Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he was “happy” for man of the match Gareth Bale after Saturday afternoon’s 3-0 La Liga win at Las Palmas — but stopped short of suggesting the Welshman had played his way into the XI for Tuesday’s Champions League clash at Juventus.
Zidane rested many regulars including Cristiano Ronaldo and Toni Kroos for the trip to the relegation-threatened Canary Islanders, but his side went ahead midway through the first half when Bale ran onto Luka Modric’s through ball and lashed home a 15 yard shot.
Captain-on-the-day Karim Benzema soon made it 2-0 when the officials saw a foul inside the box on Lucas Vazquez, and the third came after the break when Bale was fouled himself and picked himself up to beat Las Palmas keeper Leandro Chichizola from the spot to move to 11 goals in 15 La Liga games this season.
The Wales international came close to a hat trick on a few occasions, but after he was named to the bench for both recent Champions League games against Paris Saint-Germain, Zidane did not say if Bale’s performance had altered his plans for Juve.
“I am happy for him, that’s all,” Zidane told his postmatch news conference. “We move on. You will see on Tuesday. I am happy with his performance, that’s all.”
Bale played all 90 minutes, but Zidane was able to withdraw midfielders Luka Modric and Casemiro to keep them fresh ahead of Tuesday’s quarterfinal first leg, with a poor Las Palmas side never really looking like getting even one goal back.
Asked if Madrid are arriving at the game in their best form of the season, the Frenchman agreed but assured everyone that Tuesday in Turin would be different.
“Yes, but that means nothing,” Zidane said. “We know we controlled the game well, we won, got the points, but we must think now that Tuesday will be totally different. We must go there and play a great game. Now we must all rest and recover.”
An ankle injured saw utility defender Nacho Fernandez limp off during the first half with a suspected hamstring problem — the first injury in the 28-year-old’s entire career — while will be a worry for Zidane given club captain Sergio Ramos missed the trip with an unspecified issue picked up on international duty last week.
“I don’t know [about Nacho],” Zidane said. “We will wait for tomorrow’s tests. He is not happy, not comfortable, he came off for a precaution. It is behind his knee, the hamstring I think. I hope it is not much.”
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