Zidane wary of Bayern threat despite win Real are vulnerable, says Heynckes
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Real boss says his team must fight to avoid repeat of scare they suffered in quarters against Juve
MUNICH: Zinedine Zidane says Real Madrid must heed the lessons from their 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 hit the winner in a 2-1 first-leg come-back victory in Munich on Wednesday.
But having suffered an almighty scare at home in the quarterfinals, when Juventus won 3-1 in Madrid after Real had beaten them 3-0 in Turin, Zidane says nothing is decided despite Real’s slender advantage.
“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,” he warned.
The hosts took the lead at the sold-out Allianz Arena through Joshua Kimmich, but Marcelo equalised just before the break.
Substitute Asensio hit Real’s winner after finishing a counterattack to seal Real’s sixth straight win over Bayern in the knock-out stages of Europe.
“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 pulled a surprise before kick-off by dropping Gareth Bale, 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.
Toni Kroos was unimpressed with Real’s performance at 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 Madrid’s Germany midfielder.
“The result is good, nothing more than that. “Bayern were probably a bit better than us, but we took our chances well.” against Bayern in the first half added to his goals against Paris Saint-germain (round of 16) and Juventus (quarterfinal) earlier in the campaign. For all the gaps he leaves behind on his raids upfront, the Brazilian more than makes up for it by being one of Real's most consistent attacking threats.
Marcelo has now scored in the Champions League’s knockout stage, more than any other defender
against Bayern was a meager 40 percent – their second lowest after their 0-3 loss against Barcelona in December. But Real were clinical in their finishing, scoring two goals off their seven attempts unlike Bayern, who had 17 attempts. Rising stars Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez combined to score Real’s winner; Asensio coming on after restart.
quiet night for Cristiano Ronaldo as he failed to score for the first time after netting in 11 consecutive Champions League outings. Aside from a disallowed effort the Portuguese failed to take a single shot on target. Despite this, Ronaldo did manage to set a new record.
games Ronaldo has now won, more than any other player A 35-year-old Franck Ribery was Bayern’s best player on the night. He tormented Dani Carvajal on the right flank through the first half and came close to scoring in the second. He had cut into Real’s box to get a couple of shots away but was brilliantly denied by Keylor Navas. But Ribery was also guilty of spurning a great one-on-one chance on a night that Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller failed to step up. Bayern were hit by two critical first-half injuries that undoubtedly took some time to shake off. Arjen Robben was substituted with eight minutes on the clock after suffering from a thigh-muscle problem. Central defender Jerome Boeteng had to be replaced 10 minutes before halftime after suffering from an adductor muscle injury. Both players remain doubtful for the second-leg, which could make Bayern’s task even more challenging. BERLIN: Bayern Munich spurned a hatful of chances in their 2-1 home loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinal first leg but coach Jupp Heynckes said the fact they created so many opportunities proves the Spaniards are vulnerable.
Bayern should have been several goals to the good in the first half with Thomas Mueller, Robert Lewandowski, Mats Hummels and Franck Ribery all coming close.
But the Germans were let down by some unusually sloppy finishing that allowed defending champions Real to escape with a win and left Bayern in danger of being eliminated from the competition by a Spanish club for a fifth straight season.
“We are not giving up,” said Heynckes. “When you create so many chances against a team like Real then this is also an indication that the opponent is vulnerable. “We have nothing to lose and we will be play freely. Maybe more so than in the first leg because our game was not as fluid as we would have liked.”
Bayern suffered early setbacks with injuries to Arjen Robben and Jerome Boateng but kept penetrating the Real defence seemingly at will in the opening 45 minutes, with the Spanish fullbacks struggling with the speed of Ribery and Lewandowski.
But instead of adding to Joshua Kimmich’s 28th minute opener, they conceded an equaliser a minute from halftime through Marcelo’s well-taken volley.
A defensive blunder by Rafinha then allowed Real to complete the comeback.
“I am not blaming anyone but our defensive operation in both their goals was very bad,” Heynckes said. “Our finishing was also not good. We were not as efficient as usual.”
Heynckes had won his previous 12 consecutive Champions League matches while Bayern had lost just once in their last 22 home games in the competition going into Wednesday’s clash.
“At the end of the day it is 2-1 for Real and we did not do ourselves any favours,” said Bayern captain Mueller. “How they (Real) did it is their thing but it shows that there is still a lot possible in the return leg.”