La Liga

Mourinho Wants Home Field Advantage Against Lyon

Buoyed by the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, José Mourinho has called on the backing of the Real Madrid fans when the Liga giants aim to end their run of six straight round of 16 defeats.

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.

Lisandro is a great player, I know that well from Portuguese football. Lyon are more than Lisandro. They are a well-organised team with a very good coach. They have been very competitive without Lisandro.

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.