Zidane Happy With Real’s Game While Pellegrini Acknowledges Lapses

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane and City coach Pellegrini reveal their thought after the goalless draw.

Zinedine Zidane talks to Manuel Pellegrini after the match (Photo: AP)

Manchester City held Real Madrid to a goalless draw in their first leg Champions League semi-final match on Tuesday night.

Despite the dominating the game, the visitors could not do much as an athletic Joe Hart shielded multiple Real attacks. Madrid missed a finisher and all knew Ronaldo was sitting out due to an injury.

Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane, however, wasn’t really disappointed with the result. In the post-match press conference he said:

I am happy with the game. It was not easy but in the end, we defended really well. We had the ball more in the second half and we had more chances after the break. It was a tough game but I am happy with the result.

“Before this game, it was 50-50 and now it’s the same. We have the second leg at home, but it’s 50-50. We are going to have to work like we did today,” he said.

“It is a Champions League semi-final so nothing is easy, but I am happy with the result and the work the players did,” he further added.

On being asked on the game-play, Zidane added, “Defensively, we played really well. We know (Sergio) Aguero is a good player so we didn’t give him much space. The idea was to defend together. We managed to achieve what we wanted.”

Meanwhile, Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City’s coach, acknowledged the lapses in the team’s attack and said:

We were not very creative and we couldn’t create clear chances to score. But in terms of intent, we had the most intent to win the game. 

But captain Vincent Kompany decided to take the only the positives.

“It is hard to keep a clean sheet against such an attacking team. We can be proud of what we have achieved,” he said.

(With inputs from the AP.)