Bale targeting revenge against Dortmund Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale believes his side have recovered from two successive league defeats as they look to exact revenge on Borussia Dortmund for their UEFA Champions League semi-final defeat last season. Bale scored a double as Real responded from losing to Barcelona and Sevilla last week to beat Rayo Vallecano 5-0 on Saturday to remain in third place in the Spanish La Liga, three points adrift of leaders Atletico Madrid. However, it is a Champions League quarter-final clash against the Germans that has whetted the Welshmans appetite as he admitted these are the type of games for which he left Tottenham Hotspur for Real last summer. I think it was important we responded well and got everything back on track, he told Real Madrid TV. Were massively looking forward to the Dortmund game. That is why you want to be playing football is to play in the big games. We are fully focussed on Wednesday night and hopefully we can do a good job. Bale will once again join Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema in a fearsome Madrid frontline with Ronaldo looking to equal Lionel Messis record of 14 goals in a Champions League season. Real boss Carlo Ancelotti will make three changes from the side that started against Rayo with Iker Casillas, Marcelo and Luka Modric set to replace Diego Lopez, Fabio Coentrao and Asier Illarramendi. Were massively looking forward to the Dortmund game. That is why you want to be playing football is to play in the big games.Gareth Bale, Real Madrid winger Dortmund had the upper hand against Madrid as the sides met four times in last seasons competition. Jurgen Klopps men took four points from a possible six in the group stage before eliminating the nine-time European champions 4-3 on aggregate in the semi-finals. However, Klopp will have a more testing time in selecting his side this time around as the Germans have been ravaged by injuries. Nevan Subotic, Marcel Schmelzer, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Ilkay Gundogan and Sven Bender are all injured, whilst top scorer Robert Lewandowski -- who scored all four of his sides goals in the 4-1 semi-final, first leg win over Real last season -- is suspended. However, despite his selection problems, Klopp says his side have not regressed from last season. It has been a difficult season since the start, he told Spanish sports daily Marca. We have faced extraordinary challenges and an unprecedented injury crisis. I, at least, have never seen anything like it. But, with all that, we are in the position to achieve our goals when the season started. Therefore, we cannot talk about being weaker or less strong. We are second in the German league, in the semi-finals of the Cup and the quarter-finals of the Champions League. That is to say, exactly the same as last season. And, just like last season, we finished top of the hardest Champions League group, which shouldnt be forgotten. We will never give up. Klopp is expected to use Marco Reus, who scored a hat-trick in Saturdays 3-2 win at lowly Stuttgart, or Gabonese international Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang in an unusual role as the lone striker to compensate for the loss of Lewandowski.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 06:45:43 +0000