The Real Madrid news on Friday has been dominated by the Champions League draw which pitted the Spanish champions against Liverpool in the quarter finals.
Boss Zinedine Zidane devoted much of his press conference ahead of this weekend’s trip to Celta Vigo in La Liga discussing the double-legged encounter, which will be staged early next month.
The Frenchman spoke of the physicality that the Reds will present as a challenge to his side, in what will be a repeat of the 2018 final in Kiev – the last time that Madrid lifted the Champions League.
Madrid’s clash against Barcelona in the second El Clasico of the season at the Alfredo Di Stefano stadium on Saturday 10 April is sandwiched in between both legs of the last eight clash.
Read more: Real Madrid’s season-defining week: Liverpool, Barcelona, Liverpool in 8 days
Zidane told reporters on Friday, in quotes carried by Diario AS: “We know the difficulties of the game. At this level all the teams are very good and very difficult.
“It will be a very demanding match too. Liverpool are physically going to demand a lot from us. At the moment we have tomorrow’s game and we are concentrating only on it. ”
“The tough schedule? Every year it is the same. In the final stretch you are always risking everything. I do not look at those things, but on the day to day. What encourages us is the day by day. The rest is philosophy, talking about many things.
“What we want is to continue working. We are still alive in both competitions and we want to give everything and prepare to be strong. It is what encourages us.
“We don’t know what will happen after 30 March (regarding a travel ban). We are going to play where they tell us. We prefer to play at Di Stéfano, but we’ll see what they say.
“It will be a good match between two teams that have won many Champions. At that level it is always very difficult to win.”
Madrid have lifted the Champions League on a record 13 occasions, with Zidane winning one as a player and three as boss.
