Marseille v Real Madrid:REAL MADRID will again be without Kaka as they go in search of the point that would secure them a place in the last 16 of the Champions League against Marseille tonight.

Kaka is still troubled by the groin problem that forced him to miss Saturday’s Primera Division match with Almeria and was omitted from Manuel Pellegrini’s 20-man squad for the trip to France, along with fellow injury victims Ruud van Nistelrooy, Guti and Christoph Metzelder.

Even without the Brazilian, though, Madrid are firm favourites to progress to the next phase at the expense of Olympique Marseille, as they could even go through with a defeat.

The Spanish giants are two points ahead of second-placed AC Milan at the top of Group C and three in front of Marseille, whom they beat 3-0 at home. They would therefore need to lose by a bigger margin at the Stade Velodrome to face potential elimination.

Striker Gonzalo Higuain said: “We know we have a good chance, something very improbable would have to happen for them to knock us out.”

Defender Pepe admits it is unlikely to be a comfortable night on the south coast for Madrid, though, with Marseille having lost just once in six home fixtures in French Ligue 1 and having beaten FC Zurich 6-1 in their last European match in front of their own fans.

“It will be a tough game and we have to be well-prepared and very focused,” he said.

A confident Cristiano Ronaldo added: “We know that they play very good football but I know what we are going to get through to the next phase. We have to go out to win the game and forget the rest.”

Ronaldo goes into the match on the back of an eventful night against Almeria, which saw the world’s most expensive player again steal the limelight.

He scored one and created another in a 4-2 win, won and then missed a controversial penalty, did not celebrate when team-mate Karim Benzema scored from the follow-up, and was then sent-off late on for two needless bookings.

The first yellow card was for taking his shirt off after scoring, and the second for kicking out at Almeria’s Juanma Ortiz.

Ronaldo is again likely to be in the spotlight tonight as he could come up against the player whose tackle in the first meeting between the two teams led to the €90million man being sidelined for around two months.

Although he also got the ball in the challenge, Marseille defender Souleymane Diawara was sent off and conceded a penalty with a crunching sliding tackle on Ronaldo in the September 30th meeting at the Bernabeu.

Ronaldo was able to continue for a while, even scoring his second of the match, but was eventually substituted and ended up missing Madrid’s next 10 games due with the ankle injury he sustained in that game and aggravated soon after when on international duty with Portugal.

Diawara said ahead of tonight’s game: “I’m really happy that he’s back to fitness. I can’t say I regret the tackle itself, only his injury. I have a clear conscience because I didn’t mean to injure him.

“The replays show that it wasn’t a penalty and that there was no bad intention on my part. I made a sharp challenge, but it was correct and I got the ball first.

“His foot was in a bad position when I made the tackle, and that led to the injury. That’s why I say I would make the same tackle again.”

Marseille could progress with a narrow victory as long as Milan do not beat Zurich in Switzerland.

And Diawara added in Spanish newspaper AS: “Madrid can expect a crazy atmosphere at the Velodrome. “It gets heated very quickly. For us it’s a real final.”

Should they fail against Madrid, Didier Deschamps’s side are at least assured of a place in the Europa League.