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Home  » Sports » Time for Real to show real class

Time for Real to show real class

By Mike Collett
October 19, 2004 11:33 IST
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Real Madrid, who began this season with high hopes of winning the European Cup for the 10th time, will need to show some real class against Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday if they are to keep that dream alive.

Real resume their Champions League campaign after a three-week break in third place in Group B following a 3-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen and a 4-2 win over AS Roma.

They face a Dynamo side that will just about seal their place in the next round if they beat Real at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium and take their tally to nine points from three games.

Dynamo arrive in Spain having won both of their opening matches against Roma and Leverkusen and will be no pushovers for Real, who have only found their true form once this season when they came back from 0-2 down to beat Roma on September 29.

Real were held to a 1-1 draw at Real Betis on Saturday in the Primera Liga after another largely mediocre display and a similar performance might be very costly against the Ukrainians.

Manchester United, who also started this campaign with high hopes, visit Sparta Prague as Group D leaders after their emphatic 6-2 win over Fenerbahce three weeks ago.

United will be looking to return with all three points from the Czech champions who have lost their opening two matches.

But United will need to improve on Saturday's uninspiring 0-0 draw with Birmingham City in the Premier League -- although they will find their former player Karel Poborsky keen to stop them in their tracks.

History, of sorts will be made in Turin where Juventus and Bayern Munich, who have played a combined total of more than 600 European matches between them since the 1950s and won 18 major trophies between them including the World Club Cup meet for the first time ever in European competition.

Juve go into the game in good spirits after establishing a clear lead in Serie A at the weekend with a 2-1 win over Messina, while Bayern are looking to bounce back from a 1-0 home defeat to Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga.

Both have started well in the Champions League with two wins from two matches and a third victory for one or the other will almost certainly see them book a place in the next round.

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Mike Collett
Source: REUTERS
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