The hero of the night dedicated his goal to his newborn child and believes the result serves as a springboard to a revival against Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid winger Angel Di Maria says the 2-1 derby win over Atletico can be the catalyst for Champions League redemption against Borussia Dortmund.
The Spanish champions were humbled 4-1 by Jurgen Klopp’s men in the first leg of the semi-finals, but fired an immediate reply to their doubters by silencing the Vicente Calderon.
And Di Maria, who was excluded from the starting line-up to face the Germans on Wednesday owing to the birth of his daughter, believes the derby win can set them off on the right foot to turn the result around next week.
“Winning this match is extra motivation and will help us to be at our best on Tuesday,” the 25-year-old underlined to reporters. “We do not take that match as lost.
“The league, however, does not let up and we knew that if we lost they would draw level with us, so we did things as well as we could to get a decent gap between us and them so we can be calmer.
“The truth is I needed a goal to dedicate it to my wife and daughter and I managed to get it. We did everything right and the way we wanted tonight. The coach put out the team he thought would get the result.”
Starlets Nacho and Alvaro Morata echoed their team-mate’s opinion, with the former quick to declare: “Madrid is the best team in the world. The team is very confident and hopefully can go on to the final.”
Morata added: “Against Dortmund the team have to be united and the supporters also have to give all they can. We know the game will be dfficult, but we’ll try.”