Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has paid tribute to his players following Tuesday's 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon, which saw the Spanish side qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Adrien Silva looked to have claimed a point for Sporting after the midfielder's penalty cancelled out a first-half effort from Raphael Varane, but Karim Benzema headed an 87th-minute winner for the visitors.

Los Blancos have now booked their spot in the round of 16 ahead of their final game with Group F leaders Borussia Dortmund, and Zidane was quick to hail the character of his team.

"What we want to do is to continue working hard in order to achieve our objectives. We must look to recover now. It isn't easy for these players playing every three days," Zidane told UEFA.com.

"It was hard, but that's normal. We spoke about that yesterday, we knew it would be hard but in the end we got the three points at a difficult ground against a tough rival. Sporting turned up against us and made life difficult for us. When you play every three days sometimes you just have to hang on.

"We had difficulties but I think all games will be like this. We got the three points and now we have a final against Dortmund on matchday six. The good thing is we never give up. It could have been difficult when they scored but we picked ourselves up and got the winner."

Real Madrid have now made the knockout stage of the Champions League for a 20th consecutive season.