Zidane confirms Real Madrid and Ronaldo will hold contract talks after El Clasico

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane confirmed that the club and Cristiano Ronaldo will negotiate a contract extension after the upcoming El Clasico, which will be played this Saturday at 13:00 CET.

"Ronaldo is 100 percent ready and that is what interests me. I'm not going to go into everything before the game tomorrow, that is not the issue. What Cristiano has to think about is the match. It's the same for everyone. What I think is that Cristiano, what he has done and what he is doing, deserves all of the club's respect, but only after the winter break will we talk about it,” said Zidane.

Real’s coach believes his team is more than ready to complete a good game against Messi and Co.

"It will be the most difficult game of the season, Clasicos are always very beautiful matches and they are very difficult, but that's how we like it. The players live for this type of matches,” added Zidane. "We feel good, we are happy to have this game now.”

Zidane also didn’t want to talk about the controversy surrounding the guard of honor and whether Barcelona should do it or not.

"I'm not interested in the guard of honor at all," said Zidane.

Lastly, he did not want to explain if Bale is ready enough to start the game and play 90 minutes. The Welshman has recovered from his injuries but has been coming off the bench ever since.

"I trust them. When I talk to them, it is about whether they are 100 percent ready to play. We will see if he is ready for that. The squad is the important thing,” concluded Zidane.

HOW TO WATCH, STREAM EL CLASICO

Date: 12/23/2017

Time: 13:00 CET, 07:00am EST, 04:00 am Pacific.

Venue: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain.

Available TV: BeIN Sports (USA), Sky Sports Football (UK), Canal+ Partidazo (Spain).

Available Streaming: BeIN Sports (USA), Fubo.TV (EVERY Real Madrid game with a high-quality and legal stream).