After a scoreless first leg, Zinedine Zidane’s side secured a 1-0 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu through Gareth Bale’s deflected strike to book their place in the final against Atletico Madrid.
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Madrid’s efforts finally paid off in the 20th minute, when Bale’s attempted cross deflected off of Fernando’s legs to find the back of the net.
Manuel Pellegrini believes Real Madrid were lucky to beat Manchester City in their Champions League semi-final.
Spanish football giants Real Madrid will meet city rivals Atletico Madrid in the final game of Europe’s top tier football tournament, UEFA Champions League, APA reports quoting Anadolu Agency.
“But we won one title – the Capital One Cup – and I hope we are going to finish in the spot of the Champions League for next year”.
“It is not the best thing changing a defender very early but I don’t think we had any problems in defence”, Pellegrini said. “He is young. I could be wrong but I think he is the first coach who can win the Champions League in his first [season]”. I’m very happy with everything that has happened to me.
“The final will be 50 percent for each team”.
“Thank you for all the supoort you have given us, it was really important”. They absolutely had to score more goals than their opponents, as a draw would go in favor of City, thanks to the away goal rules.
Real Madrid must now turn their attention to La Liga, where they are one point behind Atletico and Barcelona with two games to play. The former Real Madrid star said that his side is looking forward to final against Atletico and termed the summit clash to be a complicated one.
“Yes, I am disappointed we didn’t create chances”, said Pellegrini, who leaves the club at the end of the season.
Pellegrini finally succeeded where predecessor Roberto Mancini failed, but City’s demanding owners will be expecting Guardiola to take their club into the latter stages as a minimum requirement.
But he insists that is not the case and has vowed to try and lift his players after their Champions League semi-final exit to Real Madrid.
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“I don’t think they had 15 attempts”. He added that there was not a huge gap between his side and Madrid, who have reached their second final in three seasons.
