Zinedine Zidane has revealed that he took Cristiano Ronaldo off early against Las Palmas with one eye on Real Madrid's upcoming Champions League tie at Borussia Dortmund.
Los Blancos were held to a 2-2 draw in Gran Canaria on Saturday evening as they dropped La Liga points for the second game in succession.
The biggest talking point was Zidane's decision to haul off Ronaldo 18 minutes from the end, with Madrid one goal ahead at the time, but the Frenchman has played down any sort of row with the superstar forward and insists that he was not angry when leaving the field.
"It was not that [Ronaldo] was playing badly," The Mirror quotes him as saying. "We are playing on Tuesday and Cristiano must rest too sometimes. It was just for that.
"He was playing well. Tonight I took him off thinking of Tuesday's game. Angry? That would be your interpretation. He always wants to be on the pitch. We have to take him out sometimes, and we did today. It does not change anything."
Following the midweek meeting with Dortmund in Germany, league leaders Madrid take on Eibar at the Bernabeu.
Daniel Lewis
