Zinedine Zidane has urged Real Madrid talisman Cristiano Ronaldo to shrug off any criticism from the club’s fans ahead of the second leg of their Champions League last-16 meeting with Roma.
Ronaldo, and his Madrid teammates, were subjected to whistles from the Bernabeu crowd on Saturday before blowing Celta Vigo away with the Portuguese scoring four in the 7-1 rout.
A week earlier Real were beaten 1-0 by cross-city rivals Atletico to all but end their hopes of challenging for the Primera Division title.
Real are now 12 points adrift of leaders Barcelona but look well-placed to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, having won the first leg 2-0 in Rome.
Ronaldo took his tally in this season’s Champions League to 12 with the opener at the Stadio Olimpico while his haul against Celta over the weekend moved him on to 27 Primera Division goals.
Despite being the top scorer in both competitions some Madrid supporters have still called for the 31-year-old to be sold, but boss Zidane has told Ronaldo to ignore the critics.
Whistled
“I’m not in favour of selling him. I am the coach and I want him,” Zidane told the club’s official website. “They [the fans] whistled at me, at everyone.
“It’s not a question of any player in particular, it’s the fans who want more from their players and this is better for the players, trying to make them always do their best.
“The fans really love their players in the end and this is very important. The stadium is always full and this means a lot.”
Toni Kroos, who missed the game against Celta Vigo because of a virus, trained yesterday, as did Luka Modric who has been struggling with an ankle injury.
Karim Benzema is still recovering from his hamstring complaint but Gareth Bale could start against the Italians after making a goalscoring return from a calf injury on Saturday.
“He’s prepared and ready to play,” Zidane said of Bale. “That is the most important thing. The players who play have to do their job. The players know what they have to do on the field.
Players available
“There’s one idea, it’s the same, it’s to always defend when we don’t have the ball and try to do damage when we have it. It will be difficult to pick the team tomorrow but it’s better having all your players available.”
Roma defender Antonio Rudiger will not travel to the Bernabeu after suffering a thigh injury but Alessandro Florenzi is fit and will again be tasked with keeping tabs on Ronaldo.
The right-back fared well against the forward last month but saw a strike from the three-time Ballon d’Or winner deflect off him to break the deadlock in Italy.
“You can’t give Ronaldo an inch,” Florenzi told uefa.com. “You can go right or left against him but it’s just the same. Maybe I was a bit unlucky because the ball took a deflection off me and went in right under the crossbar.
“It wasn’t what we needed, but I still believe it was one of our best showings. It’s a Roma performance that we need to build on. We’re definitely not going to give anything away, not even at the Bernabeu.”
