Zinedine Zidane insists Cristiano Ronaldo “is feeling good” at Real Madrid and will stay at the club ahead of Sunday’s clash with Espanyol in La Liga.
Ronaldo had been on record as calling for a return to England during his tax-fraud testimonies, but Zidane made it clear the No 7 was going nowhere.
“Two wins in a row? We want to keep doing what we’re doing,” the Coach said at a Press conference.
“We’ve won our last couple of games well and we’ll try to have a good match. If we start well in the game, we’ll have many chances to win.
“Winning at home? We have the possibility to change that [dynamic], we don’t live in the past.
“What’s happened has happened, but we can change it and that's what we’re going to try.
“Bale? We don’t want to risk him, but we’ll see if he can play. It’s a strain, it’s not important, but as always, we don’t like to risk.
“When a player has something minor, we don’t want to risk him. We’ll see if he's with us.
“National team? I don’t think there’s a problem between Madrid and Wales.
“It depends on him, his shape. We’ll see how he is day by day, but you’ll see if he plays.
“BBC? It doesn’t worry me. The most important thing is that everyone’s available, but I think it’s a bit too soon to have them back.
“Asensio? Marco’s right about the fact that Cristiano [Ronaldo] is an example, he sees him very closely, he trains with him and especially [sees] the energy that he transmits to the rest of the team.
“I’m happy he renewed, he deserves it. Everything that’s happening to the players, I’m happy for them and their renewals.
“They’re deserved and I hope they stay at this club for a long time. Ronaldo’s renewal? I see him in a good way, what interests him is playing and scoring…
“I’m not going to get into anything else. It’s a matter for the club and Cristiano, he’s going to stay and he’s feeling very good.
“Beyond his contract, the important thing for him is that he’s on the pitch and plays.
“My renewal? There won’t be a presentation. I’m here, [my job] is day to day. They introduced me as the Coach and that’s it.
“Problems at the Bernabeu? The fans are here for life and we don’t want to change them.
“We can’t think that we don’t like to play here because if we could play all our matches here, it’d be better, much better.
“It’s true that we’ve dropped points in the League, we can’t change it but we can change things tomorrow, we want to pick up three points and we’ll do everything possible to do so.
“We love our fans, and all the players and members of this squad want to play at this stadium.
“Espanyol? They have the players to play well, but it’s different at the Bernabeu.
“They can play deeper, it’s true, so what we have to do is read the game well and play our part, trying to do things right from the start.
“Even if we have better players, we can’t always win. It’s what I like about my job. National team? I admire their game and players. They’ve always been very good.”
Real Madrid: Keylor; Hakimi, Ramos, Varane, Nacho; Ceballos, Casemiro, Kroos; Isco; Asensio, Ronaldo
Injuries/suspensions: Benzema, Carvajal, Kovacic, Marcelo, Theo (I)
Espanyol: Pau; Marc Navarro, David Lopez, Hermoso, Aaron; Diop, Darder; Baptistao, Jurado, Hernan; Gerard
Injuries/suspensions: Alvaro Vazquez, Javi Lopez, Oscar Duarte, Piatti, Victor Sanchez (I)
Referee: Gonzalez Gonzalez
Form guide: Madrid (W L W D D) Espanyol (W D W L L)
Previous meeting: Madrid 2-0 Espanyol
Venue: Santiago Bernabeu
Kick-off time: 15:15 BST/16:15 CET (LIVE on Football Espana)
