Zidane: "We're league leaders and extend our good run"

Zinedine Zidane took to the media room at the Santiago Bernabéu to reflect on his side's victory over Sporting, a result which sees the Whites tighten their grip on top spot: "Today we can only but but happy with the three points, but we can't be happy with the performance. At times these things happen, you score two goals and are in the driving seat and then a goal changes the game. They went into the break looking brighter than us. There was a lot of rain out there and we showed less concentration and that's all there is to it. The game became a bit difficult for us".

"We've got reason to be happy because we're top, we keep up our good form and we have to continue on in this vein. It wasn't like a cup final for us but it was an important game and it was one we struggled to win. Sporting played well, but we didn't perform as we expected to. We'll continue to have tough games between now and the end of the season. Sides that are struggling in the league can make life difficult for you".

Cristiano Ronaldo's goals
"You always ask me the same thing. Cristiano is like that, he can score at any time. When he doesn't score people think that he hasn't played well. He played well with Karim in the middle and dropped out to the wing, working hard and he's back on form".
 
James
"I don't consider him to be disinterested. He played well, as did the others. He may lack a bit of rhythm, but I'm happy that he got some playing time".

Casemiro
"We play on Wednesday and he'll play then. He didn't play today because I made other changes, he was fit to play. He'll play on Wednesday and he'll be ready for El Clásico like the rest of them".