Zinedine Zidane was visibly delighted with Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over Liverpool on Tuesday night, although the coach warned the tie was far from over. Reflecting on the victory in his post-match media interview, he said: “I feel great. There is a mixture of everything. We had a very good game, although we had a bit of difficulty at the start of the second half. I am proud of everyone. But, there is a second step. We have to be happy and satisfied, but there is a second leg.
The coach also revealed that Raphael Varane’s late loss didn’t affect the team too much tactically, saying the plan was still the use of a 4-3-3. He said: “We haven’t changed anything, we just changed Éder Militão for Raphael. The plan was to play 4-3-3 with Raphael. We knew there was something there [with the long passes forward] We know their full-backs are attacking, so with the quality we have with Toni Kroos and Vinícius, we scored a fantastic first goal.
There was further praise for Vinícius, Zidane saying: “I’m happy because he needed to score, just like Marco Asensio or Karim Benzema need to score. He plays well. When a player scores a goal, he has more energy. “
Finally, Zidane has been asked about the Clásico on Saturday, but he is not thinking about this game yet. He said: “We have to enjoy this game today and then watch it tomorrow. Not even tomorrow. We are calm. The match takes place on Saturday. We just need to recover well. “