Zinedine Zidane said Cristiano Ronaldo was happy to claim his 100th European goal in Real Madrid’s 2-1 win at 10-man Bayern Munich, but insisted the quarter-final is far from decided.
Ronaldo, the four-time World Player of the Year, volleyed Real level at the Allianz Arena, then reached his milestone by slotting home the winner 13 minutes from time.
“He was happy of course, but he wasn’t too happy as he had chances to score more goals,” Real coach Zidane said. “We’re all content, because it’s never easy to win at Bayern.”
Photo: AP
Ronaldo said it was a moment to savor.
“I wanted to reach this record. To be able to reach this mark is an honor and against a team like Bayern it is even better,” Ronaldo told BeIN Sport Spain.
Arturo Vidal headed Bayern into the lead, but then skied a penalty on the stroke of halftime, before Ronaldo volleyed the defending champions level after the break.
Bayern played the final half an hour a man down after centerback Javi Martinez was sent off for two fouls on Ronaldo within three minutes.
Real pressed home the numerical advantage as Ronaldo tapped the ball between the legs of Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer for the winner on 77 minutes.
However, Zidane warned that the slender lead might not be enough in Madrid in the Spaniards’ bid to become the first club to defend the UEFA Champions League title.
Bayern hope to have top-scorer Robert Lewandowski fit having missed the first leg with a bruised shoulder.
“You never decide a tie like this in the first leg, but we created our chances and we could have scored more goals,” Zidane said. “We’re happy with the game we played. We showed patience and we showed the willingness to get the right result. Even another goal would not have made that much difference.”
The Frenchman is hoping Welsh winger Gareth Bale will be fit for the return having gone off in the second half with a leg injury.
“Gareth felt something at halftime and I didn’t want to take any risks, he didn’t feel very well, we hope it’s nothing major, nothing big,” Zidane said.
The Real coach said his side were lucky to have only been a goal down at the break after Vidal’s penalty miss.
“We could have been 2-0 down at halftime, which could have changed the match, but we managed to show some patience and get the equalizer,” he said. “It was a different game after the break, we showed more personality and stole some ball off Bayern. Their goalkeeper made a lot of saves. We played 11 against 10 for the final 30 minutes and had a lot of possession, which changed the match and the result.”
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