Fabio Cannavaro has said Real Madrid must avenge last month’s Champions League defeat to Juventus when the two sides meet at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
The World Cup-winning Italian defender, who left Juventus two years ago, was constantly jeered by home fans in Turin when the Spanish champions lost 2-1 thanks to a stunning goal from in-form Alessandro Del Piero and a header from Amauri.
“We cannot afford to fail,” 35-year-old Cannavaro said on the club’s web site (www.realmadrid.com) after his side were held to a 1-1 draw at Almeria in the Primera Liga on Sunday.
“We have to win one way or the other and try to qualify for the next round top of the group,” he added.
After three matches, Juve top Group H on seven points with Real on six. BATE Borisov of Belarus have two points and face Zenit St Petersburg on Wednesday who lie bottom with one.
Having lost 3-2 to Segunda B (third tier) side Real Union in their first leg, last-32 King’s Cup match on Thursday and missed the chance to join rivals Barcelona at the top of the table with Sunday’s draw, Real need to pick themselves up.
Coach Bernd Schuster may start Christoph Metzelder in defence after the German replaced Pepe during Sunday’s second half when the Portugal defender picked up a thigh knock.
Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy is also a doubt because of a troublesome knee problem picked up in Turin that kept him out of Sunday’s league tie.
Juventus had not won in five heading into the victory over Real but since then have taken maximum points from three league games including Saturday’s 2-0 triumph over struggling AS Roma that moved them to sixth in Serie A.
Injuries continue to dog the Italian side, however, with defenders Dario Knezevic, Jonathan Zebina and Zdenek Grygera out alongside midfielders Christian Poulsen, Cristiano Zanetti and Hasan Salihamidzic.
Long-term injury victims Gianluigi Buffon and David Trezeguet will be missing but midfielders Claudio Marchisio and Mauro Camoranesi are back in contention after knocks.
Captain Del Piero, who played in the 1996 final when Juve won their second of two European Cups, was cautious about the trip to the Spanish capital given Juve’s early season problems.
“We have made a step forward but what happened recently shows us that we have to always keep our concentration high,” he told the club website (www.juventus.com).
Probable teams:
Real Madrid: 1- Iker Casillas, 4- Sergio Ramos, 3- Pepe or 21- Christoph Metzelder, 5- Fabio Cannavaro, 16- Gabriel Heinze, 8-Fernando Gago, 11- Arjen Robben, 23- Rafael van der Vaart, 10- Wesley Sneijder, 7-Raul or 17- Ruud van Nistelrooy, 20-Gonzalo Higuain
Juventus: 13-Alex Manninger, 4-Olof Mellberg, 33-Nicola Legrottaglie, 3-Giorgio Chiellini, 28-Cristian Molinaro, 32-Marco Marchionni, 30-Tiago, 22-Mohamed Sissoko, 11-Pavel Nedved, 8-Amauri, 10-Alessandro Del Piero.
Referee: Pieter Vink (Netherlands).