Although of course Real was worse as a team on Friday night in Manchester, this defeat will have the face of Raphael Varane. The French, who was supposed to be the leader of the defensive formation in the return after Sergio Ramos had to sideline for the red card, failed all along the line.
Not only was he not a leader but also made junior mistakes. Early in the first half, in a seemingly harmless situation, he took the ball away from his own goal, with Raheem Sterling’s goal. And if someone thought then that the Madrid defender had exhausted the error limit, he must have been surprised an hour later. When Real was still in game With Karim Benzema’s equalizer goal, Varane made himself known again. This time he “assisted” Gabriel Jesus, who took the ball too lightly from the French to Thibaut Courtois.
The 2: 1 goal practically “killed” this tie. Almost all Spanish media agree that Varane’s mistakes were crucial for the fate of the meeting. – Varane pronounced the verdict on Real – writes his coverage of the match online edition of the daily “Marc”. – Varane opened the door to Manchester – we read in the text opening another Madrid website as.com. – Frenchman’s nightmare night – writes in turn “En Confidencial”. The covers of Saturday’s newspapers will certainly look similar.
