Zidane asks Madrid players to ignore Barcelona’s lead

Zinedine Zidane is sending a simple message to his Real Madrid players ahead of Saturday’s match against Barcelona. Don’t mind the gap.

Madrid trails Barcelona by 11 points with a game in hand before the “clasico.” It also has Atletico Madrid and Valencia to overtake before it can challenge for the title.

That means anything but a victory would put its Spanish league title defense in severe jeopardy before the season reaches its midway point.

But Zidane only wants his players to focus on the upcoming 90 minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“We aren’t nervous. We have to think about playing a good match, not if we are 11, or eight, or 25 points behind,” Zidane said Friday. “We are going to have to play a good match against a very good rival.”

Zidane said that whatever the result, his team would keep fighting for the title. But he acknowledged the importance of the game.

“It is without doubt our most difficult match of the season because the games between Madrid and Barca are always beautiful, yet difficult,” the former Madrid midfielder said. “But that is what inspires us. Players live to play games like this one. You are always thinking of this date.”

As for Cristiano Ronaldo, who trained separately from his teammates earlier this week but rejoined them for team practice on Friday, Zidane said his star forward was “100 percent ready” to play.

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde doesn’t think his team’s lead over Madrid gives them an advantage either. “Both teams are under pressure to win this match because of what it means,” Valverde said. “We can’t say that just because one is behind in the table it has more pressure. It’s possible but not significant.”

In his first season as Barcelona coach, Valverde has the team on a run of 24 matches without a loss since Madrid won both legs of the Spanish Super Cup to start the season.

“We are a bit better than we were when we played the Super Cup,” Valverde said. “It’s a chance to make up for our performances in the Super Cup and test ourselves against our rival.”

‘Best in history’ Ronaldo put to test by Messi in ‘clasico’

Cristiano Ronaldo has made his claim. Now he has to live up to it.

Ronaldo will face Lionel Messi on Saturday for the first time since the Portugal forward declared himself “the best player in the history” of soccer after equaling the Argentine’s five Ballon d’Or awards this month.

Basking in the spotlight of a glitzy ceremony under the Eiffel Tower, Ronaldo felt confident enough to put himself at the pinnacle of the sport, ahead of Messi and other greats like Pele and Diego Maradona.

“You will go and say that I have a big head, but when you’re at the top, it’s normal that you’re criticized,” he told France Football. “I am the best player in history, in both good and bad times.”

Personalities aside, Ronaldo has a tough case to make.

He and Messi both have four Champions League titles, but Messi’s eight Spanish league titles double Ronaldo’s tally for Madrid and Manchester United.

Messi also has the edge in their head-to-head duels. Messi has outscored Ronaldo 19-17 since Ronaldo joined Madrid in 2009. Prior to that, Messi scored in a 2-0 win over Ronaldo’s Manchester United in the 2009 Champions League final.

The Barcelona-led Messi has also had a clear advantage over Ronaldo’s Madrid. Messi has helped Barcelona beat Ronaldo’s side 13 times, to eight wins for Madrid and seven draws.

Overall, Messi holds the “clasico” record with 24 goals in 36 matches. Ronaldo is one goal shy of matching Madrid great Alfredo Di Stefano’s 18 goals against Barcelona.

The camera-shy Messi insisted again on Monday when he was recognized for leading the Spanish league in goals last campaign that he put more value on team titles than individual honors.

“Titles are our goal,” Messi said. “If individual statistics are there also, that’s even better, but they are not the objective.”

Ronaldo has no doubt closed the gap with Messi after he led Madrid to back-to-back Champions League titles in the last two seasons. But for Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres, this past decade is still set to bear Messi’s mark.

“If it wasn’t for (Ronaldo), Messi would have won twice as much,” Torres said Wednesday. “What Ronaldo has done in the age of Messi says a lot about him.”

Ronaldo will need to be at his

best on Saturday because anything other than a victory will deal a huge blow to Madrid’s title defense before the season reaches its midway point.

Madrid enters the match in fourth place and trailing Barcelona by 11 with a match in hand. Atletico Madrid and Valencia are in second and third.

“Given the situation we are in we are obligated to win,” Madrid defender Sergio Ramos said.

Messi had one of his most memorable performances at Madrid last season when he scored his second of two brilliant goals in stoppage time to silence the Santiago Bernabeu.

Madrid got revenge with wins of 3-1 and 2-0 in the Spanish Super Cup in August, when Barcelona was reeling from the departure of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain.

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde, however, quickly rallied his team and the Catalan club has not lost since, a run of 24 matches. With Neymar gone, Valverde has succeeded in tightening up Barcelona’s defense.

“It would be important to win for everything that would represent, since the match is so special, and we are playing at their ground,” Messi said.