Zinedine Zidane appeared in front of the press to preview his side’s clash with Osasuna, which takes place at the Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday night (21:00 CET). The French coach got to face the microphone in his pre-match press conference without many strained matters, perhaps, for the first time this season.
Real Madrid’s brilliant team effort in Seville ensured the manager would get to talk about some positives ahead of the Osasuna match rather than explaining some kind of mini-crisis at the club.
Here’s what he had to say…
KEY ELEMENTS
“Solidity and team work are the crucial elements because beyond the fact we did a great job in the Sevilla game, I think the key was that we played as a team from start to finish. That’s what we need to win games. There’s no such thing as an easy game, so we need to make sure the players stick together. We must keep going in this way.
“We’ve got a match tomorrow, that’s the most important thing. The players have to focus on that match and all I’m concerned by, and the same goes for the players, are the three points up for grabs. We need to put in a great performance, with the same intensity, desire and attitude. The key things is to always give it our all on the pitch. My players are the best and they do that.”
COMPETITIVE LALIGA
“If you want to win games today, you have to play well for the full 90 minutes, you can’t switch off and that has been reflected so far in the table. Anything can happen in this league because it has always been an incredibly tight-fought competition. The Spanish league is fantastic and seeing all these teams in such good form means you have to give your best in every game.”
BALE
“He is involved like the other players and wants to do well. He knows that he is good and he helps us a lot in attack, but also the defensive phase on Sunday. It shows that when the whole team is involved, we can achieve good things.”
RODRYGO
“He is a first team player first of all, and that is very important. We know perfectly well what we need to do with him. It’s a decision of mine and you will see tomorrow, we’re delighted with him and from time to time he will play Castilla and he will happily do so.”
