Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane talked to the press ahead of the team’s match against Juventus in the return leg of the Champions League Quarterfinals. The French coach explained that defender Jesus Vallejo completed Tuesday’s training session although he refused to reveal whether Vallejo will start or not.
“We all trained well, Jesus included. He did well, did not have any complaints. We’ll soon see who plays tomorrow. If we have any problems we’ll adapt to the situation,” said Zidane about his defender.
The French coach did not want to hear anything about Real Madrid being considered the favorites to win the title.
“I’m not interested in talk of favourites, I prefer to show it out on the pitch and we must respect all clubs and all aspects of football. In the match against Atlético we could have lost and I can’t give an explanation for that. That’s how the game goes. In any move you make, there is the chance to mess it up. If we put in a great performance and we focussed throughout the match we have a good chance of battling through, but we must keep that idea in mind ,” explained the coach.
Real Madrid hold a 0-3 lead on aggregate, meaning that Juventus would have to beat Madrid by at least three goals to earn the ticket to the Semifinals. Still, Zidane wants his team to take care of business and stay focused.
“The 0-3 result will not change things for us. It’s another game and what happened, happened. It was a good game, but there is still 50% of the tie to be played. We will have to put in another great game to pass through. I’m only interested in tomorrow’s match and I only think of my team and how we need to play another great game to qualify,” said Zidane.
He also had some words to say about Benzema, who hasn’t been scoring much this season.
“He is the same as always, perhaps he’s suffering a little, he wants to do better and score more goals but he is training and is driven, focused like his teammates,” concluded the Frenchman.