Zürich first in line to face Madrid

FC Zürich were handed a prized opening fixture for their UEFA Champions League group-stage debut when Real Madrid CF were drawn to start the Group C campaign in Switzerland on Matchday 1.

Quotes
Bernard Challandes, Zürich coach
I know that last season some of my players talked to the AC Milan players at half-time to arrange to get their shirts at the end of the game. I can't blame a player for wanting Raúl or Cristiano Ronaldo's shirt; that shows that he has a good attitude towards football. It's fantastic to be here, we want to enjoy it, but that cannot be enough. We also want to put on a show, be proud and fight like mad; we want to be able to say that we deserve to be here. Michel Platini was right to give smaller teams a chance to play in the Champions League and if we are to justify that decision, we must do something special.

Manuel Pellegrini, Madrid coach
There is no regular team in my view. I have 23 players who must play regularly, and I ask the maximum of each of them. It's important to keep everyone motivated, to leave no one behind. The UEFA Champions League attracts a lot of interest and we'll do our best to perform well. This year the final is in Madrid. It is of course a big responsibility for us, and we do want to win the trophy at home. It will be hard, we have many good opponents, but we will do our best. We have respect for the others. I have seen three or four Zürich games; they are a team that tries to play attacking football. They are a big team, with good strikers; tomorrow they will play with their qualities and we will do the same.

Key stats
• Zurich reached the group stage largely through their efforts in the first leg of their play-off with FK Ventspils, Johan Vonlanthen, Silvan Aegerter and Dušan Djurić securing a 3-0 win in Latvia before second-leg strikes from Vonlanthen and Almen Abdi completed a 5-1 aggregate victory.

• Last season Madrid were beaten 5-0 on aggregate by Liverpool FC in the first knockout round. It maintained their record of always getting through the group stage in their 13 campaigns to date, topping the section seven times. However, last year was the fifth successive season they lost out in the last 16.

• Madrid launched the campaign 12 months ago with a 2-0 win against FC BATE Borisov at the Santiago Bernabéu and in 2007 they began with a 2-1 victory over Werder Bremen. Before that they had lost three successive Matchday 1 fixtures, two 3-0 defeats against Olympique Lyonnais and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, and a 2-0 loss to Lyon again.

• Last season Madrid won two away games in the group stage, at BATE and FC Zenit St. Petersburg, losing in Italy against Juventus.

Team news
• Zürich
Out: Daniel Stucki (ankle), Heinz Barmettler (knee), Yassine Chikhaoui (knee), Marco Schönbächler (thigh)
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: none

• Madrid
Out: Sergio Ramos (left achilles tendon)
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: none

Weekend results
12/09/09 Zürich 4-3 Grasshopper-Club
(Alphonse 14, Aegerter 41, Vonlanthen 70, Margairaz 73; Zarate 7 81, Ben Khalifa 75)

12/09/09 RCD Espanyol 0-3 Madrid
(Granero 39, Guti 77, Ronaldo 90)

Did you know?
The sides met in the last four of the 1963/64 European Champion Clubs' Cup, Madrid winning 6-0 at home and 2-1 away. They lost 3-1 in the final to FC Internazionale Milano.