Real to eclipse Moons

Euroscene: Pity poor Jan Moons. Tomorrow night, he is destined to be just about the loneliest man in Europe. Who is Jan Moons? He is the 31-year-old goalkeeper of Belgian champions RC Genk, who tomorrow night in their first ever season of Champions League football travel to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium to face Real Madrid.

On paper, this is a spectacular mismatch. On the one hand, we have the Dream Team, currently steamrollering their way over opposition domestic and foreign, with a brand of silky-smooth possession football that is just about what you would expect from Figo, Raul, Zidane, Carlos Roberto et al. At the other end of the park, we have a small Belgian club whose best-known players (well, in Belgium at least) are striker Wesley Sonck, scorer of a goal for Belgium against Russia at this summer's World Cup finals, and Australian international and club captain, Josip Skoko.

Real's bright start to the season has already started speculation that they could be in line to add a tenth Champions League to their already bursting trophy room. The 100-year old, 28-times Spanish champions are quite simply the stuff of footballing legend.

Genk, by comparison, are only 14 years old, formed in 1988 by the merger of two old clubs, Waterschei and Winterslag. Since then, they have done well to win two Belgian league titles and two Belgian Cups. For them, however, a trip to the Bernabeu is entirely uncharted territory (incidentally, the Bernabeu's 75,000 capacity is more than three times that of Genk's Fenix Stadium).

As if things were not bad enough, they travel to Spain at a moment of rare grace for Real. Hot on the heels of their 3-0 Champions League annihilation of AS Roma at the Olympic Stadium in Rome last week, Real on Saturday night cruised past Osasuna, beating them 4-1 at home to make it two out of two in the Spanish league. On top of that, they walloped poor lower division side San Sebastian 8-0 in a recent Spanish Cup game.

Genk, by comparison, have struggled a little in the Belgian league, as evidenced by a 3-2 defeat by Lokeren in their opening game, back in August. On Sunday, they were held to a 0-0 draw away to Charleroi to remain in fifth position in the table, seven points behind leaders Bruges. Five days earlier at the Fenix, they were again held 0-0, this time by Greek side AEK Athens in their first-ever Champions League tie.

All in all, it would look like Mr Moons is in for a busy night. The Genk goalkeeper will be celebrating his 32nd birthday on Thursday morning, and his party could be spoiled by a rather better known player who also celebrates his birthday this week. Brazilian ace Ronaldo, who was 26 on Sunday, would dearly like to make his club debut for Real in this seemingly less than difficult game.

Having dominated the off-season headlines with the protracted saga of his €45 million move from Inter Milan to Real, a move that has already generated the sale of 70,000 Ronaldo number 11 shirts, Ronaldo is reportedly keen to get back into action: "The only birthday present that I would like this week is to be able to play on Wednesday night (against Genk)," he said.

Moons, already concentrating on how to parry the thrusting runs of Raul, the clinical finishing of Guti or even the long-range drives of Zidane, now has another spectre to ensure a sleepless Madrid night. Real coach Vicente Del Bosque may well grant Ronaldo his wish, but probably only as a late second half substitute.

Given Real's current form, in particular, that of Guti, Del Bosque is in no rush. Guti, scorer of two against Roma and one against Osasuna, will add extra pressure to Ronaldo when he finally makes his debut for the club, be it against Genk tomorrow night or against Real Valladolid next weekend: "There won't be any excuses if I don't score goals, I know that for sure.With these guys (team-mates), the ball will be coming at me from the right, the left, from behind me. I get the feeling I am going to enjoy myself at Real Madrid."

One wonders if we can say the same for Genk goalkeeper Moons tomorrow night.