Zinedine Zidane confident Real Madrid can make strong comeback in second leg

IANS
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane on the touchline during the clash

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he is confident that his side can make a strong comeback at home after the 0-2 defeat in the first leg of Champions League football quarter-final tie against VFL Wolfsburg.

"We have the opportunity to change this and being Real Madrid we know we can come back strong at the Bernabeu with our fans," Zidane said after the match here on Wednesday, reports Efe.

Goals in the first half of the game by Ricardo Rodriguez and Maximilian Arnold gave the hosts a well-deserved victory, a loss for Real Madrid that Zidane has said he takes full responsibility for the shock defeat.

"I'm going to analyse the game and see what happened. I am very proud of my players. I am responsible and I need to look at what happened and I'll do that," he said.

The Frenchman admitted that the team had not started the game with the same level of intensity as Wolfsburg, which throughout the game displayed a 'fighting spirit'.

Though the 10-time European champions, favoured to win, had performed better in the second half of the match, it was not enough to overcome the two staggering goals within eight minutes of the first half.

"What we have done recently has been positive and I'm not going to go crazy. We cannot be happy with this game," said Zidane.

"We suffered physically... We lacked intensity and mobility in all areas, especially at the beginning. We have an opportunity in the second leg but first we have a game in La Liga on Saturday," the former attacking midfielder said.

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