REAL MADRID vs WOLFSBURG UPDATE

19:10

Some Champions League news from today

Champions League football could be set for a return to terrestrial television after the current three-year exclusive contract with BT Sport expires.

Viewing figures for Europe’s premier competition have plummeted since the £897million deal with BT came into effect at the start of this season.

And now a high-ranking UEFA official has admitted that the agreement was a ‘mistake’, according to the Daily Mail.

A peak audience of just over a million viewers saw Manchester City’s quarter-final first leg at Paris Saint-Germain last week, five times less than the number ordinarily drawn by ITV.

UEFA are apparently happy with the production supplied by BT, but not with the viewing figures which are a direct knock-on effect of matches being shown exclusively on a subscription service.

The tender for the next cycle of Champions League rights are set to return again later this year, with ITV or another terrestrial network expected to return to the bidding for part of the rights.

Zidane backs the miracle

In hoping to overhaul a 2-0 deficit from that disastrous first leg in Germany , a smiling Zidane claimed his side have it in them to come back and said they’ll do so playing football their own way.

“Anything is possible in football,” he said, “we were thirteen points behind Barcelona and now it’s four.

“This club has produced extraordinary comebacks before, here at the Bernabeu.

“We know we’ve got a better chance if we keep a clean sheet but more than anything we’ve just got to play our game.

“It’s going to be an intense game, we’re going to fight, we’re going to run but most important is playing football.

“We have to play this game with our heads. We’re not going to win this game in 10 or 15 minutes, whatever happens, whether they score or we score.

“It gets more difficult if they score but it’s not over.

“We have to concentrate from the first minute until the end of the game.”

The teams in full

Real Madrid XI: Navas; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo (4-3-3)

Subs: Casilla, Varane, Rodriguez, Vazquez, Jese, Isco, Danilo

*****

Wolfsburg XI: Benaglio; Vierinha, Naldo, Dante, Rodriguez; Guilavogui, Gustavo; Henrique, Arnold, Draxler; Schurrle (4-2-3-1)

Subs: Casteels, Schäfer, Caligiuri, Kruse, Dost, Träsch, Knoche.

18:49

And the Wolfsburg team

And the Wolfsburg team is in as well.

No recognised No.9 for the Wolves tonight.

Will it be Andre Schurrle or Julian Draxler as the furthest man forward?

The Madrid team is in!

Real Madrid’s side is in.

And it’s 4-3-3 for Zinedine Zidane tonight. Casemiro does start at the base of midfield, with Carvajal at right back.

It’s effectively what Zidane sees as his first-choice XI right now.

How is Zidane shaping up ahead of tonight?

If Zinedine Zidane’s beaming smile - quite a surprise considering the task ahead of him - was trying to kill nerves with kindness, then tonight Real Madrid will attempt the footballing equivalent.

Faced with buoyant German visitors, Madrid will attempt the remontada that has been the word on everyone’s lips since Wednesday’s shock defeat.

In Zidane’s Monday press conference it was mentioned nine times. In Luka Modric’s, just before his manager, remontada or remontar (the verb for ‘to come back’) were uttered on six occasions.

But, most of all, the Madrid boss’ focus was on playing football.

“We know we’ve got a better chance if we keep a clean sheet but more than anything we’ve just got to play our game.

“It’s going to be an intense game, we’re going to fight, we’re going to run but most important is playing football.”

•