Unsurprisingly, Thursday’s Real Madrid news is dominated by the side’s win in their Champions League Round of 16 clash at Atalanta.
It was a hugely significant one-goal victory attained by Los Blancos, even if the performance was more functional than spectacular to give them a clear advantage in the tie.
The 17th minute red card for the Italian side’s Remo Freuler shaped the rest of the match but Ferland Mendy’s spectacular right-footed shot from the edge of the area decided the clash.
Now, footage of the pre-match talk from Zinedine Zidane has emerged as he gave an inspirational team talk to his players on the pitch on Tuesday ahead of the clash in Bergamo.
🗣️ “El único partido es AQUÍ. Lo más IMPORTANTE es DEFENDER”
‼️ Tremendo documento con la CHARLA de ZIDANE previa al partido ante la Atalanta. #ElChiringuitoDeMega pic.twitter.com/tMg8gF2eVA
— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) February 24, 2021
Zidane was picked up by the microphones as stating: “This is your ground! Recently, you have been playing well but we have the quality to do everything. Do what you always do and think positively.
“Think not just about the return leg. The tie begins here. Go into the game treating it as just one match, played here. We are doing well, we are playing like a team. And we need to defend as one, that is the most important thing.
“It is going to be very important that we play as a team and defend because later on, the ball will go in for us.”
Unsurprisingly, these words can be seen through his side’s performance in the game – taking few risks but assuring that they had control of the game and prevented the home side from launching any meaningful attacks.
The return leg is in Madrid next month.
