Real Madrid prepare for Russian trip in good heart

Sep 29, 2008, 9:45 GMT

Madrid - Real Madrid are preparing for Tuesday's Champions League clash away to Zenit St Petersburg in good heart, despite their midfield injury problems.

The Spanish champions will make the trip without injured midfielders Fernando Gago, Wesley Sneijder and Guti - but in good spirits, thanks to Saturday's late win away to Betis.

Real won 2-1 in Seville thanks to an injury-time strike from the indefatigable Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

'We really showed our fighting spirit against Betis,' said Pepe.

The defender added that 'I think Tuesday's game against Zenit will be similar, we will have to suffer a lot.'

'We will have to face a team with talent ... playing at home and in front of their own fans. They will be really keen to beat Real Madrid.'

Real are top of Group H after their opening 2-0 win over BATE Borisov.

Also on Tuesday, Villarreal will be at home to Glasgow Celtic in an interesting Group E clash.

Around 5,000 Celtic fans are expected to make the trip, and local police will be working hard to avoid problems.

Villarreal are joint leaders of La Liga with Valencia, after winning 1-0 on Saturday away to Sporting Gijon.

Guiseppe Rossi scored the vital goal in Gijon and is now completely fit after an injury-plagued summer.

Villarreal's only injury victim now is striker Nihat Kahveci, badly injured playing for Turkey at Euro 2008 in June.

Young US striker Jozy Altidore has not been included in club's list for the Champions League.

Atletico Madrid have more injury problems than Villarreal, ahead of Wednesday's Group D game at home to Olympique Marseille.

Atletico will be without John Heitinga, Pablo Ibanez, Maniche, Simao Sabrosa and Diego Forlan. In addition, young idol Sergio Aguero - who scored twice in the 3-0 win away to PSV Eindhoven - is battered and bruised after Sunday's 0-1 defeat at home to Sevilla.

'It's a shame that we have so many injuries so early in the season,' said coach Javier Aguirre after the Sevilla loss.

'But there's no point in moaning,' he added, 'you just have to get on with it and prepare for the next game.'

Also on Wednesday, Barcelona will be away to Shakhtar Donetsk in Group C action.

Barca coach Josep Guardiola will be tempted to ring the changes after Saturday's exhausting 2-1 derby win over Espanyol.

The candidates to come in are Rafa Marquez, Martin Caceres, Yaya Toure and Bojan Krkic.

The latter has hardly played at all this season, unlike last year under Frank Rijkaard, and Guardiola has started to receive criticism for this.

Daniel Alves, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi might be in line for a rest, after being in the thick of the action for practically every minute so far.