Zidane: Marcelo doesn't make Madrid weaker defensively, Hazard did very well

After being clawed back to a 2-2 draw by Celta Vigo at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Zinedine Zidane recognised the hurt of the dropped points but defended his Real Madrid players.



Among those to be criticised was left-back Marcelo, who surprisingly came into the side in place of Ferland Mendy.

"I don't think he makes us weaker defensively, because he was good at the back, but you always bring out stats," Zidane responded.

"I'm happy with everyone for how they play and when they play."

Another was Gareth Bale, who failed to contribute in attack, but the coach would not be drawn into being negative about his display.

"I think Bale played a good game and we have to keep thinking that there's a long way to go and we have to think about what we all do on the pitch to improve it," Zidane said.

The Frenchman did recognise the missed opportunity to pick up points in the title race in LaLiga Santander, though.

"It hurts to lose two points at home; Celta are a good team who don't deserve to be at the bottom," he insisted.

"But it hurts a lot to lose two points after the tremendous effort that we made.

"Sometimes we can argue about if it's our fault, but Denis [Suarez]'s pass is fantastic."

Some looked to point the finger at Zidane himself as he made several changes, replacing key men late on in the game, but the coach was happy to defend his decision.

"I wanted to put more in defence, [to make us] more compact, but I didn't take Marcelo off because he was good," he explained.

In the best news of the evening, Eden Hazard returned after more than two months on the sidelines.

"I'm happy with Hazard because he played 70 minutes; the idea was that he would play all he could and that's what he did very well," Zidane said.

Next up for Real Madrid is a trip to face Levante in LaLiga Santander.