Zinedine Zidane offered the simplest of explanations for his side’s last-gasp win against Sporting CP on Wednesday. “This is Real Madrid!”
Madrid appeared to be heading for an opening-day defeat in their defence of the Champions League, until Cristiano Ronaldo’s free kick with one minute of normal time remaining was followed up by an Alvaro Morata header at the death.
“We are happy because we kept going until the end, we didn’t give up,” the Coach told UEFA’s official website.
“Sometimes you meet an opponent who play very well but our players were tremendous, they made an enormous effort and they got their just reward.
“It’s a Coach’s job to make substitutions and we’re happy that they paid off. You make substitutions in order to change the game and that’s what happened today.
“This is Real Madrid and we know we can always turn things around in a minute. We played a little better after conceding and we finally did it.
“I’m happy with the points. We suffered but never gave up. The important thing was to get points today.
“The three substitutes all gave us something when they came on. I’m happy with all three. They took it to us, especially in the first period. After they scored we took more control of the ball.
“I don’t know if the result was fair or not, but it’s clear we believed. You have to play until the end, change things and the good thing is we’re a focused, united team.
“We know that we can make the difference at any time. It wasn’t a perfect match; you never see a perfect match but the important thing was to win.
“Later we’ll analyse things. There’s nothing in particular to single out what I didn’t like. We can play better, especially in the first half.
“There’s two sides playing and they went to war with us. It’s the Champions League; there’s nothing easy in football, especially the Champions League.
“Benzema hasn’t played a lot but he played well. He’s been a starter for a long time and it’s normal his comeback is slow.
“We can always improve, he can but it’s the beginning of the season. All the team are focused, committed, hardworking and know at all times they can contribute in a positive way to the team.
“We’re Real Madrid. We know every game will be hard and that players who come here will make life difficult.
“But we also know that we can make the difference. We never gave up and fought hard.
“In a game like that when you take three points from such a hard game shows a lot of quality. Today we suffered but got the three points.”
