Maybe it’s an El Clasico hangover, but Real Madrid threw up a disjointed clunker in Germany.
The home side thrived at Volkswagen Arena, as Wolfsburg stunned Real Madrid with a pair of first half goals en route to a 2-0 first leg win in its UEFA Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday.
The second leg comes at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.
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Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane said his club would treat the first leg “like a final”, but it hardly looked that way. And for sure Cristiano Ronaldo will face renewed criticism for his road form despite his goal at the Camp Nou on Saturday.
The La Liga giants entered the tie as heavy favorites after beating Barcelona in Saturday’s El Clasico, but Andre Schurrle was taken down in the box by Casemiro and Rodriguez converted from the spot to make it 1-0 early.
Then Bruno Henrique found Arnold darting past Sergio Ramos for a quick and slick finish to make it 2-0. Wow.
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Did anyone see this coming? Real Madrid in shambles at the moment as Max Arnold doubles Wolfsburg’s advantage. #UCLhttps://t.co/wFCh3JVDlw
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) April 6, 2016
Real dominated in shot attempts but couldn’t find their flow, as just three of their 21 rips found the frame. In comparison, Wolfsburg managed to put 55 percent of its nine chances on goal.