Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane admitted he was relieved to finish Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg against Chelsea with his side still in the tie following a 1-1 draw after being outplayed for large parts of the game.

Real were on the back foot early on and went behind to Christian Pulisic’s goal but equalised thanks to a brilliant Karim Benzema strike.

It was Benzema’s 28th goal of the season and his 71st in the Champions League, joining Raul as the competition’s joint-fourth top scorer of all time.

“I’m so happy with the players because we’re still alive,” Zidane told reporters.

“We struggled a bit for the first 25-30 minutes but then we improved and were much better in the second half and had control.”

Real had breezed past Liverpool and Atalanta in their last two home knockout games but were really put to the test by Chelsea’s intense pressing game and Zidane credited Thomas Tuchel’s side for keeping his team at bay.

“We are good at pressing teams high up the pitch but our opponents were very competitive.

“They’ve had 21 games and not conceded in 16 of them (before Tuesday’s game) and they proved why. They are in the semi-finals for a reason,” he added.

Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic after scoring on Tuesday. Twitter/@ChampionsLeague

Real keeper Thibaut Courtois, who made a vital early save to deny Chelsea forward Timo Werner, agreed that the Premier League outfit had been the more impressive side but warned that his team would put them under pressure in the second leg in London.

“They were more aggressive and more intense, we wanted to start the game like they did, they gave everything. The first goal came at a difficult time for us but we were able to lift ourselves up and the second half was less crazy,” he said.

“The 1-1 score means next week’s game is like a final. I don’t think it will end 0-0 and if Chelsea sit and wait for us they could be making a big mistake.”

Missed chances

Tuchel said his side should have wrapped up their first leg in the first half itself and rued missed chances that could have put the game beyond their opponents.

“I have a feeling we should have won the first half and we could have perhaps decided this game in the first half an hour when we were playing so strong,” Tuchel told BBC.

“The second half was a tactical game and you could feel we only had two days in between two away games which made it physically and mentally demanding and you could feel it in the decision making.

“We suffered a bit and an extra day would have been nice.”

Tuchel continued his fine record against Zinedine Zidane’s side in Europe’s premier club competition — the German is the only manager to face Real as many as five times without ever losing in Champions League history.

Having scored the away goal, Chelsea are in the driving seat to reach a first Champions League final since 2012.

“It is just the first half (of the tie), we knew against Real Madrid it would be tough,” Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta said.

“We started with courage, we had to perform at our best level. The semi-final of a Champions League asks you to play your best.”