Real Madrid coach Zidane focused on Juventus

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane on Tuesday said he was solely focused on Juventus and was facing the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals as if his side did not enjoy a three-goal lead.

Speaking on the eve of the match, the French coach said his side still needs another solid game to ensure a place in the semifinals, reports Efe.

"We have one final and it is tomorrow. Then we will see if we get through, and then who we have to face, but we must not think beyond tomorrow's game," Zidane said. "We have not won anything just yet.

"The 3-0 result will not change things for us. It's another game and what happened, happened. It was a good game, but there is still 50 percent of the tie to be played," he said.

Zidane did not reveal if French forward Karim Benzema would play on Wednesday, but acknowledged that Benzema was unhappy about his lack of goals this season.

Madrid's coach also refused to say whether the recently-recovered Jesus Vallejo was being considered to start as a central defender to cover for the absent Sergio Ramos and Nacho Fernandez.

However, he confirmed that Vallejo was able to train with the group without any physical problems.

"We all trained well, Jesus included. He did well, did not have any complaints. We'll soon see who plays tomorrow. If we have any problems we'll adapt to the situation," Zidane said.

The French coach was unable to account for why Real Madrid was doing better in the Champions League than in La Liga.

"Whenever we start a season we aim to win everything, this year has not been the best, we had trouble scoring, but today we are better in every aspect, there is no explanation for this," he said.

"When we started scoring again we noticed the difference because we had gone a full month without scoring, now we are in a good dynamic and we have to take advantage of it," he added.

--IANS

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