Jose Mourinho rested many of his key players this weekend, despite the opponent, which was Barcelona and Real Madrid still managed to reach the victory. After the two consecutive impressive triumphs over their greatest rival, in Real`s squad the confidence will be at very high level for the match against Manchester United. The Champions League title will no doubt erase the poor performance of Real Madrid in the Primera Division, but the path to the most valuable football trophy goes through beating, Sir Alex Ferguson`s team, which is in an astonishing form.
At the Old Trafford Manchester United plays very successfully dominating all their matches for the entire 90 minutes. The last two editions of El Clasico, however, demonstrated Real`s serious skills as far as counter-attacking is concerned, so the approach of Manchester United for this game is quite intriguing. Phil Jones is doubtful for this meeting and his absence will have a major impact on the overall tactics of United. Perhaps Ferguson will choose Cleverley or Giggs, but who will be responsible for Ronaldo is a rather curious question, because it was Phil Jones who did a pretty good job in guarding the Portuguese.
Real Madrid is unbeaten in 29 of its last 32 matches in the Champions League. Although the result from the first clash with Manchester United is not in favor of the "white ballet", the majority of experts identify Real Madrid as the favorite to progress in the tournament.