Madrid: We’re no wimps

THE exaggerated words of respect that were bandied about Manchester yesterday will be consigned to the past in the most ruthless fashion at Old Trafford tonight.

United are certain to attempt to bully Real Madrid to defeat in their Champions League second leg tie.

Madrid appeared to have taken their lead from Alex Ferguson when they flew into Manchester, full of praise for their hosts and suggesting their 1-3 lead is not enough for them to feel secure.

They stressed their belief that they would have to score again. Meantime Alex Ferguson was publicly preaching the gospel of patience while accepting he was relieved that Real's deadly striker, Raul, was ruled out by illness.

"We have shown in the past that we are the masters of winning games late," said Ferguson, "and if it is still scoreless into the second half then the pressure starts to grow on them."

But the word from those close to the United camp was that United will attempt an 'in-your-face' approach after taking note of how an up-tempo and aggressive attitude had upset the skilful Real in their two matches since they beat United. Real Sociedad beat them 4-2 and Barcelona drew 1-1 in two League matches. Barcelona's Dutch winger, Marc Overmars, suggested as much when he offered this advice from Spain "The best way to overcome Real is to 'rough' them up, they don't like it when it gets physical."

The difficulty for United in the first leg was to get close enough to the footballing ghosts in white to engage them in anything resembling a physical contest. But they will be backed by a raucous capacity audience of more than 67,000 fans at Old Trafford and will not struggle to find the athleticism to step up the tempo.

Ferguson said: "We all know how good Real are and we're going to have to be at our best to beat them. We need to push forward on top of them so they do not have the space they had in the first match and my hope is we will lead 1-0 by half-time, if we can do that everything changes."

One of the unwritten stories that always revolve around confrontations like this is the attempt the English newspaper reporters make to try and influence things. Real's low-key manager, Vicente Del Bosque, was the recipient of the 'treatment' when he met the press last night at Old Trafford.

What was his attitude to Real being described as 'performing seals' and the 'Harlem Globetrotters of football' he was asked and his response was delivered in typical monotone: "You have got to fight to be able to put on a good team show. In the first match it was a proper team fight (by Real) which is why we were able to put on a show later."

He was asked whether he had been annoyed by Ferguson's suggestion that Real had tried to unsettle United before the first match when it was reported they were interested in signing David Beckham and he answered: "Sometimes you get comments from managers like that but we'll keep things strictly to sport."

Del Bosque refused to rise to the provocative questioning and when a reported asked how they would react to a physical challenge he responded: "We are not made up of girls, we can play football and we will be able to mix it up if we need to." Real at their best are better than United at their best so the task for United is to prevent Madrid from dominating possession and finding a rhythm. The absence of Raul will be a huge encouragement to them for he proved their nemesis in the first half when his two goals illustrated his particular value to a team of 'all-stars'.

Ferguson made no attempt to underplay the significance of Raul's absence for he said: "There is no doubt that Raul is a big loss to them. He did the damage in the first leg and he is their best player and when you lose your best player then it has to be a big blow."

It remains to be seen how Del Bosque will compensate for the absence of his charismatic team captain. He has several options for he could leave Ronaldo on his own up front and bring in a player like Gutti, who likes to play in the gap between the midfield and the striker, or he could recall a more traditional type partner for Ronaldo in the person of Fernando Morientes. Also straining at the leash for a run at the United defence is the hugely talented Javier Portillo, the 21-year-old striker who has come up through the Real academy as did Raul.

Portillo is an emerging talent who is being groomed carefully by the Real coaching staff but already he has wiped out all of the goal-scoring records set by Raul at under-age level. He has already scored in this season's Champions League. Luis Figo mirrored the attitude of Real's players when he said before their training session at Old Trafford: "We want to secure a semi-final place now for our missing captain. Raul will be watching the game from a hospital bed in Madrid and we want to win and dedicate it to him."

United attempted to downplay the absence of Paul Scholes, who is ruled out together with Gary Neville, because of suspension. But anybody reviewing their high-scoring performances when they hit four against Liverpool, six against Newcastle, two against Arsenal and three against Blackburn would under-estimate his contribution.

In Ruud Van Nistelrooy they have, perhaps, the only player who might find a place in Madrid's team and he is a potential match-winner. Nobody loves a scrap more than United and after snatching a goal out of the debris that was the Bernabeu and then seeing Raul ruled out it would seem the sort of luck that took them to the title in 1999 is again running for them.

Even so the vote has to go to Real.