Vini Jr. struck Real Madrid’s second goal at the Etihad Stadium following a fine solo run in which he set off from his own half and got the better of Fernandinho after allowing the ball to run through his legs, and following a 50m sprint, he fired the ball past Ederson and into the far corner.
The attacker reflected on the team’s performance in the following terms: “You can never be happy when you get beaten, but we've got 90 minutes ahead of us to make the difference at the Bernabéu. The next game will be different. I'm really happy with the team’s attitude. We were 2-0 down against an extremely good team and we come away with our heads held high to put in a good performance in the return leg”.
“You've got to hang in there against City. All of the fans have come away from here happy with the goals and the quality on show. We've now got to keep cool heads and improve our performance if we're to get through. We've got to improve in pretty much all departments and basically improve how we start the game and make sure we don't concede because that makes things difficult for us”, he added.
The young Brazilian continued: “I had to run a lot for the goal and I finished it well. It was a great goal. I’d missed a chance earlier, but the coach told us to remain focused. I like playing under pressure and a minute after missing that chance I scored to keep us in the tie”.
Speaking about Benzema: “There’re no words to describe how he’s playing. He’s an amazing player, my brother and he’s full of confidence. I hope he ends up winning the league and the Champions League this season, and he gets the Ballon d'Or”.
As the battle for a place in the Champions League final will be decided next Wednesday at the Bernabéu, it was KarimBenzema, after bagging a brace at the Etihad Stadium, who spoke about the team’s performance against Manchester City: “Losing a game is never good because we're excited about our chances of winning the Champions League. The most important thing is that we never gave in. We've now got to go back to the Bernabéu, where we’ll need the fans more than ever and we're going to win, which will be magical”.
He continued: “If you go into a game without confidence, they’ll go and score two goals against you because they're a good side and they press you hard at home. We lacked a little bit of everything: ambition, pressing and confidence”.
About the Penalty: “I always say that if you don't take the penalties, you'll never miss one. It's a mental confidence thing and I've got great confidence in my ability”.
After the match it was Rodrygo who spoke as well. Feeling pround and motivated, he reflected in the following terms: “You've got to fight until the end when you wear this shirt! We lost the game, but we know we’re hard to beat at the Bernabéu and we’ll be trying to pull it off together with our fans. We hope to get through to the final. We need a lot of support from the Bernabéu, they know what it means because their support made us stronger in the last tie”.
He added: “We didn’t have the best start, we let in goals and this can make you lose your focus in the game. But we know we have to fight for this shirt until the end and when we scored we gained more confidence. It’s tough to play here. They use the ball really well and we knew it was going to be like that, but we hope we can make it through at the Bernabéu”.
On Benzema: “This is what Karim does. He’s been working on it the last few days and those on the bench knew he was going to do it. You have to be really brave and have the confidence to score a goal like that”.
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