Zinedine Zidane insists Real Madrid’s five-goal first half against Sevilla on Saturday is not the best they have played this season.
Madrid raced to a 5-0 lead before half-time and went on to see out the result, but Zidane refused to read too much into the showing, other than that he hoped his side had “turned a corner”.
“I don’t think it was our best 45 minutes of the season,” the Coach said after the game.
“It was in terms of goals because we’ve never done that before, but in terms of how we played, I think we’ve had other good games, in La Liga against Real Sociedad, or Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
“The feeling is good for having scored five goals against a difficult team like Sevilla and with a clean sheet, but it’s not the best for me. It’s one match and nothing more.
“We can be very happy because scoring five goals against Sevilla isn’t easy. I’m happy for Cristiano’s goals and the players who haven’t got many minutes.
“They did very well, for how they played and everything else. It was very important to pick up the three points today. Hopefully we’ve turned a corner.
“We’re growing in every way, also in terms of our game. Today we got into their box many times and we scored five goals.
“It was very important [we won] before travelling for our morale and the Club World Cup, which isn’t going to be easy…
“It’s better to travel with this result. We’re already thinking about Wednesday, we’re travelling tomorrow and we want to do things well.
“I’m happy for how everyone played, particularly those who haven’t played much.
“For me, the important thing is that everyone is plugged in and does well when they get the chance, like today.
“People can say if we are quicker or not with one player or another, but we’re always going to need everyone’s help.
“We’ll see if Bale and Varane are ready for the Club World Cup. I hope they train normally on Tuesday and we’ll see what we’ll do with them.
“Hopefully we’ll improve and never stop doing so. It’s what we’re going to try. We scored eight goals in the last two games.
“There have been 4-5 games that we’ve done well in. Things are going to follow, like today.
“The only thing we have to do is keep working like we are. This game doesn’t mean anything.
“We have to put all our desire into Wednesday, like today. If we do, we’ll have more chances to win the game.
“Vallejo won’t travel to the Club World Cup. He had a tough game today but did very well. I’m very happy for him.”