Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane lauded Cristiano Ronaldo for making the difference to send his side into the Champions League semi-finals at the expense of Bayern Munich.
Ronaldo scored a hat-trick as Madrid claimed a controversy-filled 4-2 win after extra time in the second leg at Santiago Bernabeu, progressing 6-3 on aggregate on Tuesday.
Zidane was full of praise for Ronaldo, who was whistled by his home fans on his way to becoming the first player to reach 100 goals in the Champions League.
“Ronaldo does his talking on the pitch and always steps up in the key moments,” Zidane said in his post-match comments.
“The fans don’t whistle him anymore, although this is the Bernabeu and it can happen from time to time, but the fans will thank Cristiano for everything he’s done here.”
“He has shown that in the key moments, he is there. He makes the difference.”
“When he has to be, he is. He is unique and we are happy for him and for the team. And for the people who have helped us in the Bernabeu.”
A Robert Lewandowski penalty and Sergio Ramos own goal, either side of Ronaldo’s equaliser, sent the quarter-final into extra time.
But Ronaldo’s double and a Marco Asensio goal sealed Madrid’s progression to the last four and Zidane felt it was deserved, despite the controversy.
“We played against the best team by the way, but we scored six goals and they scored three, so we deserved to go through,” Zidane said.
“We had a lot of chances in the first half and then we were not comfortable.”
“It has been very even, but in the end we got the result and it was well-deserved because we played one of the best teams around,” he stated.
“Today was the most difficult game we’ve played, but we scored six goals and we are very happy.
“I’m proud of the players because they kept a cool head, we fully expect to suffer in games like these,” he admitted.
Inevitably, Zidane was asked about some of the refereeing controversies that marred the result, but he chose to diplomatically steer the conversation in the direction of his team’s ability to get the desired result.
“The referee’s job is difficult, but more than cards or offside goals, I think we deserved to go through because of the six goals that we scored thanks to our effort,” the 44-year-old insisted.
“I don’t know if I would be in favour of or against video replays in such situations.
“There is no luck in football, we had to win and we did it.”
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