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Germany’s Marco Reus admits only hard work will help Borussia Dortmund produce the football miracle needed to over-turn their 3-0 deficit against Real Madrid in tomorrow’s Champions League clash. |
Real cruised to an easy victory against Dortmund at the Bernabeu in last Wednesday’s quarter-final first leg as stars Gareth Bale, Isco and Christiano Ronaldo all got on the scoresheet.
Poland star Robert Lewandowski, who was suspended for the Madrid leg, will be back in the Dortmund team for the return at Borussia’s Westfalenstadion.
The Polish hot-shot, who scored four goals against Real in last season’s Champions League semi-final, got on the board in Saturday’s 2-1 come-back league win at home to VfL Wolfsburg.
Dortmund found themselves 1-0 down at home to Wolves after Croatia striker Ivica Olic put the guests ahead and punished Borussia’s poor first-half display—one the hosts dare not repeat against Real.
“We have not given up by any stretch of the imagination (against Real),” said Reus, who scored the 77th-minute winner against Wolves.
“If we play like we did in the first-half (against Wolfsburg), it will be very difficult, but if we play like we did in the second-half, we have a chance in all honesty.
“Either way, it’s going to be damned difficult, but we will give it everything.”
Last season’s finalists Dortmund took a big step towards securing direct qualification for next season’s Champions League campaign with three points which kept them second in the table.
Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp produced a spectacular leap of celebration after Reus’ winning goal and admitted the victory was a relief, especially as Real’s visit preceeds a Bundesliga trip away to Bayern Munich.
“Anyone who saw us celebrate after the game will know what a great relief the victory was,” said Klopp.
“We needed the win to put some distance between us and the boisterous pack chasing us. We will not give anything away on Tuesday. We want to play two 45 minutes like we did in the second-half against Wolfsburg and then we’ll see how things stand.”
