Madrid: Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has ruled out implementing a decision taken by the Welsh national team that would forbid Gareth Bale from playing golf.
Zidane said he would not ‘prevent’ Bale from doing anything and his players are old enough to know what they should be doing.
“As a coach I am not going to prevent Gareth or any other player from doing anything,” he told a press conference.
“They (the players) are old (enough) and they know what they have to do.
“I am not going to tell them anything,” he said, dismissing applying a ban imposed on the Welsh national team — to which Bale also belongs — to his club.
Zidane is taking his team into weekend match action against Espanyol with six casualties.
“This stretch until Christmas is very important for us,” he said, adding that he has had to seek offensive solutions and without openly saying it was Brazil’s Vinicius’ moment to shine.
“He’ll be with us tomorrow but it’s Vinicius’s time like everyone else’s. The important thing is that they are prepared and then I have to choose the 11,” he said.
The French coach defended his medical team at a critical moment due to the amount of injuries at Real Madrid this season.
“It’s important not only to train, also to rest, to eat well, to recover. Real Madrid’s medical services are one of the best, the doctors and physios are close to the players, we are all in the same boat. We have the best and the players know it,” he said.
He did not rule out any signing during the winter market,” everything can happen in football,” he said.
He praised upcoming rival Espanyol, regardless of his team’s health.
“It is a team that does not deserve to be where it is on the table. It is true that they are going through a bad moment in terms of points, not of play, because they play matches very well.
“We are focused and we’re not looking at it like we’re playing against one of the last (teams) on the table. If you let them play you can mess it up,” he said.
IANS