Zidane: “I’m confident that we’ll get out of the group with performances like this”

For the second midweek in a row, Real Madrid fell behind in the Champions League and had to then attempt a comeback. This time, though, against Borussia Mönchengladbach, they did manage to salvage a point thanks to a 2-2 draw. After the match, Zinedine Zidane was asked to evaluate the first two matchdays of this Group B and the current situation, with Real Madrid bottom of the standings right now on one point, but at the same time only three points off first-placed Shakhtar Donetsk on their four points.

The coach said: “It was a difficult situation and now we’re in the same situation we were in last season. The players fought until the end tonight. If we play like this then I’m confident things will work out for us and we’ll get through this group. This result shows the character that this team has. We deserved at least a draw and I think we deserved a little more. I’m happy with the reaction and I believe this is an important point.”

Zidane was asked if he is noticing the fatigue from playing big games every few days. He replied: “We’ll try to manage the fatigue that we’ll have. There are no breaks and we’ve had a lot of physical exertion recently. But, that’s what we’ve got to deal with. It’ll be a busy year for everybody. But, we should be proud of today because we earned a point in the end in a difficult away fixture.”

Eden Hazard came on for the final 20 minutes and Zidane was asked what he thought of the Belgian’s first outing of the season. He said: “This was the plan, to try to have him play. I don’t know how exactly we’ll introduce him back into things, but we’re playing matches every three days and we’ll see how he comes back in.”