Real Madrid took another great result as the 2nd leg of the quarters ended in Los Blancos’ favor with two goals scored and zero conceded, just like in the 1st leg. Ancelotti’s men appeared solid both offensively and defensively in front of the Blues, who showed clear improvement from the previous game and posed real threats especially in the first half. Rodrygo, who played 81 minutes and Courtois & Camavinga who played 90 minutes each, spoke to the press after the game and expressed their thoughts on the game as the main protagonists.
Rodrygo was surely one of Real Madrid's outstanding performers of the game. The Brazilian had a stellar game and struck both goals at Stamford Bridge. The forward sought to explain his fine form in Europe's top competition in the following terms: “I don't know how to explain it, but I always say it's a really special competition for me. Whenever I've played I've always managed to do something to help my team. I'm so happy, I hope I can keep going like this, scoring more goals, providing more assists and winning the Champions League again”.
He continued: “It’s a pleasure to be playing for Real Madrid, the greatest team in the world, and we know that we’re practically obliged to reach the semi-finals, the final and win the Champions League. Since we got here, we've had that in our heads. We have to produce very good performances and I think we're doing that. Since I've been playing here we've come a long way in this competition and I hope we can continue like this”.
Difficulties in the first half: “They could’ve made it 1-0 in the first half, but Courtois was there to bail us out. I'm delighted with my brace and eager to keep up this pace. Now it's time for us to think about the semi-finals”.
Militão's absence for the first leg of the semi-finals: “Militão won't play, but we have other very good players who can stand in for him. The Champions League is very tough. We can't choose our opponents and we have to be ready for anything”.
Something about the Siiu Celebration: “I thought about sliding on my knees, but I have a slight swelling so I couldn't. Then Cristiano, who is my idol, popped into my head and that's how it came out”.
Then it was the Belgian wall who had his word as one of the stars of the showdown. He analyzed his side's triumph in London as follows: “I'm really pleased. The match was intense for me and managing to win with a clean sheet is always a good thing. The first half wasn't the best, but we corrected things at half-time. We improved in the second half and scored two important goals. They could've got back into the game, the fans were behind them. They were looking for that goal to bring them hope and fortunately Rodrygo scored”.
“The save I made came from a low cross across the face of the goal. Someone tried to shoot, I fell a bit and I saw that the ball fell to Cucurella. I tried to jump and make myself big, throwing my body to the left to try and cover the far post and the front post with my feet. I'm very pleased with the save”, he added.
Militão’s yellow card: “It was unlucky, Havertz just lifted the ball and Militão didn't get to it. We have to have faith in the whole squad and I'm sure we can fight against City or Bayern. We're going to try to do the same as last year, we have to believe. We're on a good run, we have complete confidence that we can do it again and reach the final”.
On how special is it to reach the semi-finals at Madrid: "It's not easy to reach the semi-finals. For the last 13 years Madrid have made it to many. We're delighted to reach a semi-final. It's not easy, but once you're there, if you lose, it doesn't mean much. We have the aim of winning, but we take it one game at a time”.
At the end it was Camavinga who had something to say. The young Frenchman was again deployed once again as a left back and despite the challenges coming from his direct opponents (Kante and James) he managed to pull off a very good performance. He said: "The team played really well. The first half was tough because Chelsea are also a good team, but we're a great team and the second half was easier and we managed to score two goals. We're Real Madrid and when we're in a tough game we all work as we always do and we managed to progress”.
Comments