Cristiano Ronaldo praised the quality of Spain’s domestic league after his side sealed an all-Madrid Champions League final with a 1-0 aggregate win over Manchester City.
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The Chilean lamented his side’s luck as Gareth Bale’s intended cross deflected off Fernando and looped over the helpless Joe Hart for the only goal of the tie.
“I didn’t see a weak City”, said Zidane. The most important ones are the players, it’s them who allow us to enjoy the football. “We had a lot of experience of being in the semi-finals and going back before I was here they’ve been in them before”. It will be the same Final as in 2014 and Atletico will try to win over Real Madrid this time and hold on to it until the referee ends the game. We played against a very strong team that wasn’t better than us.
Bale had been credited with the victor against the Premier League side but it has since been deemed a Fernando own goal, though Bale told BT Sport post-match that since he’s close to doubling his tally of European medals, he’s not bothered either way.
“We didn’t deserve to lose this game”, said the Chilean, whose side had four shots on goal to Real’s 15.
“No, there are no regrets, we worked very well for 90 minutes”. We tried everything but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.
In 10 competitive matches since that clash in Lisbon, Atletico has lost just once to its fierce rival – a 1-0 Champions League defeat last April that sent Real Madrid to the semifinals.
Bayern boss Pep Guardiola saw his team maintain their winning run at home in the Champions League thanks to goals from Xabi Alonso and Robert Lewandowski – but was disappointed to exit at the semi-final stage again.
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But Bale refuted the idea that City were too cautious in their approach, saying a gung-ho charge would have played right into Madrid’s hands. We are in the final, which was our aim. “I’m happy with his performance, as I am with that of all of the players”. To say they just won because the other teams didn’t play well – I don’t think so.
