Zinedine Zidane explained why Cristiano Ronaldo missed Champions league’s first leg tie
Zinedine Zidane confirmed Cristiano Ronaldo missed Champions league’s first leg tie against Champions league after carrying a knock in the training.
The Real Madrid manager informed in pre-match media talk that Ronaldo was 100% to face Manchester City, but didn’t make the Real’s bench, and Karim Benzema was taken off during half time.
“Ronaldo suffered something in training and we didn’t want to risk him. He wasn’t comfortable. We have to think about the day-to-day, to recover as soon as possible. Hopefully he can be back for the return [on Wednesday]. That’s the idea. We believe in doing things right and that is in the return,” Zidane said, AS reports.
Zinedine Zidane explained why Cristiano Ronaldo missed Champions league’s first leg tie
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5QnU8rrkx4
“Benzema suffered and that’s a shame because he wanted to play. So we took him off at half time and we’ll see what happens with him as well.”
“All the players know they’re important and it’s true than when Cristiano and Benzema are missing there are others who play and do well, that’s the mentality of this team,” he continued.
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“It’s a good result. We fought, the game was difficult, but we improved in the second half. We had a good 90 minutes, though the second half was better.
“The important thing is the result is good. We had chances in the second half, but we didn’t get them. The second leg will be 50-50 again. We have to rest well, because we’ve suffered.”
While Pepe reacted to his missed chance against City:”I had the chance, but the goalkeeper was out very quickly. He made a great save,” AS reports Pepe as saying in the mixed zone.
“We worked well. They’re a good team. The first half was to see what was happening and in the second half we were the better team. We knew we couldn’t make mistakes, they came out strong and we studied how to cut them off. We cut off their attack. In the second half everything changed and we were better.
“I congratulate my teammates who have come in to replace Cristiano and Benzema, which isn’t easy. Lucas [Vazquez] is playing a great role. The team is doing very well in order to qualify,