Bale: Real confident, not cocky towards Bayern

Real Madrid star Gareth Bale has said the Spanish giants will be confident, but not cocky, when they face holders Bayern Munich in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final, second-leg. Madrid hold a slender 1-0 lead after beating Bayern at the Santiago Bernabeu last Wednesday and the Spanish giants have never beaten the Bavarian giants in Munich in nine previous attempts. Having bowed out of the Champions League's semi-finals for the last three years running, Real are desperate to claim their tenth European title -- having last lifted the trophy in 2002. Bale is hoping to make the starting line-up having sat out last Saturday's 4-0 Spanish league win at home to Osasuna on Saturday with flu and only came off the bench late in the first leg. "I feel good. I've had a few days training. I'm hoping to play tomorrow and looking forward to it," said the Real star. "We haven’t spoken too much about the game, but we know it’s a massive one with a lot at stake. "We are ready to give it 100 percent our best shot. "I don't feel like we've qualified for the final yet and we have a very hard game to come against Bayern. "We like to attack, but tomorrow we need to know how to defend too." Bayern would need to score three goals to progress to their third straight Champions League final if Madrid score first on Tuesday and Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has called for a strong start. Alongside Real team-mates Cristiano Ronaldo and Karem Benzema, Bale is hoping to make up a potent attack who are all eager to reach the May 24 final in Lisbon. "We wanted to win the Copa del Rey and we did so, now we want to do the same in the Champions League," said Bale. "We are eager to play against the best teams and to win titles. "We will look to play good football as we always do. "We are not the type of team that comes out with the idea of playing extremely defensively." Source: AFP