Zidane: "James playing less could be a problem"

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane talked to the media ahead of Los Blancos’ first home game of the season against Celta Vigo on Saturday.

First game at home

“We’re excited. We started La Liga well against Real Sociedad in San Sebastian and now we have the first game at home against a very good rival. We’re prepared to play the game tomorrow. The fans will come to the ground and that is always good for us.”

No more comings or goings?

“I’ll answer as I always do. Anything could happen until 31 August. No one is coming in, but someone could leave. I’m happy with what I have. There are injured players and others who still haven’t returned. We are sufficient…the season will be long and complicated.”

James’ future

“James is a Real Madrid player. He’s a player with a contract. It’s obvious that he’s played less and that could be a problem. What I always try to do is to make the players feel important. James is the same as the rest. I haven’t talked with James lately or any player in particular. I talk with the group. But no, to answer the question, I haven´t talked with James.”

Morata

“Morata is doing what I ask of him. If he can get a goal tomorrow then perfect. He’s working well and in a good dynamic. He always fights. He runs and he’s important when we don’t have the ball too. I’ll keep asking him to continue down that line, but if he scores tomorrow, all the better.”

Pique’s comments on social media

“He can opine and believe what he wants. We won the Champions League and he can say what he wants. We fought and we had a complicated Champions League campaign. You can have easy games, but the competition is long and complicated. The other thing that he said, that Barça are the best team in Spain, when you win the league, you can say that. That’s normal. This year we start again and we’ll fight for everything. Not only Barça and Madrid, there are many teams.”

Changes to the starting 11

I have many players and they’re all important. This is what I think as a trainer. Without Cristiano and Karim, others are playing and doing well too. When everyone’s back I’ll decide who’s going to play.”

Isco Injury

“He’s aggravated his ankle in training. They stitched up his ankle last week after taking a knock and now it’s not good. He came off in training and he won’t be with us tomorrow.”