Roberto Carlos wary of Bayern

By Luke Nicoli

Roberto Carlos believes Real Madrid CF will have to overcome one of the competition favourites if they are to fulfil their own aspirations of winning the UEFA Champions League this season.

Main rivals
Madrid have been paired with FC Bayern München in the first knockout round of the competition and the Brazilian has cited Ottmar Hitzfeld's side as one of Madrid's three main rivals for European glory this season.

'Competitive games'
"The Italian teams were very successful last year but, for me, the biggest threats to us come from Arsenal [FC], [VfB] Stuttgart and Bayern this time," he told uefa.com. "To draw one of those teams makes it more difficult for us now and they will be very competitive games. As it's a knockout game we know that if we play one bad game we could be out."

Routine qualification
Carlos Queiroz's star-studded team eased through the group stage, winning Group F with 14 points, three more than FC Porto, their nearest rivals. Bayern will be a much tougher proposition but Roberto Carlos shrugs off suggestions that his team have been on autopilot thus far.

Hard campaign
"Motivation has to be incredibly high to make it through to the final," the 30-year-old said. "People may think that Madrid had it easy in the group stage because we qualified without any problems and without losing a game but this does not necessarily tell the full story. We are very lucky to have an excellent team of players and because we work hard for each other and are used to playing with each other then perhaps the games come easier. We may have made this competition look easy so far but believe me it is not."

No relaxation
With knockout football, Madrid will not have the luxury of being able to rest players as they did in their final group game against FC Porto. Goalkeeper Iker Casillas and David Beckham started that game on the bench, while Iván Helguera and Raúl González were omitted altogether.

Increased focus
"The new format leaves us little room for error," he said. "But I like the new format because games will be more competitive from now on and we will need to be strong in every game. Playing fewer games increases the intensity of the games you play in but you also have more time to recover between games. This is also better for the coach of each team because the demands on his squad are not so high and he has less games to focus on and prepare for."

Bitter memory
The bitter taste of defeat in last season's Champions League semi-final against Juventus - Madrid lost 4-3 on aggregate, after a 3-1 second-leg defeat in Turin - still rankles and Roberto Carlos suggests the Merengues are still smarting from that result. "That remains my worst Champions League experience," he said. "To miss out by just one goal was very hard for us and we want to erase the memory of that night.

Magical music
"We have won the competition in 1998, 2000 and 2002 but no matter how many times you win this competition it is always special. There is a magical feeling when the Champions League music sounds at the beginning of each game, it is the biggest club competition and is the trophy that every player wants to have."