Heynckes calls on ref to be strong
| REAL MADRID | BAYERN MUNICH |
Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes has called upon referee Cuneyt Cakir of Turkey to be "fair and just" in the face of pressure from Real Madrid and the Bernabeu crowd as they prepare for their Champions League semi-final second leg on Wednesday morning (Singapore time).
The German champions lost the first leg 2-1 at home last Wednesday having taken the lead, spurning a host of chances and allowing the Spanish side back into the game.
They have, however, taken heart from the way Juventus overturned a 3-0 first leg deficit in their quarter-final return fixture in Madrid, before Cristiano Ronaldo netted a stoppage-time penalty to send Madrid through.
In last season’s quarter-final meeting with Real at the Bernabeu, Bayern were left incensed after Arturo Vidal was controversially sent off and Real scored two goals that looked to be from offside positions.
Heynckes said he expects a competent performance from the Turkish official.
“We had him against Paris St Germain earlier this season and he did well,” the German said.
“What I expect for him is to be objective, fair and just. I’m expecting a fair form of refereeing tomorrow and I expect his decisions not to interfere with the outcome of the game.”
Heynckes, a former Real coach who won the Champions League with the Spanish giants in 1998, said that he would make tweaks to his team from the first leg, as Bayern look for a first win in seven matches against the European champions.
“We know things are going to be difficult, Madrid are used to very important games but so are we. We’ll be a very tough opponent; we’ll fight and little details will be fundamental,” he continued.
“We need to minimise our mistakes and we want to change a few things from the first leg.
“Changing nothing would be an error. I saw positive things but there are things to be fixed. I’ll be trying to rectify mistakes, we’ll try to attack. We conceded goals because of some mistakes – it had nothing to do with the organisation or style of play.” – REUTERS
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