Zinedine Zidane stressed Cristiano Ronaldo does need all of his team-mates after the forward single-handedly guided Real Madrid into the semi-finals of the Champions League.
With Madrid trailing 2-0 from last week’s first leg, Ronaldo produced a magnificent individual showing on Tuesday, his hat-trick sealing a 3-0 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu to ensure progression.
Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 15th minute and less than 90 seconds later Madrid were level on aggregate courtesy of a near-post header from the Portugal international.
The former Manchester United star completed the comeback in style 13 minutes from time with a chipped free-kick, leaving Zidane to marvel at his abilities.
“What can I say about Cristiano Ronaldo? He has showed again he is the best player in the world. He is a special player,” Zidane said.
“But at same time, Cristiano needs all the team. What we want, what he wants, is to speak of the team, what they have done together.”
On his team’s overall performance, Zidane added: “What we had to do was to show intensity, but also use our heads. My message, above all, was to have patience.
“I am very happy, and very proud of all they did tonight. It was a special night, we have achieved what we were looking for.
“The players came from 2-0 down. So it was my best night as a coach, so far, for sure.”
Despite his delight at his team’s showing, Zidane is keen not to get carried away as attention turns to Saturday’s La Liga meeting with Getafe and Madrid’s quest to chase down a stuttering Barcelona in the domestic title race.
“In one way it is a pity as you cannot celebrate too much tonight, but tomorrow we must think about the game on Saturday,” Zidane said.
“You should not go crazy, as anything can happen in football. I never lost my head as a player, and will never do so as a coach.
“I’m not naive, I know there’ll be difficult moments, we already had some. We just need to be able to manage them properly.”
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