luka modrić is hoping to follow the example of russell crowe in the film gladiator as tottenham hotspur fc look to show their "fighting spirit" against real madrid cf.
the similarities between luka modrić and actor russell crowe may not be obvious but the tottenham hotspur fc midfielder is hoping for inspiration from his favourite film as his side look to overturn a 4-0 deficit against real madrid cf.
the croatian international loves nothing more that watching movies at home with his son and gladiator is his choice when it comes to seeking motivation ahead of an important game – and they do not come much bigger than a visit from the nine-time winners in the quarter-finals of the uefa champions league. "i've watched gladiator a lot of times," he said. "i won't watch it again tonight as i'll be watching manchester united versus chelsea, but we need to show a big spirit tomorrow – a fighting spirit like in that movie."
"we've had a lot of hard games which we've played at white hart lane, especially young boys, after we were 3-0 down in the first leg, inter and then milan, when we managed to draw to reach the quarter-finals," added modrić. "we need to do that again and show the same fighting spirit. if you don't play that way, it's hard to do anything. we don't have anything to lose. we can only win and win by a lot."
much like his cinematic idol, the 25-year-old has demonstrated an eye-catching blend of ability and steely determination and has thrived in a physically-demanding central midfield role this season. but the former nk dinamo zagreb playmaker, who joined tottenham for €21m in 2008, insists confidence in himself and team-mates is an overriding factor in the club's success under harry redknapp.
"we have a big belief in the dressing room and that is most important," continued modrić, who refuses to accept the london club's race is run in this season's competition. "we believe we can produce a miracle but it will be very hard. madrid are a great team full of great players but we need to try to play our best football and we'll see if that will be enough. even if we don't go through it would be great to win this match."
modrić believes the return of aaron lennon could be integral to their hopes of an unlikely recovery, with the england winger eager to play after pulling out of the first leg through illness shortly before kick-off. "lennon was big miss for us," he said. "he is a great player and i hope he'll cause a lot of problems. but we need to play as a team. if one or two don't then it's hard to do something against madrid. we all have to play at a high level. we will try to do the best we can. in football, anything is possible, but we need to enjoy it.
"we are in high sprits," continued modrić, who has played seven times in this season's competition. "this year we have played against some big clubs and showed quality. everyone needs to respect us for what we've done in the champions league for the first time. we've shown we are a great team. we can still learn a lot from this year but we have a bright future and are coming on. if we stay together for a long time we can be one of the best teams in europe."
cristiano ronaldo's second-half goal ended tottenham's memorable run and took madrid through to a first semi-final since 2003 – against fc barcelona.
real madrid cf set up a mouth-watering uefa champions league semi-final against their great rivals fc barcelona after cristiano ronaldo's second-half goal completed a comprehensive aggregate defeat of tottenham hotspur fc.
ronaldo's speculative 50th-minute effort, fumbled into his own net by heurelho gomes, ended any faint hopes of a tottenham comeback and confirmed madrid's progression to a record 22nd semi-final in the competition – albeit their first since 2003 – with the only blemish on their impressive evening's work the yellow card for ricardo carvalho that rules him out of the first leg against barcelona.
tottenham may have tried to deliver on their manager harry redknapp's words that "nothing is impossible" but for the competition debutants this was a bridge too far against josé mourinho's side, whose defensive discipline was underlined by an eighth clean sheet in ten matches.
only three times in uefa club competition had a team overturned a four-goal deficit and, despite the noisy exhortations of the home crowd, tottenham never looked like producing a victory to eclipse their successes against the two milan clubs earlier in the tournament.
that madrid began with four players at risk of suspension suggested mourinho was not taking tottenham lightly. also notable was the deployment of marcelo in a left-sided attacking role with álvaro arbeloa behind him, although it was on the other flank that tottenham's early threat came as gareth bale troubled sergio ramos with several dangerous forays.
the hosts were struggling to retain the ball for long enough to build up a head of steam, however, and the early goal redknapp had called for could well have arrived at the other end. with two minutes gone, a quick one-two with emmanuel adebayor sent mesut özil clear on the right but the german sent a tame left-foot effort straight at gomes.
it took until the 27th minute for tottenham to find a hole in the madrid defence, aaron lennon accelerating past arbeloa on to a rafael van der vaart pass and laying the ball across to roman pavlyuchenko who drove wastefully over from just inside the box. pavlyucheko was then involved in the build-up to bale volleying into the net but the effort was annulled because luka modrić, whose header set up the welshman, was offside.
madrid's fans cheered old favourite raúl gonzález's strike for fc schalke 04 when it was played on the big screen at half-time and they were soon celebrating a goal of their own. gomes had allowed ronaldo a soft goal in the first leg and now he spilled the portuguese's 25-metre strike, the ball bouncing out of his hands and spinning over the line despite a desperate attempt to claw it back.
tottenham heads did not drop and they came close to bowing out with a consolation. pavlyuchenko nodded van der vaart's cross on to the roof of the net; substitute jermain defoe drew a fingertip save from iker casillas and later headed a corner against the far post. the goal did not come but redknapp's men were worthy of the warm applause that came their way at the final whistle.
yardımcı hakemler: luca maggiani (ita), andrea stefani (ita)
4. hakem: gianluca rocchi (ita)
çizgi hakemleri: daniele orsato (ita), antonio damato (ita)
tottenham: heurelho gomes (gk), gareth bale, tom huddlestone (dk. 71 sandro), aaron lennon (dk. 61 jermain defoe), roman pavlyuchenko, rafael van der vaart, william gallas, luka modrić (dk. 83 niko kranjčar), michael dawson (c), vedran Ćorluka, benoît assou-ekotto
yedekler: carlo cudicini (gk), younes kaboul, jermaine jenas, sébastien bassong
teknik direktör: harry redknapp (eng)
real madrid: iker casillas (gk) (c), ricardo carvalho, sergio ramos (dk. 57 esteban granero), cristiano ronaldo (dk. 65 kaká), marcelo, xabi alonso (dk. 75 karim benzema), álvaro arbeloa, raúl albiol, mesut özil, sami khedira, emmanuel adebayor
ydekler: antonio adán (gk), ezequiel garay, gonzalo higuaín, ángel di maría
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