Zinedine Zidane relaxed about Cristiano Ronaldo's slow La Liga start

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane is unperturbed by Cristiano Ronaldo's failure to score for the second La Liga match on the trot.


The 32-year-old made his La Liga bow for the campaign in midweek after serving a five-match domestic suspension.

Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes of the Wednesday night's shock 1-0 defeat to Real Betis, but the Spanish champions bounced back with a 2-1 win over bottom side Deportivo Alaves. The Portugal international was not in the best of form throughout the game, and it required Dani Ceballos to score his first two goals for Los Blancos as he shone in his full debut.

Despite Ronaldo's slow start, Zidane insists that there is little to panic as the forward is well capable of converting the chances on his day, he said: "When you do not score, you are frustrated. But Ronaldo is calm. He wants to score and he had the chances to do so. In the end, we always know he will make a difference eventually."

Alaves looked set to pile more misery on Los Blancos' patchy form when captain Manu Garcia equalised before the break, but Ceballos made sure of the win with his second goal which secured a third straight away win for his side. Zidane was clearly impressed by Ceballos' attitude on his full debut and promised to offer the 21-year-old midfielder with more chances to impress, he added: "I am very happy for the player, as he is ready to play and did very well today getting both goals. I am happy for him because he is a boy who wants to learn and he will have more opportunities."

Real Madrid are up to 11 points in the new La Liga season, but they have plenty of catching up to do with Barcelona already seven points ahead of them in what has been a perfect start to their campaign.