Wembley clash “like a final” says Zidane

According to a report by Sky Sports,Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has said our clash against the holders in two weeks’ time at Wembley Stadium is “like a final” after our battling draw at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.

We left Madrid with a hard fought point as Raphael Varane’s own goal was cancelled out by a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty and truth be told, we had opportunities to win it.

With us both now level on seven points at the top of Group H, six points clear of Borussia Dortmund and APOEL Nicosia, Zidane believes our meeting with his Madrid side at Wembley in a fortnight will perhaps decide who finishes top.

“Now there is a return game at Wembley and we will go there to try and win it,” Zidane told the assembled media after the game.

“We will see how the next game goes. The three points we did not get here, we will try and get them at Wembley, which is now a game like a final.

“It is not their home pitch, and we will try and go there and win the game. If we play away as we did in Dortmund, we will be happy.”

It was a night for goal-keepers with Hugo Lloris, in particular, in inspired form and his opposite number in the Madrid goal pulling off some fine saves to deny Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen amongst others.

Lloris’ Man-of-the-Match performance came after he superbly denied Karim Benzema from point-blank range and tipped Ronaldo’s fierce strike over the bar.

While he was not pleased with the draw, Zidane said both goalkeepers deserve praise for keeping the opposition at bay. “We can’t be pleased with the result because you always want to win your home games,” .

“I think that we had the chances, particularly in the first half, but there were two top goalkeepers out there tonight in Keylor and Lloris and you’ve got to accept that the goalkeepers are there to prevent you from scoring.

“Both goalkeepers intervened to deny the opposition on three or four clear-cut openings and that comes as no surprise to me.

“Lloris put in the sort of performance he needed to and that was a shame for us, what with us carving out a number of chances. We put a point on the board and it’s a fair result overall.

Zidane concluded: “Every game is tough, especially when you come up against sides that defend very well, as was the case tonight. Things become increasingly difficult when you win because the standards you set are ever higher and the opposition will always put in 250 per cent.”

Related Topics