Big favorite in their Champions League round of 16 against Leipzig, Real Madrid will still have to be wary of the German club, led by a determined Castello Lukeba.
That’s it, it’s the big day ! Two months after the epilogue of the group stage, the Champions League finally makes its return with, to launch hostilities, two unbalanced round of 16 on paper between Copenhagen and Manchester City on the one hand, Leipzig and Real Madrid on the other hand. A simple formality for the Citizens and the Merengues? Not sure, because facing them are hungry teams.
This is the case of the German team, which finished second in its group behind the Skyblues with 12 points on the clock, supported by well-known players in France such as Xavi Simons (ex-PSG), Loïs Openda (ex-Lens) , Mohamed Simakan (ex-Strasbourg) and Castello Lukeba (ex-OL). A former Lyonnais who approaches this meeting with “lots of excitement”as he confided in an interview given to French Football Weekly.fr.
Lukeba wants “thwart” Real Madrid
“We are competitors. As footballers, we dream of playing this type of match. Real Madrid are gala matches, matches that make you dream. But then you still have to remain competitive and want to win the match, not just play it.warns the French defender. It won’t be easy but I think we have arguments to thwart them, and maybe even a little more than that…”
Liga leader now five steps ahead of Girona, which it corrected this weekend (4-0), the White House must therefore be wary of this playful team, only fifth in the Bundesliga but capable of making shots . As on the Dortmund pitch, at the beginning of December (2-3). For Castello Lukeba, who joined the RBL last summer, this meeting is in any case only a step in his career, he who dreams of the Euro and the Olympics.
“These are two very important deadlinesexplains the international Espoirs, summoned by Didier Deschamps to the French team last October. Me, as a competitor, I would like to play both but after that it doesn’t just depend on me. Saying it is good, but it’s my performances that will do everything. I don’t worry more than anything else. I’m trying to perform well with my club, and we’ll see what happens this summer. »
