Zinedine Zidane was happy to see his Real Madrid team continue their 30-match unbeaten run with a 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday in their penultimate Champions League group stage game.
Real Madrid ran out 2-1 winners against Sporting CP after Karim Benzema’s header with 3 minutes left on the clock ensured that they extended their unbeaten run to 30 games in all competitions.
Madrid only needed a draw to advance to the knockout stages of the competition, but a victory gives them a fighting chance of topping their group, with Borussia Dortmund still to play in their final game.
Raphael Varane put the visitors ahead on 29 minutes, before a Fabio Coentrao handball in the 80th minute appeared to have decided Real Madrid’s final position in the group.
However, a great ball into the box by Sergio Ramos and a smart header from Benzema three minutes from time was enough to win Real Madrid all three points, and Los Blancos will now play Borussia Dortmund in a match to decide who finishes top of the group.
Zinedine Zidane was pleased with his team’s performance and said that the unbeaten run further motivates his team to win every game.
“What we want to do is to continue doing what we are doing, knowing that there are moments during the game where things are not going for us,” he said, according to Sky Sports.
“To have gone so many games without losing is an extra motivation and we want to keep moving forward knowing that when you win matches, you go out more motivated next time.”
Zidane, who made just one change to the side that beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 at the weekend in the Madrid derby, also claimed he was looking forward to a ‘final’ against Dortmund.
“It was important that we won here; we achieved what we came to get,” said the French manager. “We are going to play a final against Dortmund now.”
Real currently sit second in their group on 11 points, while Dortmund are first with 13 points. This means that Real Madrid have to win their final game of the group stage — which is against leaders Dortmund — in order to win the group.
