IKER: FORGET THE PAIN
Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas has said that his teammates should soon forget the painful memories of the Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich. Real Madrid were hosting Bayern Munich in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final at the Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid were coming to the match after having lost the first leg 2-1 through a late goal from Mario Gomez. This meant that Bayern Munich had the advantage in the second leg, but Real Madrid were still confident of going into the final due to their home support. Cristiano Ronaldo scored two quick goals in the first half to assert their authority in the match.
However, a Robben penalty midway through the first half meant that the tie was level on aggregate. At this point, a goal from Bayern Munich would have been disastrous for Real Madrid because it would have meant that they needed two goals in order to go head on aggregate. As a result of this precarious situation, Real Madrid decided to play on the counter-attack. Bayern Munich also did not offer great deal of attacking threat from there on in. The game went into extra time and then into penalties. Bayern Munich goalkeeper Neuer saved two penalties from Ronaldo and Kaka, while Ramos blasted over the bar to give Bayern Munich the passage into the finals.
“It has been a harsh blow and it’s hard to get back on our feet, but we must carry on and focus on what remains of the season. Penalty shoot-outs are like the lottery and we lost due to bad luck. That’s all there is to it. We should have fought harder to keep the 2-0 score, but we can’t ask more of the team than it did tonight,” said the Spain international.