"We tried, but they deserved to go through"

Real Madrid crashed out of the semi-finals of the Champions League this Wednesday at Stamford Bridge. Speaking to 'Movistar Liga de Campeones', Zinedine Zidane recognised that Chelsea were the better side.

"We can say that they deserved the win and the tie. Chelsea played a great game, they go through and we have to congratulate them", the Real Madrid manager stated.

When asked about the fitness of both Ramos and Mendy, who started the match without having hardly trained, the RM boss defended his players: "If they played it's because they were prepared to play 90 minutes or more".

"We can be very proud of ourselves. My players gave it their all and fell just short of the final", the Frenchman argued.

Zidane surprised everyone when he brought off Vinicius - who had been playing as wing-back - and Mendy ."I wanted to change wing-backs because they had to work very hard. We lacked conviction up top, we had chances but didn't put them away. Now it's time to rest and focus on La Liga", he insisted.

"Right now we're not happy. When you lose a semi-final you cannot be happy. Right now is tough, but we will be back to train and prepare for the next match", the Madrid manager stated.