Renée Slegers shared her insights on what she’s expecting from tomorrow’s UEFA Women’s Champions League test against Real Madrid.
The Spanish outfit visit Meadow Park for an 8pm kick-off in Borehamwood, with both sides looking to bounce back from disappointing results on the weekend.
Asked what she’s expecting from the team we knocked out of the quarter-finals last season, our head coach said: “I think their games might be a little bit more open this year, so that's something that we have to prepare for and something we want to organise in a good way.
“You see that their key players play in a little bit different roles this year compared to last year, so that's also something to look out for. Otherwise, you see a lot of similar structures and similar players on the pitch compared to last year.”
It was pointed out to Renée that Real Madrid engaged player for player with a high line against Barcelona in Saturday’s 4-0 Clasico defeat, so do we expect them to take a similar approach against us?
“That's what we're preparing for,” she explained. “If you look at our goal-kick situations last year, we've taken a lot of references from the game at the Emirates. You see them going high in player for player on those situations as well, so we are absolutely expecting that. I think they do that for longer and with a lot of conviction.
“I think they maybe, earlier last year, decided to drop into more of a mid-block. But yeah, I haven't spoken to the coach. I don't know what their plan is for tomorrow. But yeah, I see a difference from last year, so that's, I think, also why the game becomes a little bit more open.”
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Following last year’s 3-0 success at Emirates Stadium, when we came from 2-0 down to win the tie on aggregate, it was suggsested that Real Madrid might be going into this match looking for revenge.
“I don't know how they work, where they find their motivation and drive,” Renée responded. “I guess the same as us in preparation, they've watched the game back and maybe the first game as well, although that pitch was really hard to play on and we have totally different circumstances tomorrow.
“So yeah, they will find their motivation and their drive and their plan, and they've definitely watched that game. And I can imagine they weren't, of course, weren't happy with that result and they will want to do things differently. So let's see what they bring and where they find their motivation.”
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