Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster admits his side were made to suffer by Zenit St Petersburg before making it two Champions League wins out of two in Group H.

Madrid won a thrilling encounter 2-1 where all three goals were scored in the opening 31 minutes, with an own goal from Tomas Hubocan and a Ruud van Nistelrooy strike cancelling out Danny's equaliser for the hosts.

The remainder of the match produced no goals but plenty of chances at both ends before Zenit laid siege to the Madrid area in the closing stages only to come up empty-handed.

The victory put Madrid firmly in control of Group H with six points, but Schuster concedes it was far from comfortable for his side in Russia.

"We've obtained a very important win in St Petersburg against a difficult and hard-working team, who have a lot of speed. We've suffered a lot, above all in some moments of the second half," said Schuster, whose side now face back-to-back clashes against Italian giants Juventus.

"We are going to Turin with two wins, which will help immensely with the team's mood and morale. For this, these three points on Tuesday are so important for the following games."

Van Nistelrooy, whose 31st-minute winner was his 55th goal in the Champions League proper, added on his club's website: "I'm happy to have scored again, but above all I'm pleased that we started the match off with a quick goal, which was the key to this win.

"Zenit are a fast, organised team that pressures a lot. They are good and they will make it very hard for teams to win here.

"In this group it's important to play well. We now have two important matches against Juve, and all we are thinking about is winning, we cannot slip up."