Zidane frustrated by 'wall' Neuer despite Real Madrid victory

Joe Wright

Zidane frustrated by 'wall' Neuer despite Real Madrid victory image

Zinedine Zidane said Real Madrid feel a little disappointed not to have beaten Bayern Munich by a greater margin in Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg.

Two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo saw the holders overturn Arturo Vidal's opener and claim a valuable 2-1 victory at the Allianz Arena.

Ronaldo rises, Madrid marches on

Bayern were the better team in the first half and should have been further ahead at the break, with Vidal missing a second header before blazing a penalty over the crossbar.

Madrid responded well in the second half, though, Ronaldo scoring two minutes after the restart before netting his 100th goal in UEFA club competitions after Javi Martinez had been sent off for two quick-fire yellow cards.

Manuel Neuer made fine saves to deny Karim Benzema and Ronaldo in particular, while Sergio Ramos saw a 90th-minute header ruled out for offside, and Zidane could not help but feel frustrated with the performance of the Bayern goalkeeper.

"Winning here isn't easy," the head coach told beIN Sports. "We suffered a lot in the first half.

"With patience and by winning the ball from our opponents, the second half was very good. And then playing against 10 was easier.

"It wasn't a penalty but that happens and it could have been 2-0. At the break we were happy to only be 1-0 down. 

Ronaldo pulls three clear of Messi

"We had the chance of having a good 45 minutes. We're all a little disappointed because we had a lot of chances in the second half, but we were against a goalkeeper who is a wall.

"It's a positive result but there is a return game left and the tie is still to be played for."

Joe Wright

Joe Wright Photo

Joe is a Senior Editor at Sporting News. He was previously a sub editor and writer for Goal.com before spending six years as part of the Stats Perform editorial news service, covering major global sports including football, tennis, boxing, NBA, rugby union and athletics. Joe has reported live on some of the biggest games in football, including two UEFA Champions League finals, Euro 2016, the Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 World Cup final at the end of a month in Russia.