ASSISTANT COACH Aitor Karanka has dismissed the notion Real Madrid will take a defensive approach in tomorrow’s Clasico against Barcelona.
Real head into the match against their Catalan rivals four points clear at the top of the La Liga table, meaning a draw will be enough to see Jose Mourinho’s side get within touching distance of the league crown.
Former Madrid coach Bernd Schuster said yesterday that Real will play for a draw against Barca, but Karanka has pointed out the team has gone out on attack against the Catalans in recent matches.
“We will not go there to speculate,” Karanka said “This game will resemble the last matches we had there, in which we scored goals and secured draws.
“In Saturday’s game, we will need to have that same attitude. These are three important points, but after this match, we will still have to play four more games, whether we win, lose, or draw against Barca.”
Karanka stressed the players are not thinking about the upcoming Champions League clash against Bayern Munich and played down criticism leveled at Fabio Coentrao for his display against the Bundesliga club in the first leg on Tuesday.
“What we are focused on right now is Saturday’s game,” Karanka said. “We are not thinking any further. Coentrao? What we asked him to do was to keep (Arjen) Robben from outrunning him, scoring, and crossing, and he did his job well.
“Sometimes it is easy to criticise someone.”
Questioned if the players are tired from their midweek contest, Karanka said: “There have been suspensions, injuries and squad rotations. For a match like Saturday’s, there is no such thing as fatigue.
“I hope that the match will be normal and that the fans will be satisfied with what they see.”
