Zidane praises Benzema after 50th Champions League goal

“We won’t go over it again”.

Real Madrid are eying record 21st global title win in Japan under the able leadership of Zinedine Zidane. “We played full of courage”.

Ronaldo’s 100th goal has eluded him for some time – he hasn’t scored in Champions League play since a 2-2 draw at Dortmund in September.

Real Madrid won its last Champions League game 1 – 1 against Sporting CP. Everyone is focused and it will be a game that will take a lot out of us physically.

“We made too many wrong decisions, but ultimately it was a great finish to the game for us”. “In the end it was well-deserved for them (Dortmund) for what they have done so far”. Monaco finished on 11 points, one more than Leverkusen, which for the first time ended a group stage undefeated.

Zidane’s team seemed set for a victory which would have seen them win the group when Karim Benzema scored once in either half. His current total is 98.

Benzema wasn’t to be denied on 28 minutes when he bundled home Dani Carvajal’s low cross at the back post. The Frenchman added to the lead in the 53rd with a firm header after a well-placed cross by James Rodriguez.

Reus is now a joy to watch, from the way he casually robbed Gladbach defender Nico Elvedi of possession to his audacious backheel which set up Aubameyang for his second goal as Dortmund warmed up for Madrid.

“But we did not spend one second talking about players of Borussia Dortmund”.

Dortmund’s campaign this season included 6-0 and 8-4 routs against Legia.

Zidane also praised Benzema for becoming the sixth player to score 50 Champions League goals and paid tribute to his players for matching Leo Beenhakker’s side’s run of 34 games without defeat in 1989-90.

However, Dortmund, coming off a insane 8-4 win over Legia Warsaw in their last Champions League match, found a way back into the contest via their marquee striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Dortmund were intent on pushing the game and came close to scoring on a few occasions.

Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel does not want to lose star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and has pleaded with the club to do what it needs to do to stop a transfer for the player affectionately known as “Auba”.

Lyon needed to beat Sevilla by two clear goals to go through to the last 16 as runners-up in Group H.