Champions League Striker criticised again during the derby

APOEL Nicosia are next on the agenda for Real Madrid and Zinedine Zidane is adamant that Karim Benzema can and will turn around his form sooner rather than later.

After failing to score in the Madrid derby, the striker is set to be entrusted once again in the Champions League as Los Blancos look to seal their last-16 spot.

"He is the first one who wants to give more and who knows he can give more," Zidane told reporters in Nicosia. "I'm here to help all the players, not just Karim.

"On the issue of his confidence in front of goal, the plan is to get just one or two openings and then his streak will be flipped around.

"We hope that tomorrow is the day for it to change."

If Benzema is selected in Cyprus, many questions will be asked as to why Real's fringe players aren't being given a proper run-out, a matter which doesn't phase Zidane.

"You have to ask them," he asserted. "The most important thing for me is to talk to them every now and then.

"They are young, [Marco] Asensio, for example, played less last year and now more this year. [Dani] Ceballos, for example, has an extraordinary future.

"Everyone has a future in this team."

Asensio is certainly a name being bandied around as a potential solution to Madrid's scoring woes however the midfielder's boss has asserted that he picks the team and isn't open to suggestions.

"We know the difficulty of our line of work," noted the coach.

"We are Madrid and people will always ask us for more. We know the effort that we need to put in."

"Every player wants to play more. Everyone has their role and everyone is important. I decide how many minutes they get, that's my job.

"What I ask of my players is that they are focused and ready for when they do get to play."

With a point good enough to send Los Blancos into the next round, albeit in second place, the French coach is looking forward to a competitive game versus APOEL.

"They're a very good team I think, who have proven themselves," said Zidane. "We do not look at their league so I cannot tell you about that, but they deserve to be in the Champions League.

"At the Bernabeu they played very well. Tomorrow we have a difficult game on our hands and we have to be prepared."