Real Madrid will look to ease the pressure on themselves in the Champions League when they host Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday night.

It has been a worrying start for the reigning champions, who looked in danger of missing out on the knockouts entirely at one point, but a win here will all but secure a spot in the top 24.

Carlo Ancelotti's side enter matchday seven just two points inside the playoffs, and pressure could be placed on them by some of the sides playing 24 hours earlier on Tuesday.

The top eight is virtually unassailable now, with Real on just nine points from their first six games, so ensuring they place themselves as strongly as possible in the playoff zone will be the goal from this point, and their final two games are certainly winnable.

Salzburg have been well below par this season, while Brest await on matchday eight, so barring a remarkable collapse, a playoff place will be theirs.

Morale will be much higher among the Real players too, following a fine response to their pasting by Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup.

A 5-2 win over Celta Vigo saw them reach the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey, while dropped points by both Barca and Atletico Madrid allowed them to go top of La Liga courtesy of a 4-1 win over Las Palmas.

After playing catch-up for most of the campaign, Los Blancos now remarkably find themselves seven points clear of Barca, with rivals Atletico now their closest challengers, and they will feel they have four winnable matches before the Madrid derby in a few weeks against Salzburg, Real Valladolid, Brest and Espanyol.

Focus will be on the Champions League for now though, and they will be big favourites here in a game where they can extend their current run of 32 straight home games which have seen them score in the Champions League.