Real Madrid under pressure to beat Dynamo

AFTER slumping to morale-sapping defeats in their opening games, Real Madrid and Dynamo Kiev meet at the Bernabeu tonight knowing that another slip-up could torpedo their Champions League ambitions.

For Real it was a case of deja vu when they lost again to five-times French champions Olympique Lyon two weeks ago at the Stade Gerland in Group E. Despite talk of a new-found defensive solidity that would allow them to avoid a repeat of last year’s 3-0 defeat at the same stage of the competition, Fabio Capello’s side still lost 2-0 with the Ligue 1 side dominating from start to finish.

After two dour victories at the Bernabeu in the league, the nine-times European champions are under heavy pressure to win, and win well, against opponents who have won just once in 10 visits to Real’s home stadium.

Real won 1-0 at Real Betis on Saturday but although they took the lead through new signing Mahamadou Diarra after just six minutes they failed to press home their advantage and settled for the narrow victory.

Capello, however, was more than satisfied with his team’s catenaccio-style victory.

“We played a good match against a strong team,” said Capello. “The players worked really hard and that’s what I want.”

The bad news for Real is that right back Cicinho suffered a torn knee ligament and could be out for six months while Michel Salgado still has not recovered from a knee injury. Raul Bravo is expected to deputise.

David Beckham was left on the bench for the second game in succession but, given Capello’s rotation policy, the former England captain may find himself back in the starting line-up tonight.

Up front, Ronaldo is still unavailable as he enters the final stages of his recovery programme from knee surgery following the World Cup and Ruud van Nistelrooy will lead the attack with support from Antonio Cassano or Raul.

Dynamo suffered their heaviest home defeat in 12 years in the 4-1 drubbing by former European champions Steaua Bucharest and their misery was compounded by an injury to striker Serhiy Rebrov that will put him out of this match. Midfielder Ruslan Rotan is out for at least a month after undergoing ankle surgery in Belgium last week and defender Vladislav Vashchuk is still regaining fitness after a knee operation.

Dynamo managed only a 1-1 away draw in their last league match against Vorskla Poltava and their previous effort was a dull 1-0 victory against lowly Ilichevets Mariupol.

Their dismal form has drawn heavy criticism from coach Anatoly Demyanenko. “I am very unhappy with the performance of our players,” the Dynamo boss said. “There is nothing more to say. Our opponents seemed to want to win more than we did and that is no way to play soccer. We will have to figure out what is wrong, but we will be ready for Real.”

Tonight’s other games: Group E: Steaua v Lyon; Group G: CSKA Moscow v Hamburg; Group H: AEK v Anderlecht, Lille v Milan.