Real Madrid coach Mariano Garcia Remon believes his side can look forward to the rest of the season with genuine optimism after finding a combination of good football and unflagging spirit to come from two goals down to beat AS Roma 4-2.
"This victory will really lift our spirits," Garcia Remon told a news conference after Tuesday's game.
"To beat an Italian team when you are 2-0 down and after they got eight men behind the ball is a very big achievement.
"We didn't just win because we showed great heart, but because we played great football and that is the most important thing."
Trouble-torn Real got off to a dreadful start after Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi and striker Antonio Cassano cashed in some poor defending from the Real back four to put their side 2-0 up after 22 minutes.
But a Raul double, a Luis Figo penalty and a Roberto Carlos thunderbolt allowed Real to stage an astonishing comeback that gave them their first points in Group B.
"I never doubted the attitude of the players," said the Real coach. "I knew they would show character, but what I was most pleased about was they we played good football.
"What's more this is the perfect way to win back the support of the fans. They got behind us when we went 2-0 down and without them we couldn't have fought back to win the game.
England midfielder David Beckham meanwhile told Sky Sports News: "It was an important match for us. We showed the unity which people want to see. They want to see the players together and see us fighting and I think they got that tonight.
"It's been a difficult couple of weeks for us leading up to this game. It showed the togetherness of the team.
"For the first 20 minutes we were maybe nervous but for 70 minutes after that we pushed. At 2-0 down it was make-or-break and we had to win this game. We were playing our football but we needed to relax a bit more.
The majority of the team are used to managers coming in and out. It's new for me. I'm not used to it but I have got to get used to it. Once you get out on the pitch it doesn't matter who the manager is."
SOME POSITIVES
Roma coach Ezio Sella, who took charge of the club on a caretaker basis after Rudi Voeller threw in the towel at the weekend, said that despite the defeat he could still take some positives from the game.
"It was a decent performance in some ways. If we had managed to go into the break 2-0 up then I think it would have been a different story.
"The penalty at the start of the second half upset our plans and gave them the confidence to take control. With the great players they have it was very difficult to stop them after that."
Roma now face an uphill task in making it through to the knockout stages after Dynamo Kiev were awarded a 3-0 victory in their opening game when the match was abandoned after the referee was hit by an object thrown from the crowd in Rome.
They have to play their next two home games behind closed doors.
© 2024 Rediff.com -