Zinedine Zidane hails Cristiano Ronaldo as Real Madrid thrash Legia Warsaw

Posted Wednesday, October 19, 2016 by Skysports.com

Zinedine Zidane said Cristiano Ronaldo was "phenomenal" against Legia Warsaw, even though Real Madrid's star man failed to score.

The Champions League holders remain second in Group F following Tuesday's 5-1 victory, which saw first-half goals from Gareth Bale, a Tomasz Jodlowiec own goal and Marco Asensio before substitutes Lucas Vazquez and Alvaro Morata put the game beyond doubt in the second half.

Ronaldo remains two short of 100 European goals and missed a series of chances at the Bernabeu, but Real boss Zidane was full of praise for his assists for both Asensio and Morata.

"Ronaldo played phenomenally, playing passes to everyone else," said Zidane.

"He didn't score today but we have a game in four days' time and I'm sure he'll have chances to score then."

Real host Athletic Bilbao on Sunday evening, live on Sky Sports, and Zidane believes he will add to the strike he scored in last weekend's win at Real Betis.

"I look at Cristiano tonight and he has given two passes for the goals," he added.

"That's part of his game. He didn't score tonight, but he scored three days ago and he is contributing. I am happy with him."

Legia Warsaw launched a scare during the first half when Vadis Odjidja hit the post and pulled a goal back through Miroslav Radovic's 22nd-minute penalty.

But speaking to BeIN Sports, Zidane said he was happy with how his side played. "I'm happy with the result, with the goals and the performance.

"Of course we can improve, our objective was to play very attacking football and we took risks, conceding a few chances, but the important thing was to win and accumulate points, and that's what we did."