Madrid answer Luxemburgo's call
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Article summary
Coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo was "delighted" with Real Madrid CF's 1-0 first-leg victory against Juventus FC.
Article body
Iván Helguera's first-half header gave Real Madrid CF a narrow one-goal victory at the Santiago Bernabéu and the edge in their first knockout round tie with Juventus FC. It was Vanderlei Luxemburgo's first taste of the UEFA Champions League and the Brazilian coach was "delighted" with the way his side had played. Juve's unhappy night was compounded by the loss of the talismanic Pavel Nedved to injury in the first half. Luxemburgo admitted Nedved's departure had been "a blow to Juve", a feeling mirrored by his Juventus counterpart Fabio Capello.
Vanderlei Luxemburgo, Madrid coach
I'm delighted with the way we played. It was a good result but we could have scored more. Still, it's better than 2-1. I resent the accusation that Madrid have been lucky recently because we've worked hard and deserve it. We've done a lot of work on set-pieces in training because we knew it would be important against a side like Juve. They played as expected - defensively, waiting to pounce on the break - so at times we defended in numbers. Nedved's loss was a blow to Juve as he is a great player but you must consider that we lost [Míchel] Salgado too. Looking ahead, Turin is another game. It will be tough and although we have the advantage, one thing's sure, the winner will be decided in Italy.
Fabio Capello, Juventus coach
Even though we lost, it's not a bad result. We played some good football and the only disappointments were the conceded goal and [Walter] Samuel's chance that hit the woodwork. I don't like the way we defended the first goal. We must mark every Madrid player at every free-kick. Nedved is a little bit better now and we missed him when he was taken off. Before his injury we looked good in attack and [Alessandro] Del Piero had a great opportunity. We aren't used to playing without Nedved though and it was difficult for [his replacement] Ruben Olivera to get up to pace. Madrid played well, but so did we. It's not easy to play at the Santiago Bernabéu. We must wait to see how Madrid play in Turin.
