Zidane ‘bothered’ by Ronaldo red

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane says he was “bothered” by Cristiano Ronaldo’s sending-off against Barcelona on Sunday. “The card was a bit strong…”

Ronaldo was shown a second yellow card for a perceived dive in the Supercopa first leg, just two minutes after he fired Madrid into a 2-1 lead, prompting Zidane to express his frustration with the referee.

“As always, I won’t get into the referee’s performance,” the Coach said after the game.

“We had a great game. What bothers me is Cristiano’s red card. Maybe there was no penalty, but the card was a bit strong.

“Still, we can’t change it and we’ll try to win [the Supercopa] on Wednesday. With 10 men, we still fought and we believed in the win until the end.

“Still, it’s just one game, now we have the return leg. Substitutes? There’s no A or B players here.

“We’re all working in the same way. After that, you have to select a team and make changes.

“The good thing is that everyone complies [with my selections], whether it’s for 30, 60 or 90 minutes. They’re all very focused and that makes any Coach happy.

“Asensio? I’m not surprised by Marco. He’s been phenomenal, he has quality, breaks lines, shoots phenomenally well… It’s nothing new.

“We’re happy with him, like we are with everyone. It’s not easy to enter a game with 15 or 20 minutes to go, but he did so rapidly and made a difference.

“Still, we can talk about all the players, like Isco or Mateo Kovacic. The thing to remember is the team.

“We’re happy with the result, but the tie isn’t over yet. We still have to play on Wednesday.

“It’s up to us to enjoy today and tomorrow and think about Wednesday’s game.

“Kovacic? Mateo had a great game. He prepared for it well and played wonderfully.

“He hurt his thigh a little bit, and that’s why we took him off. Isco? Yes, I thought I could have this Isco at my disposal.

“When he signed for Madrid, I followed him closely and thought he just needed a bit of time.

“Not only can he make the difference. He made it very complicated for our opponents to take the ball off him and made the team play.”

Tags Cristiano Ronaldo Supercopa de Espana Zinedine Zidane
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