Madrid were the better side, insists Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo said there are no doubts over Real Madrid’s place in the Champions League final, insisting his team-mates played better than Manchester City in Wednesday’s semi-final second leg.

Ronaldo returned from a hamstring injury and helped Madrid reach a 14th European Cup final, after Gareth Bale’s 20th-minute delivery took a looping deflection off Fernando, giving the 10-time champions a 1-0 aggregate triumph following last week’s stalemate.

Madrid had chances to put the game beyond doubt, with Bale hitting the post and Luka Modric denied by Joe Hart, as City’s star duo Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne were kept quiet throughout in the Spanish capital.

“We are happy because we are in the final and it is special,” Ronaldo told BT Sport as Madrid look ahead to a rematch with city rivals Atletico Madrid in the final at San Siro on May 28.

“It was tough, but we played better than City, created more chances and were more intense.

“We knew after our goal that City would press, but we controlled the game.

“We had chances through [Luka] Modric and myself, and it was the kind of game we had to kill off.

“One-nil is a close result but we were the better side.”

Ronaldo, who missed the first leg and sat out Madrid’s 1-0 win at Real Sociedad on Saturday, added: “I have not competed for 15 days but people forget I recover quickly. I’m tired but really happy.”