Real Madrid finished the group stage of the Champions League with a victory (1-3) in Brugge with the Brazilian young couple shining in Belgium. Zinedine Zidane gave minutes to some players who were not use to play and the team respond positively. Now Los Blancos park the Champions League until February, when they will have to face a tough team, because their possible rivals in the Last 16 round are RB Leipzig, Liverpool, Manchester City, Juventus and Bayern Munich.
Los Blancos travelled to Brugge with nothing in risk and with the idea of giving some rest to key players and, at the same time, give opportunities to others use to be on the bench. However, Zizou risked with Casemiro, who played again the whole game, and might rest against Valencia thinking in El Clásico, because the Brazilian has 4 yellow card and will miss the clash at Camp Now if he’s booked again in Mestalla.
Zizou gave minutes to Luka Jovic, who looks completely lost at Real Madrid. The Serbian had some chances in the Jan Breydel Stadium, but was the worst player in the attacking line. His movements are completely different from the ones offered by Vinicius and Rodrygo, also youngsters but eager to show off their quality to the European continent.
We had to wait until the second half to see some action. Meanwhile, Areola made a couple of good saves showing that Courtois has a good substitute on the bench. It was Rodrygo Goes who opened the scoreboard with a perfect volley hitting the post. The former Santos player has something special with this competition. However, only two minutes later, Brugge drew thanks to a good shot by Hans Vanaken.
Real Madrid reacted fast and only 9 minutes later, Vinicius finally scored one goal with a good definition inside the box. The winger has completed two good games in the last three days, so he can be added to the troop of players available for Zidane for the next two important games. Zizou can also trust Modric, the best player in the pitch, who closed the game with a perfect shot outside the box in the injury time. Now Los Blancos need to forget about the Champions League and focus in La Liga, where the title is on edge with FC Barcelona also getting better every week.
