Despite the fatal mistakes of French defender Raphael Varane that caused Real Madrid to exit against Manchester City in the Champions League final, his coach Zinedine Zidane refused to hold him responsible, but defended him after the match.
Real lost 2-1 to Manchester City on Friday in the second leg of the final eight, to qualify for City, who won the same result in the first leg as well.
Zidane said after the match in an interview with "BN Sports" that after his mistake, he told Varan that "he must calm down and raise his head."
#Champions League
Zidane Lafaran: Be calm and hold your head up đŁïž # beINUCL #UCL https://t.co/l9iFdgAllp
- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) August 7, 2020
"The players gave what they had during the season. Of course we cannot be happy with the defeat, but we are proud of what we have presented this season," he added.
It was clear that Real - the record holder for winning the Champions League with 13 titles - was affected by the absence of its defender and captain Sergio Ramos, who watched the match from the Etihad Stadium because of his suspension, as a result of his expulsion in the first-leg match that was held last February in the capital, Madrid.
In his explanation of the royal defeat, Muhammad Abu Trika, an analyst for "BN Sports" channels, said that Real Madrid performed a good season and won the Super and the Spanish League, but it was bad in the Al-Ittihad Stadium and led in a defeatist spirit, and the team was negatively affected by the absence of captain Ramos, who lost Real Madrid 7 of 8 Elimination encounters he missed, stressing that Zidane is a great coach and won 3 European titles in his last 4 appearances in the tournament, and he is not disgraced by the defeat against the best coach in the world, Pep Guardiola.
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Abu Trika explains the reasons for the exit of the Real and praises Zidane's season đ # beINUCL #UCL pic.twitter.com/2o9ogUwBeq
- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) August 7, 2020
And with a naive mistake, Varane caused City to advance through Rahim Sterling, then Brazilian Gabriel Jesus gave the ball to score the goal of Manchester City's victory, which eliminated the royal dreams in reaching the quarter-finals of his favorite championship.
Varane admitted his mistakes after the match in a statement he made to "BN Sports", where he said, "I want to face the fans and acknowledge my mistakes and acknowledge that this loss is my responsibility. We prepared well, but mistakes caused the loss, and it was a complicated and difficult night for me. As a man I take responsibility." "We gave everything on the pitch and after the score became 1-1 we had a chance to qualify, but things went badly."
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Manchester City remove Real Madrid from the Champions League đČ
đŹ Never miss a match's summary and goals đ # beINUCL #UCL #ManCityRealMadrid https://t.co/eDqNk9AbOj
- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) August 7, 2020
Manchester City and hit a date in the quarter-finals with the French team Lyon, who sparked a surprise by qualifying at the expense of Juventus.
It is noteworthy that the quarter-final matches will be held from 12 to 23 of this month in the Portuguese capital Lisbon, without the audience also in the play-off system.