While Zinedine Zidane still remains under heavy pressure following Real Madrid’s difficult start to the season, things have eased on the Frenchman after their Champions League performances. It saw the club beat Borussia Monchengladbach in their final group stage game after a stuttering start to the campaign which confirmed qualification to the Round of 16. However, the losses to Shakhtar Donetsk still have many concerned with the direction that Zidane is taking the club in.

“It’s true only a few weeks ago, things were difficult. We could have been out of the competition, even the Europa League. The team had a problem of not having Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos. Those are two pillars of this team; they were out and the problems arose. That’s something we managed to overcome yesterday with the two players playing. Benzema was fantastic scoring two goals.”