What Zinedine Zidane had to say after Real Madrid’s big 7-1 win over Deportivo
By Ben Sundock
As we saw a month ago against Sevilla, when the goals start coming, they come in bunches. That was no different in this match Sunday afternoon as Real Madrid steamrolled Deprotivo La Coruña 7-1 to get a much-needed win in La Liga. Here is what manager Zinedine Zidane had to say post-match.
All quotes come via the Real Madrid official website.
Opening Statement
"“I’m not sure I’ve changed much about the team, other than the result of course. It was a huge margin, that’s the difference. We played some great football in the game against Villarreal and today the same, once we’d gone 0-1 down. We scored and I’m thrilled with the outcome because we needed this. The players needed a performance like this, scoring lots of goals.”“It’s always great and a positive feeling to win, netting seven goals at home. It’s not every day you get seven goals at the Bernabéu so we’re thrilled with that today. We were hungry to get a result like this and now we want a repeat performance on Wednesday and next Saturday. We enjoyed our football and the match.”"
Were there tactical changes made?
“We know we can play in several different ways, and today we chose 4-3-3. It worked for us and I’m happy with everyone’s performance. The formation is the least important element; the key thing was our attitude. I don’t know the last time we scored seven times at the Bernabéu. I’m happy for the players, for everybody. I’m thrilled with the whole team’s performance, which is the most important thing.”
Has the team turned a corner with this win?
“We started strongly but we switched off from the throw-in and they got their goal. But we focused on playing our game and we managed to find two goals which allowed us to play as we did in the second half. Overall, we’re very happy with the match. We weren’t at our best in recent games at home, but we played well against Villarreal and today we converted our chances.”
Getting the fans interested again
“We want the fans to be behind us in every game. We need them when things are going well, and also when they’re not so good. They responded brilliantly today. It’s a team mentality: the players and the fans. I know what it’s like to be jeered at this stadium and it’s not easy. We want positive energy from the stands and we picked up a great result for them.”
“We’re now going to focus on our next game and putting in a good performance, as we did today. I’m not looking any further ahead. It’s now back-to-back wins and we’re focused on the third game and extending that run. That’s all we’re thinking about. We all needed a performance like that. It’s not every day that you score seven at home and we needed it.”
Thoughts on Gareth Bale’s play
“I always want to have all of my players available. Whenever they’re not around it makes me unhappy. We’re without two centre-backs at the moment and I’m not happy about it. That’s the way it goes in football. We need to remind ourselves that when one player gets injured we’ve always someone else to come in and do a good job. I’m happy for Gareth because he’s producing some consistent performances.”
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Update on Cristiano Ronaldo’s face
“He has got a wound and I think he’s been given two or three stitches. He’s alright.”
Why did Isco not feature in this match?
“He’s an extremely important player and has made many appearances for this club during my time as coach. He’ll always be a key player and as the manager, I have to make the decisions and put a team out. I have to leave players out of the squad and put others on the bench. That’s all part of my job too.”
The ‘BBC’ and their potential
“They’re three players that have produced great things in the past. We haven’t seen them performing together all that many times this season but when they do play they inject real energy into the rest of the players.”
Thoughts on Karim Benzema
“I’m concerned by the fact that coming on and being jeered is something that affects him, but I head home thinking about the positives of the performance. What we have to do is win games to stop it happening.”
My thoughts
It’s hard to say if this win is better for the players or for the manager. Zidane was getting incredibly close to being pushed out the door and with a late goal from Marco Asensio Thursday in the Copa Del Rey, and this win today, I think president Florentino Perez is comfortable keeping the former player in charge now.
I was a bit surprised to not see the ‘BBC’ of Bale, Benzema, and Ronaldo start together but it was an interesting test to see how Borja Mayoral would play between two world-class wingers. As we have seen before, he had very little impact on the match,
I wrote yesterday that this could be a huge momentum building match for Ronaldo and Benzema, it definitely helped get Cristiano’s confidence back with a fantastic second-half brace.
Gareth Bale has continued his impressive goalscoring run as he bagged his second consecutive league brace to push him to six goals on the year.
Next: Real Madrid 7 – 1 Deportivo de La Coruña: Match recap as it happened
I liked this formation from Madrid, but I did miss seeing Isco out on the field. He always adds a great attacking presence to the formation that causes headaches to opposing defenses. However, I was impressed with Luka Modric and his goal.