APOEL's Cinderella story could soon be over as they face Spanish giants Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu tonight.
Despite Madrid's 0-3 away win at the GSP Stadium, Mourinho is taking no chances, we will not see a Madrid plagued with up and coming youngsters, it is reported that Cristiano Ronaldo will play, that, in Mourinho's mind, says it all.
While most people are already thinking a Bayern - Real Madrid semi-final, you can't write off APOEL yet.
Just ask AC Milan if they should have underestimated Deportivo de La Coruña? the Galician team lost 4-1 away in San Siro back in 2004, nobody - except for Deportivo's fans - thought they could turn this score around, but the recently relegated club destroyed Milan, who back then were current champions and tournament favourites.
The difference between that game and tonight's is that the Cypriots played at home first, and they didnt get a goal in the first leg.
Possibly because he is aware that there is still a chance (however small) that APOEL could win tonight, Jose Mourinho is asking people to respect their rivals. "I won't make any changes" he said in a press conference yesterday.
Talking specifically about tonight's game he said "the team is good, the players are not tired and they have confidence and they want to play. We have a really good record in the Champions League over the last two years, lots of victories, few draws and only one defeat. If we can stay in this line, that would be good."
"Not many people thinks that APOEL can win 0-4 here in the bernabeu, but we must respect our rivals, there will be hardly any changes in the team".
APOEL's keeper Chiotis, will once again have to prove decisive, until last week's match against the 9 time Champions League winners, Ivan Jovanovic's men hadn't lost by more then two goals. The Cypriots have their start Gustavo Manduca back after missing the first leg because of a one match ban.
Jovanovic is upbeat, despite having to take Real on tonight "We are in the best eight of Europe and there will be a lot of great expiriences to gain from this".
He finished off by saying that all the teams left want to win the Champions league and "I want my team to do well".
However he is aware of the cruel reality "In any case Real Madrid is almost in the next phase because the first result was very positive for them" he said.
Source: DSG
