Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has leaped into the defence of striker Luka Jovic, who failed to find the net against Club Brugge in midweek. The Serbian has found first-team chances hard to come by since the move to the Bernabeu from Eintracht Frankfurt and he has netted just one goal from 12 appearances.

Jovic was handed with a rare chance to start in the final Champions League group stage game against Brugge but he failed to make the most of the opportunity as he drew blank again. Following the game, Zidane was asked about the performance of Jovic and he happened to speak about the positives despite the striker’s struggles upfront.

“Jovic doesn’t feel lost. He completed a good game, but the truth is that he hasn’t played much and a football player has to be consistently involved in order to feel well. He has to keep working the way he’s working and then deliver when his name is called. He’s happy about his game and hopefully he will play more because he needs that, it’s true,” he told.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid have gone neck-to-neck with Barcelona in La Liga this term and they are currently behind the reigning champions at the top on only goal difference. The Bernabeu giants have a couple of testing games against Valencia and Barcelona to follow but Zidane is confident that his team can get the better of the opposition, he added: “I’m not worried, we’re in good form for our next games. They’re beautiful and tough games but we get there in good form, we now have to get some rest and enjoy this win.”

Los Blancos recently progressed to the round of 16 stage of the Champions League with the second spot in their group. They are expected to face one of Manchester City, RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich, Juventus or Liverpool in the double-legged tie in February.