Spanish giants Real Madrid need a win from their final group B match against Roma in Rome on Wednesday to be certain of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League for the eighth consecutive season.
The group couldn’t be much tighter with three teams vying for the two places in the knockout stages, while Roma have already been eliminated and cannot even console themselves with a place in the Uefa Cup.
Dynamo Kiev have 10 points from five matches, two more than Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid, who are separated only by goal difference. Roma, who are in the bottom half of Serie A, have taken just one point from a possible 15.
If Real win at the Olympic stadium, they go through, but if they draw and Leverkusen draw against Dynamo, Leverkusen will join Dynamo in the next round because they have a better head-to-head record against Real.
The game is the second of Roma’s two-match ban on supporters following crowd trouble in their home game against Dynamo Kiev, and will be played behind closed doors.
The punishment was handed out by European football’s governing body Uefa after referee Anders Frisk was struck by a missile thrown by a Roma fan.
Real find themselves in a precarious position, having been surprising held to a 1-1 draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen two weeks ago, whereas a win would have left them needing a point rather than three to be sure of qualifying.
”The last thing we wanted is to have everything left to play for in the final match,” Real Madrid’s marauding wingback Michel Salgado told Uefa.com.
”We know that qualifying is in our hands. We just know that we have to go out with the mentality that we must play our own game. Getting through to the next phase still depends entirely on us and a win against Roma will see us through.”
Salgado believes playing without spectators will work in their favour.
”We will be playing in an empty stadium and that takes a lot of the pressure off us,” added the 29-year-old Spain international, whose shuttles down the right wing add to Real’s attacking threat.
”Roma are out and have nothing to play for and we’ll see how they approach this match. Obviously Roma will be more relaxed, but you never know how a game is going to turn out.”
Zinedine Zidane is winning his race to be fit and could start Wednesday’s match.
The French midfielder has been suffering from back pain since the match against Leverkusen and missed Sunday’s draw against Villarreal that left them nine points behind Spanish league leaders Barcelona.
Nine-time European champions Real fought back from two goals down to win 4-2 when they played Roma in Madrid in September. — Sapa-AFP