Real Madrid secured a point in the meeting with Shakhtar Donetsk courtesy of a last-minute equaliser that secured qualification for the Champions League last 16. After the game, a few Madridistas were interviewed and provided their thoughts on the team’s performance. Toni Kroos, Nacho Fernandez and Lucas Vasquez claimed that the game was tough and they really had to struggle but with their strong will they managed to get what was the most important thing: the qualification in the next round.
Toni Kroos, who provided the assist for the goal, shared his thoughts at the full-time whistle: “They learnt a lot after the game at our place. It proved to be a tougher game than last week's. They did well and we made a poor start to the second half and went 1-0 down. What's more, they've got quality on the ball and we were aware of that. However, as always, we kept going right until the very end. We deserved to get the equaliser, although it was a tough game”.
“Our performance wasn't as polished tonight as it was last week. We lost the ball on many occasions and gave it away quickly. We really struggled to get the better of them in one-on-ones in attack and our combination play wasn't as good today. It turned out to be a tough game. You get these types of matches in the Champions League, but we still picked up a really important point”, he added.
Thoughts ahead of El Clásico: “We're feeling confident and are looking forward to it. The first thing we have to do is recover because tonight's game was a struggle for us. We've got five days before the match and we'll go into it in good shape”, the German said.
Nacho Fernandez, who had several important challenges in the box and pulled a great performance in the defense, said: “It's true that we really were made to suffer and they caught us out on the counter-attack on several occasions. When they took the lead, it changed the complexion of the game and we had to take a few more risks in attack and they then looked very comfortable. Overall, we defended very well against a Champions League side who always have a lot of pace up top. Rüdiger’s last-minute goal was very important”.
He added: “We were under the cosh a bit when we went a goal down. We’ve been finding it difficult to score in the last few games. We created a lot of chances today and the other day against Getafe, but we can’t seem to get the goals. But we don’t need to be too concerned because we’re still coming through the games and with the quality of the front players, we should be scoring more goals”.
A draw ahead of El Clásico: “Of course we wanted to win today, but taking into account the way the game went, I think we can see it as a positive result. We’re still group leaders, we’re happy about Rüdiger‘s goal in the last minute and now we can think about El Clásico. It’ll be a different game and a special one. Form goes out the window. We want to win it and even more so at home”.
Then, it was Lucas Vázquez who concluded with his opinion: “It was a tough game and they pushed us all the way. They took the lead and when that happens it’s always more difficult. The goal by Rüdiger is really important for us and we hope it’s only a knock. The big difference was precision with the ball. We struggled to finish the moves, to play through the middle like we did in the first game at the Bernabéu. Because of that they got stronger on the counter attack they’re very dangerous with their fast forwards”.
Feelings after conceding the goal: “Conceding a goal right after the break, where we’d spoken about the importance of starting the second half well, makes things more difficult”.
Minds on El Clásico: “We weren’t thinking about El Clásico, we knew how important this game was. Today it was really important for us to make it through. We’re going to go into El Clásico in good form. We haven’t lost yet, we’re full of confidence and we’re well up for Sunday”
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