Alphonse Areola saves Real Madrid as Zidane replaces Courtois after half-time

Real Madrid CF and their goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois' season can't seem to run smoothly this year. The team's misery on the pitch continued on Tuesday, as they couldn't win their second consecutive UEFA Champions League encounter. In fact, the first half saw an overexposed weak defence together with disastrous goalkeeping that put them 0-2 behind at the half. After 90 minutes, the scoreline read 2-2.

The home team had a two-goal deficit at half-time in their group stage match against Club Brugge at the Santiago Bernabeu. Only a tactical change and a massive transformation could have saved Zidane's fortune. He decided to replace Courtois with Alphonse Areola at the interval.

The former Chelsea goalkeeper was wrong-footed by Emanuel Bonaventure Dennis, as the latter somehow put a miscued kick into the net to score the opener for his club. Courtois crawled the wrong way and hoped the VAR would save Los Blancos' pride by declaring it an off-side. However, the VAR and the referees decided to let the goal stand after a quick review of the movements that led to the goal.

The La Liga giants' fortune worsened as Dennis scored his second of the night in the 39th minute. It wasn't even half-time and the hosts were trailing 0-2. In his 58 outings in a Real jersey, Courtois has already conceded 81 goals.

To fight back, Madrid manager Zidane couldn't help but make changes to his line up. He replaced Courtois with Areola, who had just been signed on-loan from Paris Saint-Germain. He also replaced full-back Nacho with Marcelo.

It has since been reported that Courtois was suffering from a stomach flu. Nacho reportedly suffered an injury and will be out for at least two months.

Nevertheless, it didn't take much longer for Los Blancos to resurrect their UCL dreams. Just ten minutes into the second half, Madrid captain Sergio Ramos scored a brilliant goal that clearly motivated the team. Later, Casemiro scored the equaliser in the 85th minute just after the Club Brugge captain was sent off for catching Vinicius Jr. on the Achilles.

Throughout the match, Madrid players maintained a 74% ball possession. In spite of that, it was Club Brugge's tactical brilliance together with Madrid's defensive flaws that kept the Spanish side from emerging as the winners.

As we speak, Real Madrid played 2 games and could gather only a point to their name. They are currently at the bottom of the Group A table and things are looking bleak.