Published 02:38 IST, October 2nd 2019
UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid salvage draw against Club Brugge
Real Madrid hosted Belgian side Club Brugge in their Matchday 2 of UEFA Champions League 2019-20. Both the teams settled for a 2-2 draw at the Bernabeu Stadium.
Real Madrid survived a scare against Belgium side Club Brugge as Zinedine Zidane's men came back from two goals down to draw the match 2-2 in the UEFA Champions League group stage. Madrid had bounced back strongly after their 3-0 loss against PSG and won in back-to-back two LaLiga games, however, to everyone's surprise, the Belgium side performed pretty well to hold the 13-time Champions League winners.
Real Madrid vs Club Brugge: First half
Madrid received an early shock in the game as it took only nine minutes to Club Brugge to open their account in Bernabeu. Emmanuel Dennis' goal was initially disallowed by the line referee but VAR confirmed the goal and the visitors drew first blood on the Spanish soil. After the first goal, the Belgian side started exposing Madrid's defence more as the Zidane's team looked desperate to find an equaliser.
Los Blancos were rushing into Club Brugge's half in search of a goal. Eden Hazard and Karim Benzema managed to trouble Mignolet on some occasions but failed to find the net. Club Brugge were looking dangerous in their counter-attacks and managed to create a lot of critical chances. Dennis silenced the home crowd yet again when he slotted the second goal for the visitors off Luka Modric's error on the 39th minute. The Croatian gave the ball away straight to Dennis and the striker hustled his way to beat Courtois for the second time before the first half. Madrid responded with a series of crosses into the box, but the visitors held their ground strongly till the end of the first half.
Real Madrid vs Club Brugge: Second half
Zidane made two changes at the start of the second half as Areola came in for the struggling Courtois and left-back Marcelo replaced Nacho. Madrid looked optimistic from the starting minutes of the second half. Benzema worked his way through a crowd of defenders in the left channel of the Brugge box but failed to make the final pass to set his teammate up. However, Madrid gave their supporters something to look out for on the 55th minute as skipper Sergio Ramos pulled one for the hosts with a stunning header.
Madrid looked motivated from the captain's goal and completely dominated the second half as they marched towards the visitors with full force. Vinicius Jr replaced Vazquez at the 67th minute and the move added some pace for the hosts. Ruud Vormer saw a red card at the 84th minute for a mistimed challenge on Vinicius and got booked for the second time. Casemiro capitalised from a set-piece following the red card and headed home the equaliser. However, Philippe Clement's held their nerves and held Madrid for a 2-2 draw.
Updated 11:29 IST, October 2nd 2019