Real Madrid vs Eibar. Spanish La Liga.
Santiago BernabeuAttendance63,705.
Sunday 22 October 2017 19:39, UK
Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has launched an impassioned defence of Karim Benzema as his side prepare to face Eibar, live on Sky.
The long-serving Real forward, now 29, has only scored one La Liga goal thus far this season, drawing conjecture from the press about his value to the reigning Spanish champions.
But head coach Zidane, who is urging Real to respond to Tuesday's Champions League draw with Tottenham, branded his critics "a disgrace" as he seeks to galvanise his side ahead of Sunday's Sky Sports Football clash.
He told the club's official website: "I'm annoyed by criticism of Karim because, for someone who understands football, it is a disgrace. For me he is the best, by far.
"It seems that a number nine here is expected to score 50 or 60 goals but Karim is going to score 25 to 30 and will create another 30 or 40, which for me is the most important thing.
"We cannot stop people from speaking badly of him, everyone can say what they want. But from my point of view I don't think a striker has to only score goals.
"I will defend him because I think he's the best. He's been here for so many years - that's no accident. He's got everything and there's every chance he'll improve further."
Real, boosted by Cristiano Ronaldo's return from suspension, have won their last three league games but lie five points adrift of Barcelona with surprise package Valencia splitting the pair in second.
"When you analyse our results so far, we have not been bad," said Zidane. "We can improve and that's what we're trying to do.
"We are five points behind the leaders but we're topping our Champions League group and have already won two trophies this season (the Supercopa de Espana and the UEFA Super Cup).
"I don't know if people have forgotten that, but we have not.
"In December we will challenge for another trophy (the FIFA Club World Cup) and we're still challenging in the league, in the Copa del Rey and in Europe.
"We're on the right road, there's no need to worry."
Sixteenth-placed Eibar will travel to the Bernabeu without Yoel, Fran Rico, Pedro Leon, Ivan Alejo and Ivan Ramis due to injury but boss Jose Luis Mendilibar is remaining calm nonetheless.
On Real, who could only manage a 1-1 draw in this fixture last term, Mendilibar said: "They're currently going through a patch in which they're struggling to win games, particularly at home, but they're capable of scoring at
any time and are a very difficult side to stop.
"It's important that we're not intimidated when we have possession so that they too are made to chase after us a bit."
