10 reasons why the Real Madrid tie is not over

White Hart Lane

So if heroes were needed for the first leg then it’s miracle workers we need to find a few of for the return. Real Madrid are due at White Hart Lane on Wednesday evening and will be confident that a 4-0 lead is probably enough to see them into the semi finals.

Nothing went right for us at the Bernabeu what with Little and Large’s early disappearances from the fray and the general lack lustre efforts by those who remained on the field. We seemed nervous and tentative from the start and by the end were verging on the punch drunk. We were taken aback by the home side’s pressing from the word go and never got into anything that could be called our ‘stride’.

This time though, things should be different. In most respects the pressure’s off. We don’t have a game at the weekend so we can just go for it and see what happens. The players have no reason to leave anything on the pitch; they should be drained when they return to the dressing room. If nothing else they should be reminded that the fans will each have spent fifty quid and upward for their tickets and so deserve to see the players give their all.

Where do our hopes lie? How can we possibly win? Ten reasons why it’s not over –

1 – Complacency. If any team is going to believe that they only need to turn up to win it’s one with Ronaldo and Mourinho involved surely?

2 – Yellow cards. Real still have Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Ricardo Carvalho, Ángel Di María and Raúl Albiol only one game away from suspension. Surely this is a game in which to rest these players and keep them out of the firing line.

3 – Red cards. Pepe will be missing from the visitors line up

4 – They have been beaten 4-0 in the UK not that long ago, by Liverpool in November 2009. If the Scousers can do it…

5 – They’ve already been beaten 5-0 this season. Okay, it was Barcelona, but they were only a Bendtner sidefoot away from going out of the competition themselves so are no great shakes either if you think about it.

6 – They play Barcelona in the league at the weekend then in the cup next week. Surely after the embarrassment of the defeat mentioned in 5, they will again be resting players eager for revenge and the others will already have one eye on Saturday.

7 – Bottle. Look at Rory McIlroy. There’s no point leading by four if you haven’t got the balls to see it through.

8 – Fitness. Our side is getting stronger. Gareth Bale looked more like his old self on Saturday and there’s no doubt that Modric plays better with big Tom alongside him.

9 – Aaron Lennon will not only be virus free, he’ll be ready to prove the doubters wrong. Or as Azza would say judging by his tweet of last week ‘I will proove 2 doze hu sA I av no bottL 4 d fyt, dat thyre fools’.

10 – One day a team will come back from four down in the Moneybags League, why shouldn’t it be us?

We’ve never beaten a Spanish team at White Hart Lane. Now’s the time to do it in style. COYS.

By MF

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