Real Madrid 2-2 Club Brugge: 4 talking points | UEFA Champions League 2019/2020

#1 Club Brugge players give a good account of themselves

Real Madrid v Club Brugge KV: Group A - UEFA Champions League

Real Madrid are 13-time European Champions and the Santago Bernabeu is one of the most hallowed and respected stadiums in the world.

By contrast, Club Brugge are very much minnows on the continent, and while they might be relative powerhouses back home in Belgium, they are nowhere near matching the firepower and prestige of Real Madrid.

The Champions League clash against the Spanish giants saw them come up with some of the best players in history and while it might have been easy to cower in awe of the superior might of their opponents, the Belgians did not do any of that.

Rather, they manned up and took the fight to Real Madrid, going toe-to-toe with them and neverminded the fact that they were at the Santiago Bernabeu.

In total, they managed four shots on target and might have nicked an extra goal but for a wonderful reflex save by Alfonso Areola to deny Emmanuel Denis his hat-trick.

The Nigerian was arguably the standout player on the day, but alongside him, South African international Percy Tau wreaked havoc against Sergio Ramos and co. while Eduard Sobol controlled proceedings from the middle and sliced open the Real defence time and again with his passing.

All in all, it was a wonderful performance from Club Brugge and though Zinedine Zidane might have underrated them a bit by opting to rest with Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez (who have been standout players), he would not be making such mistakes again ahead of the return leg in Brugge.