By Carsten Lappe, dpa
Wolfsburg are beaten by Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick as they fail to deplicate their great first leg effort and go out against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals
Madrid (dpa) – Maximilian Arnold was close to tears as he admitted to a mistake which paved the way to Wolfsburg’s 3-0 defeat at Real Madrid and their Champions League exit – despite having surprisingly won the first leg quarter-final 2-0.
«Absolutely bitter,» the midfielder said in the bowels of the Bernabeu close to midnight Tuesday. «I play a catastrophic ball before the 1-0. And that’s how the mess started.»
Arnold’s bad pass led to Cristiano Ronaldo’s first goal in the 17th, the Portuguese superstar headed the second just two minutes later off a corner kick, and then also completed his hat-trick and Real’s semi-final berth with a free-kick in the 77th.
«The white giant,» Germany’s Bild headline read on Wednesday, and the Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) also said that «Cristiano Ronaldo eliminates Wolfsburg.»
«Wolfsburg’s nerves did not quite hold,» the SZ added as the Germans were not able to duplicate their great showing from the first leg last week.
Coach Dieter Hecking lamented that «We didn’t go about the first twenty minutes as we should have» and added: «What’s very frustrating is to lose 0-3 and concede two goals from set-pieces.»
Wolfsburg appeared a little intimidated by Real and their loud 80,000-strong support in the huge Bernabeu, and although they improved after Real’s second they failed to seriously threaten.
Bruno Henrique had the best chance in the first half but failed to control the ball while completely unmarked in the penalty area.
He was then substituted with suspected concussion which marked Wolfsburg’s second blow in the game after Germany midfielder Julian Draxler had to quit injured in the first half, and his replacement Max Kruse remained tame upfront.
«What we lacked was the ultimate determination. In the second-half, Real waited for their opening, which was our chance to hit, but we didn’t manage that,» Hecking said.
Managing director Klaus Allofs added: «We said before the game that we need a goal, and we didn’t manage that.»
Tuesday’s match could well be Wolfsburg’s last on the continent at least until late summer 2017 as they languish in eighth place in the Bundesliga, far from the form of last year when they were league runners-up and German cup winners.
The successful run 12 months agao was mainly attributed to Kevin de Bruyne, but the Belgian playmaker left last summer for Manchester City – and scored their winning goal over Paris Saint-Germain in the other quarter-final Tuesday.
Wolfsburg captain and goalkeeper Diego Benaglio, who made several big saves in the end as Real appeared closer to a fourth than Wolfsburg to a goal of their own which would have seen them through, was nonetheless a little proud of the overall achievement.
«When you see the relief at Real, it’s fair to say, we weren’t far from causing a sensation,» Benaglio said.
