Zidane: “Barcelona’s loss against Liverpool doesn’t make Real Madrid’s season better”

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane talked to the press ahead of the team’s away match against Real Sociedad, which will be played this Sunday —18:30 CEST—. The Frenchman refused to comment on Barcelona’s dramatic loss to Liverpool last Tuesday, saying that it doesn’t make Madrid’s season any better.

“No, not at all. We’ve had the season that you’re all aware of and there’s nothing we can change about that,” said the coach. “Nobody can take what we did in the Champions League in the last few years away from us. The Champions League, as we’ve seen this year, is really tough. It’s a competition where anything can happen. It was a real struggle to win it and that’s win we place such value on these four Champions League crowns,” he added when asked about the European competition and how hard it is to win it.

Zidane confirmed the return of French attacker Karim Benzema, who spent the last few games away from the team with an injury.

“Benzema will be available. He’s trained with us this week and that means he’s ready. It’s perfectly normal for him to be thinking about his record and he wants to help the team by scoring goals. We’ll have to see what happens tomorrow,” explained Zidane when asked about whether Benzema will start or not.

The coach also talked about some of the rumors surrounding the team. He addressed the situation of Brahim and Marcos Llorente.

“I’ve always loved Marcos as a player. He needs to play and he deserves to. You know about the players we’ve got here and you’ve got to be really honest with them. I remember that he did really well during his season out at Alavés because he was getting minutes on a consistent basis. He hasn’t got that here because there are a lot of important players. You can’t say that I haven’t given him the chance to play. He’s played less than others but we can’t change that,” said Zidane.

“About Brahim, we’ll have to see who’s going to stay. He’s 19 and needs to play. Let’s get the season done with and then we’ll see what happens,” concluded Zidane, suggesting that Brahim might play next season on a loan deal.