Zidane: “No, I’m not asking for a striker for Christmas”

Real Madrid drew 0-0 for the second time in the space of four days, despite once again dominating the match. After the match against Athletic Club, Zinedine Zidane discussed his frustration with the result.

“I’m very disappointed for my players,” he said in his post-match press conference. “They put in a lot of effort and had a good match, but we lacked a goal again. In football, it’s true that you have to score them. We had three or four in the first half where if you score then the match could be different. It’s only a couple of matches without scoring, so we have to remain calm because the performance was good. I think we’ve gotten better and we’re strong defensively. Today, we just lacked a goal, but the important thing is to create chances. After the match I spoke to the players and told them that the most important thing was that they gave their all. Today, the ball just didn’t want to go in. We hit the post three times.”

After discussing the lack of goal, Zidane was asked during the press conference if he’ll be asking for a striker for Christmas. “No,” was his curt response. When a similar question was put forward, with the Frenchman asked if he’d like another striking option to try to solve the scoring problems of the past week, he maintained the same stance. “No, absolutely not,” he said. This line of questioning continued and he was asked if Real Madrid need a Cristiano Ronaldo. “No,” was his response once again. “We don’t need anything, we just need to keep going with what we’re doing,” he added.

Sticking with the topic of strikers, Zidane was asked about the fact that Sergio Ramos finished the match up front and if that created disorder in the rest of the team. “No, I don’t think so. He can go up a bit more in certain situations.”