"We're all great admirers of Real Madrid but, with humility as well as conviction, we'll be aiming to knock them out of the competition in the semi-finals," Juve coach Marcello Lippi said on Monday.

"If we play to our strengths, and remember that we've already knocked out Deportivo Coruna and Barcelona, we believe we can win."

Lippi accepts that Real will go into the tie as favourites after winning the Champions League three times in five seasons, lifting their overall tally of European Cup wins to nine.

The first of those modern day successes was in 1998 in Amsterdam, when Real beat Juventus 1-0 in the final thanks to a goal from Predrag Mijatovic.

Lippi believes the favourite's tag will be as unimportant now as it was then.

"Real Madrid are the favourites this time and they deserve to be," said the Juve coach.

"The last time we played them was in the final in Amsterdam when we were favourites and we all know what happened then. You can't say it makes any difference."

Real suffered a shock 5-1 defeat by Real Mallorca in their last match at the Bernabeu, but Juventus will not be reading too much into that result.

"We know from experience that matches prior to the Champions League have no bearing when the big game comes along," he said.