Zidane: My role is to protect my staff

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With the second leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals ahead of Real Madrid, Zinedine Zidane wanted to focus on the game against Leganes, but the press wouldn’t let the failed Kepa transfer drop, the French coach defensively noting that he preferred to look after staff already at the club.

It’s understood that the young keeper had agreed a contract to move to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu but Zidane vetoed the same.

“It bothers me when I hear some comments that I won in the end,” he said in his pre-match press conference.

“My daily concern is the players at Real Madrid.

“I don’t want to talk about players that are not from Madrid because mine are the most important.

“My role is to protect my staff. I have nothing against Kepa.”

Though Zidane will rotate again for the fixture against Leganes, Sergio Ramos will return.

“We count on him for Wednesday’s game,” the Frenchman continued.

“We’ll see how we are going to manage it but he’s definitely going to play some part.”

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of those who won’t play, but he did train on Tuesday with a remarkable lump under his left eye.

“He wanted to know how his wound was, and nothing else,” Zidane said in response to questioning on why the Portuguese wanted to look at a mobile phone when leaving the pitch on Sunday.

“I’m not going to invent anything, that’s what he said inside the dressing room.”

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