Egypt's Madrid fans trust their team ability to eliminate PSG

CAIRO – 13 February 2018: Real Madrid hosted Paris Saint Germain on Wednesday night at the UEFA Champions League round 16 first leg at Madrid’s historic stadium, Santiago Bernabeu.

The reigning champions, Real Madrid, are expecting a difficult clash against the main contenders for the title with Neymar Jr Da Silva, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe leading their attacking line.




However, Real Madrid fans believe in their team’s ability to overcome tough obstacle against the French side.

“It is our favorite competition and we have much experience at knockout games, we know how to win these matches,” a Real Madrid die-hard fan, Mohamed Sake, told Egypt Today.

Real Madrid have won a record 12 Champions League titles and became the first team in the history of the competition to win the title two times in a row, in 2016 and 2017.




Despite their last season’s success when they achieved five titles, Real Madrid suffered this season on the domestic level. They are 17 points behind the leaders, Barcelona, at the League and they were eliminated from the cup at the quarter-finals.

“For us, it is a win-or-die game to save our season. We have many defensive problems this season and it will be doubled against PSG as (Dani) Cravjal will miss the first leg. We should count on our attacking line, especially (Cristiano) Ronaldo used to shine in the difficult moments,” Sakr added.




Ronaldo is the Champions League all-time top goal scorer, with 114 goals including nine goals this season.

Omar Rakhawy believes that their manager, Zinedine Zidane, will be able to deal with the current situation. “Having three champions leagues behind Zidane’s back (two as a manager and one as an assistant manager) will have an impact, for sure, on the game and will move in to the next round,” he told Egypt Today,




Rakhawy is studying at Ottawa University in Canada and will watch the game with his Arab friends, the closest he could get to watching the experience back home with his friends.

Rakhawy believes that Real Madrid are lucky to play the first game at home. “Taking into account our recent form, playing the first leg in Santiago Bernabéu is the better option for us in order to have the fans behind us and pushing against a very confident PSG side,” he said.

Ahmad El-Neanaey followed Real Madrid since the 2006 season when Raul Gonzalez and Ruud van Nistelrooy shared the club attacking line, leading the team to win two consecutive League titles. Two strikers were behind Neanaey’s love for Madrid.

“PSG striker (Edinson) Cavani is the most dangerous player at their team. With our defensive problems, I think he will be able to create many chances to score,” El-Neanaey told Egypt Today.




Ahmed believes that Real Madrid should count on their attacking line to break the Parisian defense; he said, “we should start the game with Ronaldo, (Karim) Benzema and (Gareth) Bale. Their defense is their weakest lines and they have the experience to cause them many troubles.”

Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema have a massive partnership that led Real Madrid to win three Champion League titles in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
“I count on Real Madrid’s strong personality to win this game against a less experienced side,” Ahmed added.

Defeating PSG could return Real Madrid stars to the right track, and they will soon be on their way to defend their precious title.