“You don’t achieve big things without a bit of suffering in football”, said the coach.
Real Madrid took a crucial win in an extremely evenly matched clash with Getafe. Following the game, Zidane assessed his team’s performance in an online press conference: “We should be pleased today, it was a remarkable team effort. It was a tough game against opposition who made life hard for us, but in the end, patience and team spirit have led us to a hugely important win”.


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“We’re working well, but the most important thing is the players’ convictions. When it comes to defending it’s a team approach, everyone is committed. When we lose the ball, we defend and we’re doing a great job. Perhaps we’re lacking a bit of sharpness up top but to be honest the team is looking very solid and we want to carry on like this because it’s our strength”.

Digging deep
“You can’t tell because I keep it in check, but the coach and the players are all suffering because we have to dig deep to win games. There are no easy moments. Ultimately, it’s what we like because you don’t achieve big things without a bit of suffering”.

A champion defence
“We’re doing a good job and it’s not easy because we’re playing every three days and an awful lot can happen. It’s tough to win games, today again, the other day in Barcelona… That’s the way it goes for us. There’s still a way to go and we have to keep up with what we’re doing. We have five cup finals left and if we can continue with this solidity, that’ll be a good thing. Now we have to rest up because we’ve got a game at 2:00 pm on Sunday and we have to focus on recovering well”.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THE PLAYERS’ CONVICTIONS. WHEN IT COMES TO DEFENDING IT’S A TEAM APPROACH, EVERYONE IS COMMITTED.

“The key people in all this are the players. They’re the ones who take to the pitch and they know that there’ll always be tough times. It’s impossible to achieve big things in football without some suffering. My role is to convey a message when the times are hard, be calm, patient and positive. That’s what happened, but they’re the ones out on the pitch and who believe in what we’re doing. That’s what it’s all about”.

Substitutions
“That’s what the substitutions are there for, to change the vibe within the team. It’s not that we were performing poorly, but we needed a boost and that’s why the whole squad is important. Everyone brings something to the table and that proved to be the case with the substitutions. It’s true that the idea was to give us width and the goal came from a move out wide with Carvajal”.

Ramos on target again
“Our captain is our leader on the pitch and off it too. He’s a one of a kind, he’s unique and we know what he instils in the rest of them. I’m delighted for him and for this goal because he’s so confident when he steps up to take penalties. It was nearly the 80th minute and the effort from Carvajal on the goal represents the effort of the whole team. We know that if we’re patient and calm, we can score goals. That’s how it turned out, in the final 20 minutes that freshness saw us claim a vital result. We have to congratulate all the players because it’s not easy to do what we’re doing”.

Varane
“He’s struggling at the moment because it was a knock to his vertebra. He went home and the doctor will go and see him and we’ll see how he is tomorrow. We won’t be taking any risks. It was a heavy knock and we’ll see exactly what the problem is tomorrow”.