Real Madrid have been dreaming of winning this season’s Champions League final at their Santiago Bernabeu stadium but first they need to get out of the group stages, and there is still some work to be done going into Wednesday’s home match against FC Zurich.

Real lie joint top of Group C alongside AC Milan but Marseille are just a point behind the duo, meaning Real need to defeat bottom side Zurich to put one foot in the knockout phase of this season’s competition.

Real have lost some of their aura at home in Europe in recent seasons, losing 3-2 to AC Milan in this season’s competition, while Juventus and Liverpool both won at the Bernabeu last season.

Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo is on the recovery road after ten games out with ankle trouble and coach Manuel Pellegrini must decide whether to risk the forward.

Despite the absence of Ronaldo, Real have won nine games out of 11 to top the league, but coach Pellegrini has still not won over the unforgiving Real crowd, who have not been enthralled by the pragmatic winning football which was again on show in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Racing Santander. “We have to improve the football we are playing,” admitted Pellegrini. “It was difficult against Racing because we had a two-week break.”

Swiss side FC Zurich caused a few problems for Real in the away game and need to record a historic win in Madrid to have any chance of reaching the knockout phase as they are four points behind the leaders.

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