Real Madrid's Zidane: "I'm not asking Vinicius to score goals"

Zinedine Zidane attended the media following Real Madrid's 2-0 win against Espanyol. The coach was effusive in his praise for Vinicius, who competed 84 minutes of the game but warned that Casemiro, who picked up a yellow card, will have to be careful next weekend against Valencia is he is to avoid missing El Clásico through suspension.

Thoughts on the game: "It was a hard-fought game, that was obvious. And that's how I expected it to be - as I said beforehand. Espanyol don't deserve to be where they are in the table. You could see that today. They've got something about them. We struggled a little but in the end, by staying calm and playing our game we put in a decent performance and deserved to win".

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Madrid unsettled by Espanyol pressing

Madrid lacked fluidity: "Maybe, but they did a good job of pressing us high up the pitch, we always had a man on us - particularly in the first half. We lacked a little fluidity but that's normal. At times, we were able to settle into our game but we were much better in the second half".

Were you pleased with Vinicius' performance? "Yes, but the important thing isn't him scoring goals, maybe it is for him, but what counts for me is the work he does. He did really well. The system for today's match was three up front, with Vini and Rodrygo giving us pace. Both of them did really well".

Vinicius escaped a possible second booking : "He slipped, I'm pretty sure of that. Perhaps it was a foul but there is no intention there. He stumbled and that's why he fouled his opponent".

Casemiro goes into next's weekend's game against Valencia on four yellow cards - if he is booked, he'll miss the Clásico at Camp Nou. Also, Marcelo is out injured and Mendy suspended for the next game. What will you do at left-back? "To tell you the truth I don't know. For now, we're just enjoying this moment, today's game, we have three more points and we have to continue this way".