Zidane fears Bayern backlash
Madrid boss keen to avoid repeat of Juventus second-leg scare
MUNICH, Germany — Zinedine Zidane says Real Madrid must heed the lessons from its Juventus scare in order to finish off Bayern Munich in next Tuesday’s Champions League semifinal return leg.
Real took a step closer to a third straight European title after Marco Asensio sniped the winner in a 2-1 first-leg come-back victory in Munich on Wednesday night.
But after a scare at home in the quarterfinals, when Juventus won 3-1 in Madrid after Real won 3-0 in Turin, the coach is aware that the job is far from finished.
“We will have to fight in the second leg, nothing is decided, that showed in the second leg against Juventus,” said Zidane.
“We will have to suffer again and face Bayern in a different way at home, because if we don’t, we could have a bad result next week.”
The host took the lead at sold-out Allianz Arena through Joshua Kimmich, but Marcelo equalized just before the break.
Substitute Asensio hit Real’s winner after finishing a counter-attack to seal Real’s sixth straight win over Bayern in the knockout stage of Europe’s top club competition.
“We can be happy with the result, we had difficulties at the start of the match in imposing our game,” said Zidane.
“It’s not easy to come and win here, we can do better, but we’re happy with the result.”
Zidane again started Gareth Bale on the bench, but insisted he does not have a problem with the Welshman.
“I have a lot of quality players here, he has been playing well and I know I can count on Gareth Bale the same way I do those others who also didn’t play,” said Zidane.
Madrid’s German midfielder Toni Kroos was wholly unimpressed by his team’s performance against his former club.
“It was an average performance from us in the end, we had a lot of work to do, a lot of running,” said Kroos.
“The result is good, nothing more than that. Bayern was probably a bit better than us, but we took our chances well.”
To compound Bayern’s woes, it could have lost both Arjen Robben and Jerome Boateng for the return.
Both sustained leg injuries in the opening 30 minutes and will be examined on Thursday.
Mueller miffed
Bayern captain Thomas Mueller couldn’t hide his frustration with his team’s recklessness.
“Madrid is Madrid, we saw how coolly they took their chances,” said Mueller.
“We need another mentality in front of goal, which could have been very different in my opinion.”
Mueller said last year’s 2-1 second-leg win over 90 minutes at Madrid in the quarterfinals — before Bayern eventually lost 6-3 on aggregate after extratime — gives his team renewed hope.
“We won’t give up, we won there last year, but we need a different mentality and a killer instinct,” he said.
Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes concurred and also fumed at the Bavarians’ leaky rearguard.
“It was a curious game, we had a lot of chances we didn’t use, so it’s no wonder we lost,” said Heynckes
“I’m not accusing anyone, but our defense was poor for the goals they scored — we gave them away.
“What team has so many chances against Real and doesn’t use them?
“We have nothing to lose in Madrid and go there with a free spirit.”