Real Madrid manager José Mourinho has publicly made the Champions League and the Copa del Rey as the main priorities for the club this season after falling 15 points behind leaders Barcelona in the table.
They recently managed to get past one of the strongest opponents in the competition – Manchester United – to play against Galatasaray in the quarter-finals. The first leg of the quarter-finals took place at the Santiago Bernabeu. After managing a 3-0 victory over the Turkish club, many predict that Real Madrid already have one foot in the semifinals.
Mourinho, though, have said that he still thinks that the tie is not over yet because they still have the second leg away from home to consider as well. Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain, and Karim Benzema all scored in the match to secure a comfortable aggregate score for the Spanish club. Mourinho has said that Istanbul has always been a tough place for visiting teams due to the enormous atmosphere created by the Galatasaray fans. He has also pointed to the fact that the opposition created a couple of good opportunities before Real Madrid killed the game with a goal from Higuain.
Argentine striker Higuain also said that the away match will be difficult, but they can be a little comfortable knowing that they have an advantage in the aggregate score.
“If we score a goal in Istanbul they have got to score five so the result is very good. But I’ve seen a lot of things in football so nothing can surprise me. Istanbul is a difficult place to go. We played seriously. The Spanish press were not quite so respectful towards Galatasaray but we were very respectful towards them. We knew they have a fantastic team and good strikers. We were defensively better than we were attacking,” said Mourinho.