Coach Bernd Schuster said he was happy with his side despite Real Madrid’s 2-1 Champions League defeat at Roma and is confident his side can overturn the deficit things in the second leg.
“The only thing I’m not happy with is the result. We deserved more,” Schuster said after David Pizarro and Mancini netted for Schalke to cancel out Raul’s early opener for the Spanish.
“Scoring an (away) goal gives us faith for the return at our stadium, in front of our crowd. The only thing that needs to change is the result. Real Madrid did not disappoint me in any way.
“The plot has changed from before when we won against opposition who were having lots of chances and (keeper) Iker Casillas was our best player,” he said. “Now our opponents are taking advantage of two or three opportunities.”
Schuster was critical of the performance of German referee Herbert Fandel.
“When you call him my compatriot that is the worst thing you can say. He gave too many yellow cards in favour of the home side,” he added. “But I don’t think this influenced the result.”
Roma boss Luciano Spalletti praised his men for the way they ralllied after falling behind to an early Raul goal.
“My team did well. When they had to bite they did, but when Real attacked they didn’t allow them large spaces to exploit,” he said.
“The most important thing the lads did was not to throw themselves forward after their goal, but to be patient. It was a beautiful game in terms of the spectacle and the physical contest.
“We had two or three chances we could have taken better advantage of, but so did they. We showed we have quality and should be confident for the future.”
