Zidane: “Benzema is playing phenomenally well and it’s not just about the goals”

Real Madrid have made it five wins in a row by overcoming Eibar 3-1 and Zinedine Zidane is delighted with the team’s recent form. Even though he was asked in the post-match press conference if he’s concerned at how close Real Madrid were to drawing the past couple of matches, the coach insisted that he is happy.

He said: “No, I’m not worried. That’s called football. There’s an opponent who will have their good moments. These are teams that never give up, the play from the first minute to the last. We have to suffer and try to control the game. We’re happy for the win and we’ve kept up this good run. Now, it’s time to rest well and to think about the next match.”

Zidane hasn’t been rotating much at all and was asked if he’ll make changes to the line-up soon. On that, he replied: “There will be rotations for sure, because we have a long and difficult season ahead. It’s true we’re rotating a little less right now, but we’ll be counting on everyone. It’s a specific thing for this moment.”

Karim Benzema scored again in this game and has been in great form of late, so Zidane was asked about the striker and if he is as important to the team now as Cristiano Ronaldo was during the coach’s first spell. Zidane replied: “He’s decisive. He’s playing phenomenally well. It’s not just about the goals. I always say the same about Karim. He brings overall play. He’s very important for our team. But, we also need to consider the work that everyone did. It was a great game and you need two teams for it to be a great game and Eibar had their good moments. Overall, we deserved the win, though.”

Finally, he was asked for his thoughts on the Sergio Ramos handball incident, but didn’t want to get involved in a discussion of the refereeing. He replied: “I didn’t see it. In the end, the referee is the one who decides. As always, I don’t get involved in refereeing issues. If he didn’t blow for it, then it’s because he didn’t think it was a handball.”