Julen Lopetegui believes calmness under pressure will help Real Madrid replace Cristiano Ronaldo

Sport360 staff 19:00 27/08/2018
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  • Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui believes being calm under pressure served his side well in their come-from-behind 4-1 win at Girona on Sunday.

    The UEFA Champions League winners found themselves behind to a Borja Garcia goal in the 17 minute of their second La Liga fixture of the season before a brace from Karim Bezema and goals from Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos sealed a win for the Los Blancos.

    “Both halves were tricky. Girona have a good collective game, they started well got an early goal and could have had another,” Lopetegui told Spanish TV station Movistar following his side’s win.

    “Then we got two penalties. We deserved them because we were playing to win and had a hatful of chances,” he added.

    The former Spain national team coach hailed his side’s calmness under moments of pressure as the reason for their comeback win.

    “We kept calm under pressure and played well enough in the second half to deserve the victory. We were flying forwards too quickly in the first half, we were too keen to attack. We were calm and clear and had plenty of space. When we have that this team gets going, it works and the goals start to flow,” he explained.

    A brace from Benzema led Madrid's fightback.

    A brace from Benzema led Madrid’s fightback.

    “This time it was Gareth, Karim and Sergio, but we don’t mind who gets them as long as we get them.”

    Real Madrid have big gaping hole to fill to replace the goals of the prolific Cristiano Ronaldo who joined Serie A champions Juventus in a big-money summer move. With Real signing no like-for-like replacement for the Portuguese star who scored a whopping 450 goals in 438 games for the club, the pressure on the remaining stars like Bale and Benzema has increased exponentially.

    While Lopetegui believes that replacing Ronaldo’s goals will not be a problem for the club if they keep up their Girona display, he is already growing in stature with some of the decisions he has taken so far.

    The Real Madrid coach left the likes of Luka Modric, Raphael Varane and Thibaut Courtois on the bench on Sunday while taking off left-back Marcelo around the 60th minute mark.

    Spanish daily Marca stated that Lopetegui has shown that he was not “afraid to make unpopular decisions for the best of the team” and “proved he was in charge”.

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