out his four-year contract in charge of Real Madrid.

He said: 'I don’t know. I love Chelsea. I was the happiest man when I was there. I was thinking I would be there all my life. So you never know.

'When I sign a contract, I sign with the intention to respect the contract and be happy.'

Just champion: Mourinho guided Chelsea to consecutive Barclays Premier League titles

Mourinho put in a surprise visit to Craven Cottage last week to see Fulham hold the Blues to a 0-0 draw.

Doubts persist over whether the 48-year-old will stay at the Bernabeu beyond the the current campaign. Real are five points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona and Mourinho has encountered a frosty relationship with the club's sporting director Jorge Valdano of late.

All smiles: Fernando Torres and John Terry are preparing to take on Copenhagen in the last 16 of the Champions League

Chelsea take on Copenhagen in the last 16 of the Champions League this evening, knowing that the European competition is their last hope of salvaging their disappointing season with silverware.

Mourinho's Real side are also in action tonight, against French outfit Lyon, and the Madrid boss wants to reach the May final at Wembley to defend the European Cup he won last year with Inter Milan.

Click on the icon below an article to save to your favourite stories file

Agences de presses

Labels: Chelsea, daily, hints, Madrid, Mourinho, return

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has stated that he is well aware of the dangers Lyon can present his side in their Round of 16 tie in the Champions League.

Les Gones sent the Blancos packing at this stage of the competition last season and Mourinho is adamant that they will not underestimate the French side.

"Lyon are a good team who have experience of this kind of game, but we are Madrid," he said during a press conference.

"If we think that both games will be easy, then it's going be difficult for us. We must play well in both games. We know our ability, and we won't underestimate Lyon."

The Merengues have been eliminated from Europe's premier club competition in the Round of 16 for the last six consecutive years, but Mourinho believes his side have a good chance of breaking the hex and advancing to the quarter-finals.

"It's been six years since Madrid reached the quarter-finals. When I was at Inter, the club hadn't won the Champions League for more than 50 years," he stated confidently.

"Is it possible to do it this year? We have to beat Lyon… Zinedine Zidane gave us a lot of advice in preparing for this game."

The first-leg is set for Tuesday night at Stade Gerland.

Follow Goal.com on to get the latest soccer news directly. Check out Goal.com's

Agences de presses

Labels: Goalcom, insists, Madrid, Mourinho, Underestimate

Even one of the greatest streaks in soccer history has not saved Jose Mourinho’s position as Real Madrid boss from coming under intense pressure.

With a 2-0 victory over Levante last weekend, Mourinho’s players ensured their coach would complete nine full years without any of his teams having lost a league game at home, a remarkable run that confirms his reputation as one of the all-time greats.

The statistics are astonishing. In 148 home league games since 2002 – when Porto lost 3-2 to Beita Mar – Mourinho’s Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid teams have won 125 and drawn 23. Out of 444 possible points, they have gained 398.

Yet despite all this, the marriage between Mourinho and the Madrid hierarchy is tortured, and every passing week brings greater speculation in Spain that he will either jump or be pushed out before too long.

The complicated political structure of the famous old club has created tension ever since Mourinho walked through the doors of the Bernabeu at the beginning of last summer. The Portuguese icon feels there are factors inside the organization that are working against him, but his decision to go public with his grievances further alienated his opponents and sent some fence-sitters into the opposite camp.

Such an unstable working environment does not bode well for his future in Madrid, and the situation may be brought to a head this week. Madrid faces French side Lyon in the Champions League on Tuesday in the first leg of a round of 16 clash that could decide its season, and Mourinho’s fate.

The La Liga title may be beyond reach already, with Barcelona’s consistency such that the current five-point gap is looking like a barrier that could be too steep, even with a third of the campaign left.

The pressure on Madrid’s Champions League bid is further intensified by another streak – an unwanted one. The Galacticos have lost at this round of 16 stage in each of the last six seasons, most recently to Lyon one year ago.

Mourinho has taken a typically bullish approach this week but he knows better than anyone that failure in this competition is the biggest sore point at Madrid, especially with Barca reaching four semifinals in five years and winning it all in 2006 and 2009.

“(Lyon) are tough opponents, who know how to play this kind of match, but we are Real Madrid,” he said, at a pre-game news conference. “The statistics are against us but they are figures from the past. If we think it’ll be easy, we’ll be in trouble. But we don’t think that. If we believe that everything will be decided (in the first leg), we’ll be in trouble. But we don’t believe that.

“We are ready and convinced of our qualities. We’re not attached to the past and we respect our opponents for what they are today. But we are Real Madrid, the champion of champions of European football. There’s pressure but also conviction that accompanies us.”

The most intriguing subplot to Mourinho’s increasingly tenuous position is the certainty that he would be much-coveted elsewhere were he to leave. Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti is close to the axe and Mourinho has been strongly linked with a return to West London and the English Premier League, where he won two titles and spearheaded the revolution funded by Roman Abramovich.

Such a move would be extraordinary given the way he parted company with Chelsea in 2007, yet Abramovich needs someone capable of building a squad in the manner Mourinho did several years ago.

For all Mourinho’s quirks and sometimes abrasive nature, Abramovich didn’t realize what a good thing he had until he was gone.

Real Madrid may soon be left feeling the same way.

Agences de presses

Labels: Madrids, Mourinho, Sports, Yahoo

{
José Mourinho. entraîneur de Real Madrid : «Terminer premier»
Sports : les autres articles
L'entraîneur du Real Madrid, José Mourinho, a déclaré dimanche, après la belle victoire de son équipe face à la Real Sociedad (4-1), qu'il était venu «pour terminer premier» du Championnat d'Espagne.
«De tous les championnats que j'ai disputés, les saisons complètes avec mes équipes (FC Porto, Chelsea et Inter Milan), je n'ai terminé deuxième qu'une seule fois, lors de ma troisième saison à Chelsea. Je suis ici (à Madrid) pour terminer premier», a déclaré Mourinho en conférence de presse. «Mais si je termine deuxième, que se passe-t-il ? Rien. Pour moi, rien.
Le plus important est de ne pas faire cadeau du Championnat», a-t-il ajouté alors que son équipe est à sept points du leader de la Liga, le FC Barcelone, après 22 journées. Ce dernier a battu samedi le record de victoires consécutives en Championnat d'Espagne, signant au Camp Nou face à l'Atletico Madrid (3-0) un 16e succès d'affilée. Le Barça de Messi, auteur d'un «hat-trick» (17e, 28e et 79e), fait mieux que le Real Madrid de Di Stefano, qui avait enchaîné 15 succès lors de la saison 1960-1961. Après son succès de samedi, le Barça possédait en tête du classement 10 points d'avance sur son premier poursuivant, le Real Madrid, qui reçoit dimanche la Real Sociedad.      


Agences de presses

Labels: entraneur, Madrid, Mourinho, Premier, Terminer