Zinedine Zidane hails Cristiano Ronaldo after landmark goals push Real Madrid closer to La Liga title
Sunday 14 May 2017 23:53, UK
Zinedine Zidane underlined Cristiano Ronaldo's importance for Real Madrid after seeing him reach another historic landmark, insisting the record-breaking forward is "always there in the decisive moments".
Ronaldo, Real's all-time leading scorer, passed a new club milestone on Sunday after scoring his 400th and 401st competitive goals in the 4-1 victory over Sevilla.
The Portugal forward's double helped keep the Spanish giants on course for their first La Liga title since 2012, and came two weeks after his crucial hat-trick paved the way for Real's Champions League semi-final win over Atletico Madrid.
And Zidane admitted the 32-year-old simply cannot be kept out of the limelight, saying at his post-match press conference: "What can I tell you? He has something, he's different.
"More than the goals is what he's done up to now. He's always there in the decisive moments"
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Real's victory kept them level on points with LaLiga leaders Barcelona but still boasting a game in hand.
That will be played against Celta Vigo on Wednesday before the title will be decided in next weekend's final round of fixtures.
With Celta having lost six of their last eight matches and also suffered the agony of being knocked out of the Europa League semi-finals in that time, Real are firm favourites to pick up a victory in Galicia that would leave them needing only a point at Malaga next Sunday to seal the title.
Real would then be able to turn their attention to next month's Champions League final against Juventus with confidence sky high, but Zidane is determined not to look too far ahead.
He said: "Until the final minute we cannot think about anything. We have to continue doing the same thing. We have to stay focused on each game.
"We know that we are going to have give everything until the end."
Real took the lead against Sevilla through defender Nacho Fernandez's quickly-taken free-kick early on - a goal that saw Zidane's men break Bayern Munich's record after scoring in their 62nd consecutive game.
Nacho's goal was hotly disputed, though, with furious Sevilla players - who had no time to build a defensive wall or get organised - surrounding the referee in protest.
Zidane said of the strike: "It's not that it didn't surprise us, these things can happen. He immediately went up to the ball after the foul, it's something that happens in a few seconds. I'm glad for what he did. It's something that a forward of midfielder would do, so for Nacho to do is makes me happy for him."