Casillas: Time to focus on Tottenham
Reuters - Sunday 03 April 2011, 09:46
MADRID - Real Madrid must quickly forget
their shock La Liga defeat to Sporting Gijon and focus on
Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg against
Tottenham Hotspur, captain Iker Casillas said.
Real's loss at a stunned Bernabeu on Saturday, which spoiled
their perfect home record of 14 wins this season and ended coach
Jose Mourinho's own nine-year unbeaten run in home league games,
severely dented their hopes of ending Barcelona's two-year reign
as Spanish champions.
Barca's 1-0 win at Villarreal stretched their lead to eight
points with eight matches left and they have what looks to be a
significantly easier run-in to the end of the season.
"We will see what happens in La Liga but the priority right
now is to concentrate on Tottenham," goalkeeper Casillas told
reporters at the Bernabeu.
"We have to absorb the blow and regroup," he added. "It's
always hard to digest a defeat but we will deal with it as best
we can and with a desire to get the best out of the rest of the
season."
Real's joint La Liga top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo, in-form
striker Karim Benzema and full-back Marcelo all missed the Gijon
game through injury, while midfielder Xabi Alonso was suspended,
and they lacked creativity against a stubborn opponent.
Mourinho told a news conference he might risk Ronaldo on
Tuesday. The world's most expensive player, who is level on 27
league goals with Barca forward Lionel Messi, has a leg muscle
strain and was left out of the squad for Saturday's game.
Benzema would not return to action until next weekend's La
Liga match at Athletic Bilbao and fullback Marcelo would be
sidelined for two weeks, Mourinho added.
"If we are solid and we don't have offensive problems we
have a good chance of winning," said the Portuguese, who won
Europe's elite club competition with Inter Milan last season.
"At home, it's no drama if you draw."