Real Madrid centre-back Pepe has claimed that "a bad 20 minutes" cost his team in Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg against Wolfsburg.
Los Blancos entered the clash at the Volkswagen Arena as the strong favourites to triumph, but goals from Ricardo Rodriguez and Maximilian Arnold saw Wolfsburg take a two-goal lead inside 25 minutes.
Pepe has admitted that his team 'did not start well' and also struggled to stop Wolfsburg's counter-attack.
"We had a bad 20 minutes that they took advantage of. We had chances, we didn't take them and we have to congratulate the opponent. We didn't start well in the first few minutes and you pay for that in the Champions League," Pepe told reporters.
"We knew they were a team who would go out to counter-attack a lot and after the penalty we had to regroup, because we didn't want to concede more goals. At the same time, all we needed to do was score a goal.
"We'll have our fans in the return leg, giving everything. There were 20 minutes in which our performance dropped and that time coincided with their two goals and that is costly."
The defeat for Real Madrid was their first in the Champions League this season.
Matt Law
