Ronaldo gets back on track

DORTMUND, Germany — Zinedine Zidane praised Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo as Real Madrid finally claimed a Champions League victory at Borussia Dortmund.

Ronaldo ended a mini scoring slump and marked his 150th European game with second-half goals in the 3-1 win after Bale’s stunning early volley gave Real the lead at Signal Iduna Park.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted a consolation for the host with just over half an hour left, but the Germans were simply out-played by the Spanish champion.

Having also netted twice against APOEL Nicosia, Ronaldo has now scored four goals in two Champions League games this season.

“I’m happy for Cristiano... again! I’m delighted for Ronaldo and Bale,” said Zidane.

This is the first time Dortmund has lost at home to Real in seven European games while holder Madrid has now scored in 38 successive Champion League games.

“It is difficult to play in this stadium, we have never won here, so this victory was important to us, and the whole game was good for us from start to finish,” said Zidane.

“We had a lot of ball possession, that was the key. Dortmund played as impressively as ever, but we compensated well.”

Dortmund shaded possession and matched Real’s tally of 16 shots on goal and Zidane wanted to see more chances converted.

“We could have scored more. We had chances. The important thing is to score more than our opponents and we did that,” added the Frenchman.

“The side worked hard — Isco, (Luka) Modric, Casemiro and (Toni) Kroos were marvelous.

“Everyone was brilliant. It was a tremendous game.”

The result leaves Real atop Group H, just ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, which beat APOEL 3-0 away. Dortmund is third, six points adrift of Spurs, who it also lost 3-1 to in London.

Dortmund coach Peter Bosz gave an honest appraisal of his team, which bettered Real in virtually every statistic apart from the scoreboard.

“We defend with 11 players and we attack with 11 players,” said the Dutchman, whose side shaded possession and matched Madrid’s 16 shots on goal.

“We were just too late against a side which barely made a mistake and we have to defend better.

“We didn’t put any pressure on the ball during the game and it’s difficult against an opponent like that.

“We were always too late, we have to analyze the performance and do better in the future.”