Galatasaray vs Real Madrid preview: Zidane plays his first final

Real Madrid will play for their Champions League lives when they face Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday.Zinedine Zidane knows the importance of the game for his team and for himself as the pressure begins to mount on the Los Blancos boss."

It's always an important match, I've been here for 18 years, I know where we are and pressure is always going to be there," Zidane said in his pre-match press conference.If Real Madrid don't get a result in Istanbul, they'll be staring Champions League elimination in the face just three games into the group stage.

On top of that, Zidane's side lost their place at the top of the LaLiga Santander table with defeat at Real Mallorca on Saturday.Florentino Perez and the rest of the club's board remain confident that both players and coach can turn this situation around, but they reiterate that something must change quickly."I don't know if I have a lot to lose against Galatasaray," Zidane said on Monday."I want to be at Real Madrid forever.

"We know the situation, but you'll have to ask someone else [about my future].""Football is about results. The memory is very short," Zidane's former teammate Luis Figo said recently."Another thing is if the decisions are fair or not, but it's of little importance at times. I always hope that things work out for the best, but [Zidane] knows that the world is like this."

He knows what it's like to coach Real Madrid better than anyone. I hope the critics go away soon and the team has the results that we expect and wins lots of games."

A defeat against Galatasaray wouldn't spell the end for Zidane, but it would for the team. History shows that teams rarely progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League having picked up just one point from their opening three games.Tottenham were the last team to do it, with their run finishing with the final at the Wanda Metropolitano last season.

Los Blancos have progressed from the Champions League group stages with 10 points just twice before.The first time that happened came during the 1995/96 season when they finished in second behind Ajax, who won 19 points, and the second time came during the 2005/06 campaign when they finished in second behind Lyon, who won 16 points.

Zidane will go into the crunch fixture without the likes of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale, but at least he'll have Toni Kroos available for selection again.