'Real Madrid reputation on line against Juventus' - The Sky Herald

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13 May 2015

'Real Madrid reputation on line against Juventus'

Carlo Ancelotti is confident Real Madrid will reach the Champions League final if they repeat the performance of Saturday's 2-2 draw with Valencia.
The European champions trail 2-1 from the first leg against head coach Ancelotti's former club Juventus.
"We feel good and if we play like this on Wednesday then everything will go well," the Italian said.
Toni Kroos is expected to be fit despite coming off against Valencia and Paul Pogba is available for Juventus.
Juve's France international, considered one of the world's top midfielders, returned after two months out with a hamstring injury - and scored - in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Cagliari in Serie A.
"I did lots of running and didn't feel anything so I think I'm well set," he said.
Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty and Real hit the woodwork three times as they came from 2-0 down to draw with Valencia in La Liga.
Ancelotti expects striker Karim Benzema to return against Juventus following a month out with a knee injury.
Real midfielder Kroos had to be replaced midway through the first half with a hip injury but tweeted: "I've just been through the examination. Don't worry. Let's focus on Wednesday!"
Ancelotti's side have slipped four points behind leaders Barcelona with two matches left and their defender Dani Carvajal has conceded his team will not win the league title.
"Our reputation is on the line against Juve and the crowd will be spectacular and will be our 12th man," he said.
"We put in a shift for the full 90 minutes against Valencia. We ran, fought, and if you don't put it in, it ends up taking its toll, but on Wednesday we're going to go all out. The crowd got behind us and didn't give in at any point."
Juventus are in their first semi-final since 2003 and coach Massimiliano Allegri said: "I won't know my starting line-up right until the last minute.
"We know it will be a very difficult game in Madrid and a different one entirely, a more attacking affair. We passed up four or five decent chances in the first leg. We'll have to put them away at the Bernabeu if we want to go through."
Pogba concluded: "We know it's going to be really difficult. They're used to playing in semi-finals and they won the competition last year.
"They're playing at home so it's going to be even harder for us. But we want to win and we'll do everything we can to pull it off."

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'Real Madrid reputation on line against Juventus' Reviewed by Unknown on Wednesday, May 13, 2015 Rating: 5 Carlo Ancelotti is confident Real Madrid will reach the Champions League final if they repeat the performance of Saturday's 2-2 draw ...