Zidane: Business as usual

Zinedine Zidane assures “it’s business as usual” for Real Madrid ahead of their clash with Girona in La Liga on Sunday.

Reports suggested the game could be postponed on safety grounds, with Madrid’s trip to Girona coming at a time of political unrest in Catalonia, but Zidane insisted his side were only thinking about playing at Montilivi.

“First time facing Girona? It’s not going to change anything,” the Coach said at a Press conference.

“It’s an equal playing field and it’ll be difficult like always, like every weekend in this League.

“We’re not going to think that we’ve never played there. We’ll go there, play our game and be happy.

“Sunday match before the Champions League? It doesn’t surprise me. The calendar is what it is.

“We’ve had worse moments, once we played on Sunday at four and then on Wednesday. The only issue is that we’re travelling twice in a row, but we’re used to playing many games in a row.

“News from La Liga? No, it’s business as usual for us. We’re going to travel, like usual, and play at four.

“Bale and Keylor? They’re getting better, and we’ll see next week if they can travel to London.

“They haven’t trained with the team, but we’ll see, I can’t tell you anything else. It doesn’t depend on me, it depends on them and how they recover.

“We’ll be with them on Monday to see how things go. Madrid the best club in the world? Yes, anyone can give their opinion on us, but last season was the best for us, with everything we won. We have to do the same every season, but as a club, yes.

“Balance sheet after 20 points from nine League games? We can improve in many aspects, in defence, attack…

“Working every day improves you, so the balance sheet is good. We’re third in the League, top of our Champions League group, in two cup competitions…

“Rotations? You’ll see, I always make changes! Fuenlabrada XI compared to the stronger one against Cultural last season? They’re equal, although the Fuenlabrada one was younger and can improve. That’s good for us.

“Catalonia? I only see one thing, which is the match, and nothing else. I know there’s a lot of noise, but I’m not going to get involved.

“I’m just thinking about the game and what we’re going to do on the pitch. Ceballos and Llorente? I see them well. Physically they’re very good.

“Dani hasn’t played much but has been able to play with Asensio and done well. Marcos is always ready to play and did very well like always. The team need balance and he’s done very well.

“Kiko Casilla? He’s our goalkeeper, he’s calm and preparing for this game, regardless of where he was born and where he is.

“He’s only thinking about tomorrow’s match. We haven’t talked about the rest. Bale? Mentally he isn’t bad. He’s feeling better because he’s already back training, although not with us. We’ll see what happens next week.

“I’m not worried, we always go game by game. We’re focused on this game and we’ll have time to do the same for the next one.

“Mariano? He needed to leave Madrid to play more, and he’s doing that now. I’m not surprised by his good performances at Lyon.”

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