Real Madrid closed the gap to rivals and league leaders Barcelona to just one point after a 5-1 demolition of Getafe on Saturday.
First half goals from Karim Benzema, Isco and Gareth Bale gave Real Madrid a comfortable 3-0 lead at half time before James Rodriguez and Cristiano Ronaldo struck late to seal a comfortable victory over Getafe. Ronaldo has now played every minute of every league match this season.
Zidane delighted with Real Madrid performance
Zinedine Zidane expressed his delight after Real Madrid registered a comfortable win over relegation threatened Getafe on Saturday. “Today we go to bed just one point off the top, and the two must play tomorrow,” said Zidane “We’ll see what happens. We’ll watch their [Barcelona and Atletico] games, but the most important thing is what we do ourselves.
“We must rest now and on Wednesday we have a home game against a very difficult Villarreal team. Today is three very, very important points. The good thing for us is that mentally we are in a good place.
“Today we gave a rest to Gareth and Karim. We will see what happens later. [Ronaldo] has been playing well, he scored today. When Cristiano scores he is always happier.”
On the return of James and Isco into the Los Blancos starting XI, Zidane said, “I’m very happy with them, they both scored. It is not easy as they did not play [midweek]. But what is important for us is that they do phenomenal when they have a chance to play. To achieve anything, we must all believe that we can. Today from the start we showed we wanted to do well, all of the players played a serious game, a fantastic game, respecting the rival.”
Zidane’s sight firmly fixed on top spot
Real Madrid’s 5-1 win over Getafe saw them temporarily leapfrog their city rivals Atletico, who host Granada on Sunday, into second place in the La Liga table. More importantly though, Los Blancos are now just a single point off their great rivals Barcelona at the top of the league table. With Barcelona stuttering over the past fortnight and Atletico Madrid still involved in Europe, a dramatic come-from-behind league triumph for Real Madrid is a definite possibility.
