Zidane: "To me, it looked like a foul on Ramos..."

Zinedine Zidane gave his thoughts on Real Madrid's comeback against Elche - a game which didn't pass without incident, including a penalty appeal by the home side turned down.

Overalll feelings about the performance and result: “The sensations are good, we fought back. We believed in what we are doing, we struggled, we had two or three chances to score earlier but didn't take them. But in the end, with patience, we turned it around. It's a fair result. Two nice goals, from good moves. It's good for us”.

The game turned out tougher than expected: “We knew it would, Elche don't concede many goals, they defend with two lines of four, and two forwards, physically they are very strong. You have to look for a gap and to do that, you need to be very patient, maintain rhythm and play from one side of the pitch to the other. In the first half, we had two chances. And in the second half, after going behind we needed to be even more patient. But it allowed us to take all three points. We cannot afford to drop many points now. It's three more points and we have to keep going. There are 12 games left to play and we'll keep working”.

Four games on the run in which Madrid have scored after the 85th minute: “I like the  character the team is showing but I would prefer that we scored earlier. I like games to be more relaxed. This team has character, we are still alive in two competitions and we will keep fighting hard and believing in ourselves”.

Madrid bounce back from 0-1 down

Comeback: “It's very positive for us, the important thing is gaining more points, to remain in touch in LaLiga and to prepare for Tuesday's game”.

Was the system you used today designed to protect Sergio Ramos, a dress rehearsal for Tuesday's game or just an option that you liked and want to continue with? “It was an option. We want a little more penetration down both wings. That was the plan today”.

Zero penalties for and seven against, does that seem strange to you? “That's an issue I don't get involved in. The referee does his job and we try to do ours, that's all there is to it. I saw the move, we thought there was something there, but the referee thought otherwise and that's that”.

It seem that the system of playing three central defenders don't really work… “Well, at the end of the day, we won. In any case, the formation, and the option of being able to do that, there is always something positive for us. We had two or three chances before we conceded a goal. We didn't put them away, but we need to think and I didn't think the system needed changing that much. We were able to change it later on and the game changed after that. It was important for us to take three points from this game".

Why do you think Madrid are struggling against the sides in the bottom part of the table? “Elche defend well, they put their players behind the ball and worked very hard. They are a very physically strong side and we struggled a little. We always struggle against sides who defend. We needed to find a solution against a team that defends well and in the end, with patience, the goals eventaully arrived”.