Cannavaro Returns To Squad, Sneijder Still Out

Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro has returned to the Real Madrid squad to face Zenit St. Petersburg on Tuesday after being rested at the weekend against Betis.

Los Merengues returned from Seville following their 1-2 win at Real Betis and immediately began a light recovery session as they prepare to hit the road again when they travel to Russia to face Zenit St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

Coach Bernd Schuster has no fresh injury concerns to worry about although the travel fatigue could be an issue.

He has reinstated Fabio Cannavaro to the squad after leaving him behind to rest in the capital at the weekend, and the Italian’s return will see Christoph Metzelder dropped from the 19-man list, as will Míchel Salgado.

There were rumours that Dutch playmaker Wesley Sneijder could make an early comeback from his cruciate knee ligament damage and make a cameo appearance in St. Petersburg, but Schuster has decided not to take the risk and left him out along with fellow casualties, Fernando Gago and Guti.

Squad List:

Casillas, Dudek, Codina – Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Pepe, Heinze, Marcelo, Torres – Diarrà, Drenthe, De la Red, Javi García, Van der Vaart – Raúl, Saviola, Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Higuaín

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Van Nistelrooy Wary Of Ruud Zenit

Ruud Van Nistelrooy believes that Real Madrid will face a tough test in their Champions League encounter with Zenit in midweek and does not think the team relies on him for goals.

The Dutch striker netted a late winner for Los Merengues against Real Betis on Saturday and the media were quick to highlight his excellent scoring record of 60 goals in 97 games for the club.

Now Madrid turn their attention to Europe and Van Nistelrooy is just keen to be in the side and is expecting a difficult game against Dick Advocaat's outfit.

"I form part of the team and do my job. We have all started well and we have shown that we never give up," he told AS.

"It is a good time to go to Russia, but it is going to be a difficult game and we will have to work hard in Saint Petersburg.

"Zenit are doing well and it will be as difficult as the game against Betis was."

Van Nistelrooy was part of the Holland team that were knocked out of Euro 2008 by Russia, but he does not believe that will have anything to do with Madrid's game.

"That is something else. It is completely different because I am going to play for Real Madrid. We want to win there as a team," he added.

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Mijatovic: The Squad Is Stronger Than Last Year

Predrag Mijatovic believes that Real Madrid's squad is stronger this season than last term after their summer transfer dealings despite missing out on a variety of players.

The Spanish giants' sports director does not think that being unable to add either Cristiano Ronaldo, David Villa or Santi Cazorla has affected the side and that the players that did join have improved the side.

Rafael Van der Vaart has enjoyd a good start after he moved from Hamburg while Rubén De la Red and Javi García have returned, but some fans have said they do not think that was enough.

"This summer we tried to sign various players to improve the quality of the squad, but we were never going to just sign players for the sake of it," Mijatovic told AS.

"We thought Cristiano would improve what we already had. The squad now though is better than last year.

"Although some may feel we did not sign many players, we bought Rafael Van der Vaart and brought back Rubén De la Red and Javi García.

"The latter two feels like new signings. Maybe some people felt that we should have signed more to make them feel we had made a real change.

"I do not believe that we failed to sign anyone. We knew that signing Cristiano would be impossible, not because of the economic side or because he did not want to, but because his club would not give a price and there there was no buy-out clause.

"Maybe we should have done something to stop the feeling that we had failed. The player made some statements but they were never clear and it was sounded like there was a slight chance. But we knew that there would be no deal.

"We did not speak to him because you cannot do that before speaking to the clubs and having not spoken to Manchester United we could not talk to him.

"I do not think it went wrong. He is a professional that has grown up with Manchester United and he owes the club and Ferguson a great deal."

Mijatovic then criticised Robinho for his lack of professionalism in forcing a move away from Real Madrid and explained why he felt that letting the player go was a good deal.

"He never said that that he wanted to come here clearly. We thought he wanted to come here, but he never said anything as obvious as Robinho did, which showed a lack of respect to Madrid and the fans," he continued.

"Therefore I value Cristiano's professionalism.

"Robinho had two years of contract remaining and we offered him a new deal, but he did not like that idea. Our plan was that he stayed.

"But now I can say that it was best for Madrid that he went. It is the most expensive sale in the club's history and it would have been a mistake not to accept it.

"We knew that he would not regain the confidence of the supporters and Chelsea would not raise their offer. He did not want to be here any long er so he went."

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