Zidane: "How could they give Cristiano five games for that?"
The Real Madrid coach expressed his unhappiness at the ban handed down to his star player and hopes the LFP takes another look at the incident.
Zinedine Zidane spoke to the press ahead of Wednesday’s Spanish Super Cup return leg against FC Barcelona in the Bernabéu, with the focus of the Real Madrid boss’ questioning firmly on the five-match ban handed down to Cristiano Ronaldo for pushing the referee in the back during his side’s 3-1 win in Camp Nou last Sunday.
“I am annoyed. Well, pissed off really,” Zidane replied when asked about the incident. “I’m not going to get involved with the referees, but when you look at everything that happened and you think that we’re going to be missing Cristiano for five games, there’s something going on there. I’m angry about that. Everybody is angry. Considering what he did it’s a long ban for him.”
Zidane: "I hope they look at it again"
“What happened, happened, but when you look at it in detail… you watch it and you think how could they give him five games for that?” Zidane continued. “I hope they look at it again. The disciplinary committee is going to meet [on Wednesday] and I just hope that they look at it thoroughly. After that we’ll see what we’re going to do…”
The Real boss also spoke about Marco Asensio and Gareth Bale, with the Mallorcan’s form bringing into question the Welshman’s place in the starting 11. “Bale and Asensio are both working very well. That’s what we want, to always be working well. We’re going to have a lot of games this season, there’ll be a lot of changes and different teams throughout the year. We prepare so that when we play, whoever is on the pitch is ready to play well.”
Real Madrid squad: "Everybody is going to stay"
Asked whether he planned to bring in any players before the end of the window, Zidane replied: “I’m very happy with my squad and all the players. Everybody is going to stay. As I always say, before the 31st anything can happen… That’s out of my control. What I can say is that I’m happy with the players I’ve got.”
Speaking about the return leg against Barcelona, Zidane warned against complacency. “In football nothing is ever done and dusted. We will have to play well because Barça are a very good team who can make things difficult for you at any moment. They created chances in the first leg. We’ll have to play right up to the final whistle.”
