Zidane wary of game against already relegated Granada

If they can win and Sevilla lose in Madrid and in another of their remaining matches, they could still repeat last season’s top four finish.

Since then, Zidane’s men have tasted defeat only 4 times and are are now 2 points behind Barcelona with a game in hand, and they have one foot set in the finals of the Champions League in Cardiff, having just beaten Atletico Madrid 3-0 in the final.

But the visitors hit back at the Camp Nou when Cedric Bakambu raced clear and finished with aplomb.

It made little difference, however, as the one-way traffic continued before Real added a third on the half-hour mark. We scored nearly all the chances in the first half and that’s very important when you want to control the game.

“(Messi) is a specialist in knowing where to be to do damage”, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said.

Ronaldo’s treble against Atleti followed his five goals in the quarter-final tie against Bayern Munich and Zidane said the player’s ruthless display meant he could collect the Ballon d’Or for a second year running, taking him level with Lionel Messi in winning the prestigious individual award five times. “Any football fan should appreciate what Neymar does, sometimes it’s more like ballet than football”. The return leg is next Wednesday.

Ronaldo has often finished recent campaigns hampered by injury issues, but in recent weeks his eight goals in three games saw Madrid past Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals and secured a commanding 3-0 advantage in last Tuesday’s semifinal at home to Atletico Madrid. We may win titles, we may not.

It was no surprise when they went three ahead after half-an hour, with Alvaro Morata running onto Danilo’s cutback to crash home an unstoppable shot from the penalty spot.

“We have to put in our minds that this is a very important game for us”, Zidane said.

“We’re going to do everything to keep him”. The start of our game was flawless.

Santos has also sought to play down the focus placed on Ronaldo’s transformation from a goal-getting support forward to an out-and-out striker.

Godin was then sent off in stoppage time after picking up two yellow cards in the space of two minutes. There is nothing surprising in this, the series without the victories of the team is 10 matches and lasts from March 1, a series of defeats is 5 fights with a total score of 2-12. “But they are still playing against Real Madrid and they still have quality players”.