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Zinedine Zidane has admitted that Real Madrid could end the season with a La Liga and Champions League double, saying “we can do it” after a 2-0 league win over Osasuna on Saturday kept them in the league title race.
Eder Militao and Casemiro scored in the last 15 minutes to give Madrid a victory which leaves them two points behind rivals Atletico Madrid and three points clear of Barcelona, who play on Sunday.
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“A lot of things have happened to us but we’re there, and today they’re three more points,” Zidane said in his post-match news conference. “We’re in the fight and we have four games left. We’ll fight until the end. We can do it. I won’t say we’ll win it, but we’ll do everything possible to try, I guarantee you that.”
An injury scare saw defender Raphael Varane forced off at half time with muscular discomfort ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League semifinal second leg with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
“I hope what Rafa has isn’t much,” Zidane said. “I spoke to him and he said for him it isn’t bad, and let’s hope so.”
Zidane also chose to rest midfielders Toni Kroos and Luka Modric against Osasuna, with the Champions League game in mind.
“It’s a lot of games,” he said. “Luka and Toni rested and that’s good. Antonio Blanco played and did well… It isn’t easy what we’re doing every game, again we got a clean sheet, and we scored twice. We have to be satisfied.”
Eden Hazard made his first start since January — after coming off the bench against Chelsea this week — and is now in contention to start at Stamford Bridge against his former club.
“[He looked] really good,” Zidane said. “It’s the first time he’s started. He played for 70 minutes, and he looked good in that position close to Karim. I’m happy with his game.”
Zidane said it wasn’t yet clear if captain Sergio Ramos would be ready to face Chelsea as he recovers from a calf injury, meaning that Militao is likely to start after impressing in recent weeks.
“I’ve worked every day with the support of all the players to get this opportunity,” the Brazilian said after scoring his first league goal for Real Madrid. “We’ll go game-by-game and see what happens. We want both trophies, but we’ll go step-by-step, that’s all.”