Dogged Fernando Alonso drives Madrid dreams

 

'Los Blancos' are determined to pull out all the stops to cut down the eight-point gap between themselves and Barça over the next few weeks. The way the 'Azulgranas' keep churning out results might prove too much to swallow for other, less seasoned challengers, but Madrid has a history of staring down adversity and living to tell the tale.
On this occasion, Real has turned to another Madrid icon, Fernando Alonso, for inspiration. The Ferrari driver has tirelessly persevered in his attempt to reel in Sebastian Vettel, despite long looking like the underdog for the World Championship title.
It was Aitor Karanka who issued the battle cry and referred to Alonso – the F1 racer, not the Basque midfielder – in the process. "Champions like Fernando and Real Madrid cannot throw in the towel until there's nothing left to fight for", Mourinho's right-hand man said.
Madrid is hoping to take advantage of playing before Barça in order to put pressure on its arch-rival. Should 'Los Blancos' overcome Betis, they will move to within five points of the top before Tito Vilanova's men are in action on Sunday.
Betis, meanwhile, is bracing itself for one of the toughest matches of the season following a week that can only be described as testing in the extreme. The Andalusians are still smarting in a big way from last week's thrashing in the Seville derby, and can expect a frosty reception as the fans make their feelings known.
Pepe Mel will be making at least four changes to the line-up that started against Sevilla, as well as tweaking the formation, in order to shore up the Betis ranks. Somehow managing to stage an upset in Madrid would go a long way towards getting the crowd back on side.