Kroos gives Madrid vital win over Galatasaray

Toni Kroos scores for Madrid

Toni Kroos, right scores for Madrid

Toni Kroos, right scores for Madrid

A goal from German midfielder Toni Kroos gave Real Madrid their first win of this season’s Champions League with a 1-0 victory at Galatasaray on Tuesday.

Eden Hazard cut the ball back to Kroos in the 18th minute, whose side-footed effort found its way into the roof of the net via a deflection.

The win means Madrid climb up to second in Group A, but behind leaders Paris St-Germain by five points.

“It was an end-to-end encounter with both teams able to create many chances.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had to deny the home side twice in the first half.

Zinedine Zidane’s side were without Gareth Bale and Luka Modric.

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However, Galatasaray were also missing a talisman of their own as Colombian striker Radamel Falcao did not feature due to an ongoing injury.

The Turkish champions are bottom of the group with one point from three games, while Real Madrid have four.

The two sides meet again in Spain on Nov. 6.

At the end of the match, Zidane gave plaudits to his team for working very hard: “I’m delighted for the whole team because there’s been a lot of criticism, it’s not an easy place to come to and we showed good character. It’s important to win when you play every three days and tonight we were focused right from the off. We made a really strong start, but they then created two chances. Those things happen. We made a really good start”.

“We created a lot of chances after some really good moves and I would have liked to have seen us get a second and even a third because that would have meant that the opposition would have eased off in terms of their pressing. At 1-0 they still believed they could level things up right until the end, but we were focused from the first minute until the last. We worked hard and were strong and that’s what got us the win”.

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