Zidane bigs up Ronaldo ahead of Champions League tie

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane spoke to praise Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of Tuesday's Champions League clash at home to Roma.

Ronaldo netted four goals as Madrid beat Celta 7-1 on Saturday afternoon and will start as they defend a 2-0 away win against the Italian side in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Tuesday night.

There has been talk that if Real Madrid want to make money selling Ronaldo, who turned 31 last month, then this summer will be their last chance, however, Zidane said he was against such a move.

"I don't want to sell him, because I am the coach and I want him," he said, making light that Ronaldo had been whistled by a section of the Madrid support before his goals on Saturday.

"I also used to get booed. It's not the player, it's the public who want more from the players. They love them and at the end of the day, the ground is always full," said Zidane.

The coach commented that for the moment Tuesday's game was the only thing his side was focused on, but warned that despite the away win three weeks ago, it would "not be easy," to go into the last eight.

"It is our most important game because it is the next game, then next Sunday's game will become the most important. When you are a coach, you want to enjoy games. I did that as a player and I won the Champions League, but we have games in which we are trying to build the route to this Champions League," he explained.

Gareth Bale, who marked his return from a calf injury with a goal on Saturday, will probably start, said the coach, who also praised young striker Borja Majoral, who has performed well following the muscle injury suffered by Karim Benzema, but will return to the youth team this week.

Meanwhile Marcelo will return at left back and will line up alongside Sergio Ramos, Pepe and Dani Carvajal on a night when Madrid are expected to progress into the quarter-finals. Endit