Timo Werner: “The chances that we turned into goals today went untaken in Madrid.”

RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner, who came off the bench today to score the third goal — and dagger — in his team’s 3 - 2 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League, gave his assessment of the match after the game.

“We played similarly to how we did in the reverse fixture,” Werner said. “The chances that we turned into goals today went untaken in Madrid. We had a good first half in that game but today’s was even better. With the quality that we have, we made it hard for them after going 1-0 ahead, but their goal just before half time increased the pressure. Set pieces helped us a lot today and we picked up three important points. That’s what we were hoping for ahead of the game and that’s what we’ve come away with. Winning games in the Champions League is always a special feeling, whether it’s against Real, Shakhtar or Celtic. But of course, Real Madrid are a huge club. You always want to beat someone like that as much as possible.”

Leipzig head coach Marco Rose, meanwhile, was full of praise for his team while also showing respect to Real Madrid.

“It was a brilliant evening for Leipzig,” Rose said. “We played really well, our opening 35 minutes were fantastic and we were ahead 2-0. It was obvious that Real were then going to show their class and they made us run a lot. But we defended tirelessly and we won our duels. We dealt with everything in the second half and it was an open game. I think we didn’t allow them much. I’m very pleased with today’s performance and I’m happy that the boys believed in themselves and rewarded themselves. Despite the win, we know that we’re not through the group. We have to try and take the final step in Warsaw.”