Brace Again

January 24, 2010, evening, Bernabéu Stadium.

Before the match, the home team's dressing room was utterly silent.

After returning from warming up on the pitch, the Real Madrid players sat ramrod straight in their places, each wearing an expression as if facing a formidable enemy. Clearly, they all attached great importance to tonight's match, yet were also more than a little apprehensive.

Málaga could hardly be considered a strong team. They currently sat sixteenth in La Liga, with three wins, eight draws, and seven losses from eighteen matches. Their away record so far was five draws and three losses from eight matches, with not a single victory.

It had to be said that this was not a strong team, but their defense was quite solid. They had conceded only thirteen goals.

Yet one statistic reflected Málaga's tenacity especially well: their away performance in the first half. If points were calculated solely from the results of their away first halves, Málaga would rank fifth—a highly respectable position.

A team like this was destined to be difficult to play, especially at the Bernabéu, and especially with Real Madrid in poor form lately.

"We need to beat Málaga in this match. There's no other option!" Benitez declared forcefully.

The away defeat to Athletic Bilbao had put Real Madrid in a very difficult position. If they lost this match as well, they would truly squander their lead over Barcelona and hand over first place in the league for nothing.

This pushed Real Madrid further into a desperate corner.

In the end, the awkward dilemma Real Madrid had faced before El Clásico would once again fall upon them.

And with the Champions League Round of Sixteen knockout tie still to worry about, this match could not be lost.

"Málaga is a very tenacious team.