Madrid coach Mourinho is confident his team can beat last year's nemesis Lyon and avoid going down a seventh consecutive time in the pre-quarters tonight
Madrid coach Mourinho is confident his team can beat last year's nemesis Lyon and avoid going down a seventh consecutive time in the pre-quarters tonightReal Madrid coach Jose Mourinho admits his side have two major psychological barriers to overcome when they face Lyon tonight in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.
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| Real Madrid stars Kaka (left), Ricardo Carvalho (centre) and Sami Khedira during a Spanish League game. PIC/Getty Images |
Nine-time winners Real have fallen at the last 16 stage in each of their last six seasons and Mourinho believes that is something his team have to get over along with the fact that Lyon eliminated Real 2-1 at this stage of the competition last season.
"There are two barriers we have to overcome: getting into the quarter-finals and overcoming a Lyon team that eliminated us the last time we met," Mourinho said.
"I am not losing any sleep over Lyon. Since the day the draw was made I have worked with my team to find out all the details about Lyon. We also have Zinedine Zidane who knows them well."
French legend Zidane is an advisor to Real president Florentino Perez and has been giving Real inside information on his compatriots.
Real defeated Levante 2-0 on Saturday as Mourinho stretched his unbeaten league home record with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real to an incredible nine years.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo is confident that Real can take revenge on Lyon this season but is well aware of the threat posed by the seasoned European campaigners.
"We know it is going to be difficult but I think it will turn out well," Ronaldo said. "Lyon are a complicated team. They are not doing well in the league but in the Champions League they are always in the last 16," he added.
