Real Madrid go into tonight’s Champions League quarter-final second leg with CSKA Moscow full of confidence that they can progress to the last eight after the 1-1 draw achieved in Moscow.
Real Madrid won all six of their Champions League group games, becoming only the fifth side to do so, and were on course for a seventh victory in the first leg before a Pontus Wernbloom equaliser in the last minute gave CSKA Moscow an unexpected result.
Cristiano Ronaldo got Madrid’s goal at the Luzhniki stadium and the Portuguese striker scored twice on Saturday to make it 11 straight league wins as Real overcame Real Betis 3-2 in a match that marked Jose Mourinho’s 100th match in charge of the club.
The former Inter coach has achieved the best record of any Real coach in those games, winning 77 of them to leave the side 10 points ahead of Barcelona.
Mourinho also has experience of beating CSKA in the Champions League after Inter beat them 1-0 home and away in the 2009/10 quarter-final on their way to the trophy.
Today, he will be able to call on forward Karim Benzema, out since the first leg with a muscular injury, who is in contention along with Gonzalo Higuain to lead the attack with Ronaldo.
Another man playing his part in Real’s amazing recent run is midfielder Kaka, who has enjoyed a good spell in the side in the absence of Angel Di Maria, who is still struggling with injury.
CSKA could only draw 1-1 with rival Dynamo Moscow on Saturday, a result that means both clubs lose ground to Russian league leaders Zenit St Petersburg.
CSKA sit second six points behind Zenit and two ahead of Dynamo.
CSKA went a goal ahead on three minutes thanks to a strike from Seydou Doumbia but they lost their way a little in a second half and Igor Semshov managed an equaliser for Dynamo.
The first-leg result meant CSKA have not lost in six matches against Spanish opposition and will look to provide a stern test in Madrid.
At this stage two years ago, CSKA put out another Spanish team, Sevilla, with a 2-1 away win thanks to goals from Tomas Necid and Keisuke Honda after the first leg in Russia had finished 1-1.
Chilean midfielder Mark Gonzalez scored for CSKA in the first leg against Sevilla last season and he knows what it is like to beat Real Madrid having scored the winner for Real Betis in a 2-1 victory over Los Blancos in 2008.
During his time in Spanish football, the former Liverpool player also scored for Real Sociedad in a 1-1 draw in the Santiago Bernabeu and his experience will be crucial if CSKA are to achieve a miracle result today and progress.