The French boss admitted making a mistake during the final minutes of their game against Leganés.

Zinedine Zidane shocked most in today's press conference, when he admitted making a mistake with one of his players.

The player he pointed out by name was Dani Ceballos, who made a 30-second cameo in the game between Los Blancos and Leganés on Wednesday. Fans and experts blasted Zizou for this substitution, and the French manager admitted his concern for the players well being after this incident.

"I felt bad for it, I had a word with him, and I apologized. I don't like to make a substitution with 30 seconds to go. He knows he's not having as many minutes as he would want, but I'm delighted with his efforts, he knows he's important to the team and he needs to hang in there, his time will come," Zidane said.

The next issue Zidane had to deal with was Gareth Bale's absence. Zidane dismissed the idea of relegating Bale to a substitute role, especially after reports about the player's future being away from Los Blancos.

"What I want is to have him 100% fit, I don't want to lose him again. There are many game to come and he will surely have a major role. Look what happened to three or four players recently, there's lots of stress and lots of games left. I don't have a 13-men squad, I'm counting on everyone. Maybe when other coach is here he has a different idea, but I don't see football that way," the coach revealed.

Zidane will rotate his squad once again this Saturday when they host Alavés, considering they will have yet another match to play on Tuesday.

 

Match details, result and original broadcast info

Real Madrid 4 - 0 Deportivo Alavés

February 24, 2018 10:15amEstadio Santiago Bernabéu (Madrid)

This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.

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