Knockout blow for Roberto Carlos

By Tom Rollett

With six points from their opening two games, Roberto Carlos believes that victory against FK Partizan on Wednesday would secure Real Madrid CF's passage into the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.

Maximum points
A win at the Santiago Bernabéu would leave Madrid on top of Group F with nine points from nine, and the Brazilian believes it would be a decisive lead. "For us, the Partizan game is a very interesting one," he told uefa.com. "Because if we win it would give us an important points advantage over the rest of the teams in the group. I think three points will be enough to secure our path into the next round.

Home support
"When we play at home with our supporters cheering us it's so good," he added. "If we win this week we will have pleased our fans because with nine points we'll have qualification almost definitely sewn up. Nine points will give us a great advantage but first we have to get it. At the moment we have only six points but of course if we win it will be very good, although it's never perfect until we are mathematically into the next round."

Slow start
In contrast to Madrid's faultless start, Partizan have struggled to find form in this season's Champions League, managing only a draw at home against FC Porto before going down 3-0 to Olympique de Marseille in France. Despite this, Roberto Carlos believes the Serbo-Montenegrin outfit still pose a threat to Madrid's ambitions, not least because a win would get their own qualification campaign back on track.

Illustrious opponents
"Partizan are a big team with a lot of history but now they are not at their best," said the left-back. "But we can't forget that in their first game they drew with Porto, the UEFA Cup holders. They did lose heavily to Marseille, but I believe that the French side are very strong and at home they are tough opponents. It will be difficult for anyone to win in Marseille.

Never easy
Partizan may only have one point but they can still qualify for the next stage," he added. "We are not complacent about Partizan at all. We know it's going to be difficult because this is the Champions League we're talking about. We are playing the best teams in Europe and you can never ever assume that your rivals in this competition are easy. They never are."

Raising their game
When Madrid are involved, of course, the form book goes out of the window. Every team raises their game when they visit the Bernabéu, and Roberto Carlos expects Partizan will be no exception. "Partizan won't come all the way to the Santiago Bernabéu just for a stroll," he said. "We're talking about a game against Madrid and all teams in the world want to show the rest of the world what a good team they are and what good players they are."

Galacticos dream
But however many obstacles are placed in Madrid's way, they will be spurred on by the knowledge that victory in the competition would make them European champions for an unprecedented tenth time. "I said at the beginning of the season that I have to win the Champions League this year to make it ten for this great club," Roberto Carlos said. "We want that tenth title but our objective is to win everything: the Champions League, the Spanish league, the Spanish Cup and even all our friendly games! We play to win and when we win, we enjoy ourselves."