Zinedine Zidane ‘had to let Cristiano Ronaldo rest’

Real Madrid were held in La Liga for the second time in a week as they conceded a late equaliser to draw 2-2 with Ronaldo off the pitch.

The Portuguese winger looked short of match sharpness, but was unhappy with Zidane’s decision to bench him. Ultimately it proved to be the wrong call as Real Madrid succumbed to an equaliser, making them rue their missed opportunities earlier in the match.

Zidane was insistent that he was forced to remove Ronaldo from the action in order to give his star performer some valuable rest time.

"We have a game on Tuesday and I thought it was time to get [Cristiano] off," Zidane explained.

When asked to reflect on the match itself, Zidane was happy with his team's performance despite the frustrating result.

"What I least liked? The two goals we conceded,” Zidane said.

"The team’s performance from the first to last minute was very good game.

"On Wednesday, the first half was difficult, but today we played good football, we created many chances.

"We lacked concentration, even though we had the game under control.

"I didn’t like the two goals [conceded], but we won’t give up.

"We’ll go on from this, but I’m happy with the team’s performance."