In the aftermath of Real Madrid's comeback win over Sporting in their Champions League group stage opener at the Santiago Bernabeu, the feeling in Madrid is one of exhilaration.
At the end of the day, and with remarkable help from Cristiano Ronaldo, the second unit with Lucas Vazquez, Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez changed both the flow and the outcome of a match that seemed lost. The two goals scored in the final six minutes will add to the club's legend and the Bernabeu's intimidation factor.
On top of that, starting their challenge for the Champions League title with a victory was important for the holders in a group with in-form Borussia Dortmund. And with this win, Zidane improved his impressive home record as Real Madrid manager, losing only to Atletico Madrid in La Liga last season.
However, the French coach will not have overlooked the lack of control over the match his team exhibited for most of the first hour, in what on paper seemed a not-so-complicated encounter. Sporting progressively took over the proceedings. And the final twenty minutes of the first half were especially uneven. The Portuguese looked at ease taking advantage of their possession advantage and their superior numbers in midfield.
William Carvalho, Bruno Cesar and Adrien Silva performed particularly well in two aspects: They swarmed Casemiro whenever he got in touch with the ball, and kept the ball alive in long strings of passes which placed the Real Madrid midfield in the unfamiliar situation of having to chase the ball in their own stadium.
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