The Russian Cup winner tips the Russian outfit to progress to the UEFA Champions League quarter-final by defeating the Spanish outfit at Santiago Bernabeu.
CSKA Moscow failed to claim a UEFA Champions League win against Real Madrid after drawing 1-1 against the Spanish outfit at Luzhniki stadium. Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Pontus Wernbloom sealed the scoring in the tie.
Though the Madrid-based club dominated the first half of the crunch European match after scoring early, CSKA fought back well to score a late equalizer.
Leonid Slutsky, the Koni head coach, has lamented his team’s weak clearances during the first half, which ultimately led to the opening goal of the match. Ronaldo took advantage of a poor Aleksei Berezutski clearance to score the
first goal.
“Both the team have failed to spate themselves and they both have equal chances to reach the quarter-final of the continental tournament.
“We made defensive mistakes, especially when we conceded the goal. It was a rough and simple mistake. I think we played better during the second half.” The Russian Cup winner was quoted as saying.
Slutsky went on to reveal that they missed the services of an attacking midfielder offensively. The Russian tactician defended his decision to introduce Keisuke Honda during the second half by revealing that the Japanese playmaker
was not ready to play the entire match.
He went on to lament Pavel Mamayev’s absence, revealing that the midfielder could have changed the fate of the game. The prolific midfielder failed to play the mouthwatering European encounter after sustaining an injury.
Speaking on Wernbloom, the former FC Moscow head coach appreciated the Swedish national’s performance against Los Blancos and demanded a similar performance when they travel to Spain for the return leg.
“When we played a 1-1 draw against Seville FC, two years ago, nobody backed us to win the respective tie. Though Real are the favourites to win the match, we will try our maximum.” The 40-year-old assured the fans.
The Red-Blue managed to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League by winning 3-2 against the Spanish outfit on aggregate.