Zinedine Zidane: “We’ve Come Here to Win”

Real Madrid and Zinedine Zidane may have a 3-1 advantage heading into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie with Liverpool, but Los Blancos won’t kick off the evening at Anfield looking to simply hold on to the lead that they already have.

Instead, the Madrid manager says his side will be looking to add to their first leg advantage and win in England just as they did last week in Spain, a result that would ensure they’re the ones facing Chelsea in the semi finals of Europe’s premier cup competition.

“We’re not going to try and manage the game,” Zidane said ahead of the match. “We’ve come here to win and that’s what we’ll try to do. We’ve spoken about this as a team, we made a huge effort in the first leg and against Barcelona but we’re used to it.’

When the draw was made, Madrid looked to be struggling somewhat, but in recent weeks they have rediscovered their form and are now a point off first in La Liga and a positive result tonight away from making the final four in the Champions League.

Injury concerns, though, remain a major talking point for Madrid just as they do for opponents Liverpool, and whichever side does advance in Europe this evening will be able to say that they did so while overcoming the absence of a number of key players.

“we are missing a lot of players right now,” he added. “I’d love to have them all available, but we’re going to put in our best performance with the players we have. This team always comes together in the toughest of times and shows the character we have.”