Madrid 'not finished yet' says defiant Diarra

Real Madrid CF midfielder Lassana Diarra has warned Liverpool FC not to underestimate his team's powers of recovery after the Spanish titleholders suffered a 1-0 loss at the Santiago Bernabéu which has seriously compromised their chances of reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in five years.

Efficient performance
Yossi Benayoun struck the critical blow with just eight minutes remaining to punish Madrid's failure to turn their early territorial domination into goals. Juande Ramos's men enjoyed the better of the first half, but their opponents produced the clearer chances and ultimately broke the deadlock, teaching their hosts a lesson in how to negotiate a daunting away game in Europe. However Madrid approach the return encounter at Anfield on 10 March, though, Diarra believes there may be a few twists and turns left in this tie yet despite the fact only one team in UEFA Champions League history – AFC Ajax in the 1995/96 semi-finals – have recovered from losing the first leg at home to progress.

'Not finished yet'
"We're disappointed because it was the first game and we wanted to do better," said the Frenchman. "We had a lot of chances and then they scored, but our strong squad can do something to turn it around. This isn't finished yet. Tonight things didn't go the way we wanted but it's not finished. We have to score over there now. If we can score early then we'll have a great chance."

'Nothing to lose'
Much of the threat posed by the hosts came from Arjen Robben, all too familiar with cup disappointment at the hands of Liverpool having lost three semi-finals to the Reds while at Chelsea FC, although the Dutchman echoed his team-mate's defiant attitude. "It'll be complicated to turn the score around in the return leg but we'll certainly try," he explained. "We've got nothing to lose and we'll be confident of reaching the next round. I'm sure we can reach the quarter-finals."

Anfield test
The former Chelsea winger was nonetheless quick to praise the victors for becoming only the second English side to win at the Santiago Bernabéu: "Liverpool are an English team, which means they are strong tactically. They defended well and scored a goal. We'll have to move the ball around quickly at Anfield and create as many chances as possible if we're to win. They're strong in their stadium and it's going to be hard to beat them, but we can achieve something special."

'Make things happen'
The 25-year-old will hope to be heavily involved if they do, after creating a number of opportunities that ended up amounting to nothing. "I knew I'd be marked closely but I had to try to make things happen," he said. "I had two or three players on me at times, but on a different occasion I would have scored some of the chances I had. It just didn't happen."