Ex-Real Madrid midfielder Steve McMananman believes his former side haven’t strengthened enough to win the Champions League this season.
Los Blancos got their campaign of to a winning start on Tuesday with 4-0 win over Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donesk.
But in an interview with FourFourTwo magazine ahead of the game, the former winger said he believes the 10-time Champions League winners are still too light and will be in trouble if Luka Modric or Cristiano Ronaldo pick up any kind of injury that keeps them out for a long time.
“I think Real will be OK but have they strengthened their team this year? To a certain extent they haven’t really. I still think their best team is with Luka Modric in it. The fact that Benzema and Modric were injured really affected Real last season. If they stay fit they’ll always go a long way because they’ve got too many good players,” the former England international stated.
“If Cristiano Ronaldo gets injured and misses five or six games in the Champions League, Real are going to struggle,” he added.
Asked who he thinks will win the Champions League this season, McManaman picked out Bayern Munich as the favourites.
“I think Bayern have invested really well in the summer. I went over to watch them a couple of times last year and I think the amount of injuries they had, certainly in the latter part of the campaign, really affected them. Whether they’re going to have the same luck with injuries this season, that’s another thing, because Franck Ribery is still struggling.
“But the fact that Arjen Robben should be back, that they’ve brought in Douglas Costa and signed Arturo Vidal from Juventus, they’ve got a really good squad and it will take a good team to knock them out.”
