Zinedine Zidane thanked the Real Madrid fans for their support despite being at the receiving end of jeers from the Santiago Bernabeu faithfuls on Sunday.
Real Madrid returned to winning ways on Sunday with a comfortable 3-0 win over Real Sociedad, as they took advantage of Barcelona and Sevilla slipping up earlier in the day to establish a four-point lead at the top of the La Liga table.
However, it took some time for the hosts to get into their stride as they struggled to create chances in the first half-hour of the match. As a result, the fans at the Santiago Bernabeu grew increasingly restless and voiced their frustration by unleashing whistles and jeers towards the Real Madrid players.
The hostile atmosphere finally gave way to an air of easiness as Mateo Kovacic broke the deadlock by coolly finishing past Rulli after he was put through on goal by Cristiano Ronaldo in the 38th minute.
The Croat then returned the favour at the start of the second half as Ronaldo picked up a through ball from Kovacic to delightfully chip the Real Sociedad goalkeeper and double Los Blancos’ lead.
Inigo Martinez was sent off for a second bookable offence midway through the second period before Alvaro Morata rounded off the win by heading in from Lucas Vazquez’s pinpoint cross.
In his post-match press conference, Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane was full of praise for the fans despite his players being at the receiving end of whistles and jeers from the Santiago Bernabeu faithfuls in the early stages of the match.
Zidane said: “We must thank the fans for their support. At times some of the booing might upset us. Today they got behind us from start to finish and we must be grateful for that. The players need their support and today we all achieved an important result.”
Star forward Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the players who was booed the most, but the Portugal captain enjoyed a fruitful night with a goal and a brace to show for his efforts, and Zidane appeared to dismiss the whistling that came his way.
“I don’t believe they whistled Cristiano,” Zidane claimed. “There may have been some whistling but we have to thank the fans for their support today. We recorded a nice win.”
Zidane also heaved a sigh of relief as he commended his players for a terrific all round performance against the visitors and hailed the result on Sunday as an important win for Real Madrid to end a difficult week happily.
Los Blancos next face an opponent that eliminated them after two legs of the Copa Del Rey, Celta Vigo, when revenge will be on the minds of Zidane’s charges.
