Emmanuel Dennis’ record making brace, scored in the first half of Club Brugge’s Champions League tie with Real Madrid to silence the Bernabeu on Tuesday night, has been described by Zinedine Zidane as ‘laughable’.
Emmanuel Dennis opened the scoring in the ninth minute to give the Belgians the lead, becoming only the third Nigerian to score against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
The 21-year-old then completed his brace half an hour later, showing his pace and composure to get the better of Thibaut Courtois in the Madrid goal.
Dennis’ second strike on the night elevated him into the elite band of only seven players who have scored multiple goals in a Champions League away match against Real Madrid, the others being Alessandro Del Piero, Alexandre Pato, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Lionel Messi, Mario Mandzukic and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The goals so vexed Zidane that he hauled off former Chelsea keeper Courtois at halftime and replaced him with Areola, who joined PSG in the summer.
Although, Los Blancos bounced back and equalised in the second half with headers from Sergio Ramos and Casemiro, it didn’t stop the Real Madrid boss from blasting his team after the match.
“The first goal we have conceded was laughable,” Zidane told Marca, as observed by Soccernet.ng.
“We started badly, and from the 10th minute we were not concentrated in the areas where the opponent could hurt us.
“When they scored the first, they got a boost and we were even worse, and they scored the second.
“I insist that I’m glad about the second half, [it was] a bad result but good reaction.
“We can’t be happy; we played 45 minutes completely different to the other.
“I’m happy with the reaction, although I’m not happy with the point.”
Zidane went on to reveal what he told his players at half-time.
“I told them that we have 45 minutes to change this, and they changed it,” he added.
“They went out with more attitude and wanted to take over the game.”
“We have the next league game and we know that we are in a slightly worse situation in the Champions League, but we will continue [fighting],” he noted.