Madrid: Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has urged his side to tighten up at the back as they bid to maintain their lead at the top of La Liga. Real beat Leganes 4-2 on Wednesday despite resting key players including Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale as goals from Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez helped them stay top after Barcelona cruised to a 3-0 win over Sevilla.
Rodriguez set them on the way to victory with an early goal before Morata scored twice in five minutes to put Real 3-0 up.
But Leganes scored twice in quick succession through Gabriel Appelt Pires and Luciano to cut the deficit to 3-2 at halftime.
An own goal by Leganes defender Martin Mantovani just after the break stretched Real’s lead and they kept the hosts at arm’s length for the remainder of game.
The win saw Real recapture top spot from Barcelona, who had provisionally led the standings after beating Sevilla with two goals from Lionel Messi after the opener from Luis Suarez.
“It was a bit of a strange game,” said Real coach Zinedine Zidane.
“We started very well and scored three goals and then we got ourselves into trouble by conceding those two goals. In the end we controlled the second half better by getting the extra goal and we got the three points.”
But the Frenchman cursed his side for switching off in the first half and briefly allowing Leganes back into the game.
And he says those defensive lapses need to be cut out.
“We can’t afford to keep doing it, conceding twice [in four minutes] is a big deal. That’s why we always need to be looking to improve. It’s the great thing about football, you never know what’s going to happen.”
Real top the table with 71 points, two clear of Barca, and have a game in hand on their arch-rivals as they bid for a first title since 2012. “It was the first-half performance we had dreamed of,” said Barca coach Luis Enrique after his side’s win.
“We took the game to them as much as possible, we had more of the ball, we scored three goals and had a lot of chances, which says a lot when you consider the quality of our opponents. Things changed in the second half but everything was under control.”
Real can show how serious their bid to land a first La Liga title in five years really is when they host local rivals Atletico Madrid on Saturday in the midst of the best run of results in the campaign by Diego Simeone’s side.
Atletico have won all three of their previous visits to the Santiago Bernabeu in the league and head there after beating Real Sociedad 1-0 on Tuesday to record five consecutive domestic wins for the first time this season.
Atletico have conceded just one goal in their last six games in all competitions.
And Atletico defender Juanfran believes his side are far better prepared to face their neighbours than when they last met.
“It’s clear they were better than us in that game but now it’s another story, a different moment. I hope we can stay on this great run and get something positive, although we know it’ll be difficult because they are top and are having an incredible season,” Juanfran told reporters.
“We had a bad run around November and December and that has made us stronger and we’ve shown once again that Atletico always rises against adversity,” added Juanfran, who missed the crucial penalty in the shoot-out when Atletico lost to Real in the 2016 Champions League final.
