Ramos wants maximum focus

Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has called for his team to maintain concentration ahead of their Champions League tie with Galatasaray.

Turkish Super Lig title holders Galatasaray overcame Schalke in the round of 16 to be drawn against Jose Mourinho’s Spanish champions in the last eight.

Ramos, on international duty with Spain this week, has said that despite the draw appearing to be kind to Real, no team represents an easy opponent in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

“Galatasary are a pretty strong team with their new signings. They are a force to be reckoned with,” the 26-year-old told UEFA’s website.

“We have to give them a lot of respect.

“That we have drawn Galatasary is not a stroke of luck by any means. One should never underestimate any team. They have had to earn the right to get where they are.

“Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder are world-class players, but the real danger is the collective and never just the individual. We have to try to keep a clean sheet at home because I am sure that things will be difficult on their home turf.”

Ramos has tasted success for both club and country, winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the FIFA World Cup and the European Championships, but he is yet to win the UEFA Champions League.

“Unfortunately, it is one of the few things that I have yet to win, and I must admit that it is an itch I want to scratch, to be able to hold and raise a trophy as important as it,” he said.

“It is one of my greatest dreams that I can have at this stage of my career. Hopefully one day we can say that I have won not just one Champions League title.

“I just hope that tomorrow my name will live on in this regard in a club as important as this one.”

Real host Galatasaray on April 3 at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, before travelling to Turk Telekom Arena for the return fixture on April 9.