Zinedine Zidane: Ronaldo’s performance has been magnificent

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane praised Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese scored four goals in Los Blancos 7-1 victory over Celta Vigo on Saturday.

The Portugal international responded to the crowd’s whistles with a superb performance. Asked about the relationship with the fans, Zidane said: “His performance has been magnificent. This is part of football. This crowd is very demanding. This is good for us to improve and become better. You know Cristiano, he is capable of scoring four goals or as many as he wants. There are very few players who can do it, that’s why he’s unique.”

Asked about Ronaldo’s incredible goals from long range, Zidane admitted: “I don’t know how to define it. It’s something incredible, something that only he has. I used to shoot free-kick from a shorter distance and never scored four goals. Very few players are able to shoot that way.”

Many of the regular substitutes had the chance to play against Celta and the manager was happy with their performance: “I want everyone to play because all of them are great players. Today all the changes have worked. We’ve had great energy in the field.”

Asked about Gareth Bale’s return, Zidane confessed he was pleased with the Welshman’s performance: “He’s fine. He was happy for the goal and for having played. He has played good minutes. I think he is ready to play from the start against Roma, but we will see in the next couple of days. I think he is ready.”

Despite the big win, Real had problems during the first half. “There’s no explanation for that. I want them to play well during the 90 minutes, but that’s not always possible. For instance, against Deportivo it was the other way round, we played well in the first half and bad in the second half,” Zidane said.