Real bank on red-hot Ronaldo

Madrid team holds the edge over CSKA after their 1-1 draw in first leg

 Cristiano Ronaldo's red-hot run of form and La Liga leaders Real Madrid's almost perfect home record makes them favourites to see off CSKA Moscow in their Champions League last-16 second leg on Wednesday.

Ronaldo is Real's leading scorer with 40 goals in all competitions and he has scored nine in his last six outings, including two in their 3-2 win at Real Betis on Saturday.
He netted the opener against CSKA last month when Real were pegged back to a 1-1 draw on the artificial pitch at an ice-cold Luzhniki stadium -- a result which ended Jose Mourinho's perfect start to the competition.

“Ronaldo is mentally very strong, has a burning desire to succeed and is very ambitious,” former Real striker and current director Emilio Butragueno was quoted as saying in the Spanish media.

Only Barcelona have beaten Mourinho's team at the Bernabeu this season, otherwise they have won every other game. They lead the European and Spanish champions by 10 points in La Liga with 12 matches left to play, and the two sides remain favourites for a possible Champions League final showdown in Munich.

CSKA looked below par in Friday's Moscow derby against Dynamo, which ended in a 1-1 draw, keeping the army team second, six points behind Premier League leaders Zenit St Petersburg with 10 games remaining.

CSKA's Ivory Coast striker Seydou Doumbia opened the scoring with his league leading 25th of the campaign after just two minutes, before Dynamo came back to level.

Chelsea under pressure
Chelsea will attack from the first minute as they seek to put behind them the rocky Andre Villas-Boas era by overhauling a 3-1 deficit in their second leg tie at home to Napoli.

The London club have sacked their young Portuguese manager since last month's first leg and face the Italians under interim boss Roberto Di Matteo, whose first taste of European action could be his last unless his players stage a stunning comeback.

If Chelsea needed any encouragement that their bid to book a quarterfinal berth was not an impossible task, they only have look to fellow Premier League side Arsenal, who fell just short when faced with a much bigger challenge last week.