Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane talked to the press ahead of the team’s home match against Athletic Bilbao —Wednesday, 21:30 CET—. Zidane was asked once again about the treatment Real Madrid get from the referees and the fans and he delivered some interesting thoughts.

“Madrid’s fan base is growing each and every day. This is the best club, the club with the biggest fan base, so it’s better to talk about this and the positives than to talk about whether there are people who hate our club or not,” said Zidane.

He also said that he isn’t worried about the kind of impact the referee can have on their tie against Bayern.

“I talked about it the other day. We will do our job and the referee will do his. I’m not going to comment [on whether the referee could be influenced by the controversy around the PK called against Juventus]. Everyone involved will do his job, I’m sure of it,” explained Zidane.

Los Blancos will face Athletic’s Kepa for the first time since the young keeper signed his contract extension when he was rumored to be on his way to Real Madrid.

“We just didn’t need to sign a goalkeeper at that point in time. We have three quality keepers and we’re happy with them. We will talk about the future after the end of the season,” he said, potentially suggesting that he was against signing Kepa during the winter transfer window.

Zidane was also asked about Bale and Benzema, whose importance in the rotation has decreased.

“I don’t think they’re sad, they are training well. Of course they’d like to score and play more often. Some other players have been performing very well lately and that’s what’s happening now. There are some very good players on this team and I have to consider that,” he concluded.