Real Madrid left back Marcelo has urged his team mates to play with courage and intensity in the Champions League tie against Atletico de Madrid.
The cross city rivals meet for the first time in the competition since Real won 4-1 in the final last season, ending their 12-year wait for La Decima. Since then though, Atletico have had the upper hand on Carlo Ancelotti’s men, beating them twice in La Liga and seeing them off in both the Spanish Supercopa and Copa del Rey.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the quarter final tie at the Vicente Calderon, Marcelo said Real are confident going into the game despite not winning in six games this season against Diego Simeone’s side.
“Yes, we are in better form now, we recovered some players and I think this is a good moment for us. We are playing with more confidence now after the last few wins,” he stated.
Asked for his thoughts about what had changed since winning La Decima, the Brazilian commented: “We changed our squad a lot after that match. We’ve played them multiple times since that win, these two games will be very difficult but we’ll try to win. There are no favorites for these Derbies, we will give our best without thinking about the previous games.”
He added: “We have to play with intensity and fight because these matches are always very difficult. They are a great team, but we are not thinking about our previous games against them, we have a good opportunity now to beat them. We know what we must do tomorrow and in the return leg as well.”
