Zinedine Zidane hailed Real Madrid’s “work and suffering” against Athletic Bilbao as he warned “we’re not going to achieve anything in La Liga” without them.
Alvaro Morata’s late goal secured a 2-1 win for Madrid, which moved them atop the Primera table following Atletico’s defeat to Sevilla earlier on Sunday, prompting Zidane to praise his side for their resilience to “not give up” and “keep a clear head”.
“Lucas and Morata are very good, and every time they play, they do very well,” the Coach said after the game.
“We’ll see, but they’ve already played many times as starters. The most important thing is that the team are together as they are.
“I saw a tough, tough game, but in the end we’re happy with the win and the game we had. In many moments of the game, the players gave their all on the pitch.
“The majority of games are like this. In football, you have to suffer. There are no easy games.
“We’re not going to achieve anything in La Liga without work and suffering. You can’t always score five or six goals so easily.
“The players gave everything. If we lacked attitude then I’d be concerned, but it’s not the case.
“I liked everything. If you put all away all your chances then of course you score lots of goals, but the most important thing is to give everything and I saw the team wanting to give everything. I’m happy with my players.
“Today was the way it was and the next game may be different. I don’t look at just one or two players, we’re going to need everyone.
“Conceding goals? I’m not worried, it is what it is. Opponents get you into trouble.
“It’s clear that we need to improve, and what we’ll do is improve on these details so that we don’t keep conceding.
“It’s a fantastic League. There not being any easy games is the message that I’m conveying to my players.
“We didn’t give up, kept a cool head and won three very difficult and important points.”
