Dennis celebrates his goal
It was a sad day for Zinedine Zidane’s side but a night to remember for the young Nigerian Dennis Emmanuel Bonaventure. Real Madrid was poor again in their home ground Bernabeu, goals from 21-year-old Emmanuel Dennis put the home side behind. Zidane’s side had to struggle to come back into the game.
The Nigerian’s first goal came through a wrong control from Percy Tau’s cross but it ended well as the ball went past Thibaut Courtois. He was initially disallowed for offside but after the assistant referee watched the video over and over again, it was awarded a goal.
The second goal came as Dennis stumbled into the penalty box and lobbed Madrid number one man Courtois despite almost losing balance. Dennis did the iconic Cristiano Ronaldo celebration as he said Ronaldo is his real model. He said he did it because he wanted the fans in Bernabeu to know what they are missing. The Nigerian international who has capped only once for his country became the first Nigerian to score a brace in the Champions League. He is also the player with the fastest goal in the Champions League for Club Brugge.
It could have been game over in the 54th minute when Dennis looked for a hat-trick but was well saved by Areola who came in to replace Courtois. Club Bruges now seats second on the table following Paris Saint–German, who thrashed Madrid 3-0 in the leg game in Group A. Madrid sits at the bottom of the table with one point.
The game started taking shape for the home side when Captain Ruud Vormer was sent off for two bookings. Captain Sergio Ramos responded for Real in the second half with a header from Karim Benzema’s cross which was ruled out for offside but overturned by the VAR. Toni Kroos Casemiro capitalized on Toni Kross’s cross from a free–kick to equal the scoreline 2-2.
The comeback against the Bruges ensured it was not a third consecutive Champions League defeat and a third European home loss in a row. Real Madrid boss has previously won three consecutive Champions League titles with the team before he left but returned to replace Santiago Solari after a woeful display in their 4-1 defeat by Ajax in the last 16. The question now is did he make a mistake to come back to Bernabeu?
Real Madrid has conceded two or more goals by half-time in their past three home Champions League games. They had done that twice in their previous 124. Although they create lots of chances, conversion still remains a challenge. The signing of Eden Hazard from Chelsea has still not helped the club stand out. They have been struggling since the start of the season.
Bruges’ stoppage-time substitute Siebe Schrijvers would have ended the game with a clear chance to give the visitors victory. But he wasted the glorious chance as he screwed the chance wide. The visitors celebrated a famous point at the final whistle.
Zidane was asked about the goals and he said: “The two goals that they scored were a joke – that’s all I can say on that.” “What happened in the first half can happen to you,” the manager added. He said they came into the game very late and that’s what took them off balance. We know we have to make and finish chances because, in the first 10 minutes, if we had been a little more clinical, we could have had the opening goal.
Madrid team won the other half of the game and ended up sharing points with Club Brugge. “We need to do go away killing the game from the very first minute to the end.”