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Bartra eager to square up against old rivals Madrid

SoccerNews in La Liga 6 Dec 2016

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Borussia Dortmund defender Marc Bartra is relishing lining up against former club Barcelona’s biggest rivals Real Madrid on Wednesday.

Dortmund will finish top of Champions League Group F if they can avoid defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Spain international Bartra, who moved to the Bundesliga in June after making 103 appearances for Barcelona, says his side are good enough to beat the reigning European champions. 

“It’s great to come to Bernabeu, especially with the rivalry with my old club and then to come back here with Dortmund to play for first place in the group in the Champions League is great,” Bartra told UEFA.com.

“It is one of the best games you could have in Europe right now and for me it’ll be very special.

“Madrid are a dangerous side in attack. We aren’t thinking about favourites.

“We want to play a good game, to win the game. We’ve had a good group stage, winning all the games bar the previous meeting with Madrid and I think we have a side that can face up to Madrid.

“Getting three points in Madrid is difficult and we’ll have to be at 100 per cent if we are to take the victory from it.

“It’s a game that asks a lot from you, both in terms of defence and attack. They’re very highly contested games and you need to be on it mentally at all times. We’ve played against Bayern, Gladbach, sides that have a lot of quality.

“Madrid have a lot of world-class players who all bring their own thing to the game both at the back and going forward.”

Bartra says the adaptability of Dortmund and coach Thomas Tuchel could be key to getting a positive result in Madrid. 

“We can change our system. We’ve changed up a lot but I’ve felt very comfortable since I’ve arrived playing in the coach’s style,” he added.

“The boss will decide tomorrow how we set up in order to get a result.

“Whatever the setup we will have the right attitude in order to take a positive result and that’s the most important thing.”

 

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