Zinedine Zidane won’t be celebrating a fourth Champions League triumph as Real Madrid boss this season after Manchester City beat the Spanish champions in the last-16.Goals from Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus, courtesy of two howlers from Raphael Varane, handed City a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium on Friday to complete a 4-2 aggregate win.Real weren’t even close to their best but their chances of going through weren’t helped by Varane’s costly errors.But Zidane refused to pin the blame on the centre-back when he spoke to the media at full-time.¨We must be calm, heads up,” Zidane said, per The Athletic’s Dermot Corrigan.“As 95 per cent of all the players have done, all season, have been spectacular. And I will stick to that.”
The visitors sorely missed Sergio Ramos, who was forced to watch on from the stands due to a suspension.
The Spaniard certainly looked the part, but it didn’t look like he enjoyed what was happening on the pitch very much…
The same can’t be said for Madrid’s rivals Barcelona, who will have loved watching their old manager knock out their rivals.
Indeed, many feel as though the Blaugrana’s post-match tweet was a subtle shot at Zidane’s fallen side.
Minutes after the full-time whistle was blown, Barcelona posted a video of Gerard Pique casually performing some keepy-uppies in training.
It’s an innocuous video, but the timing of it - and the player featured - has left fans thinking it was deliberately aimed at Madrid.
Check out the reaction from fans on Twitter…
What do you think, intentional or a complete accident?
Barcelona could come to regret even giving the slightest hint that they were mocking Real Madrid - they must come through their last-16 tie against Napoli on Saturday evening.
That tie is currently locked at 1-1 heading into the second leg, with Barcelona holding a slight advantage thanks to their away goal.
No doubt Real Madrid's media team will be keeping a close eye on proceedings at Camp Nou.