Real Madrid Encouraged by Ronaldo, pampered by Zidane

One Real Madrid player more than any other has spent hours in the Ciudad Deportiva de Valdebebas recently, working in the gym, on the pitch, physiotherapy, pool, recovery ... that person is Fabio Coentrao.

He has done so every morning and every evening and with such determination that those at the club have been moved to note that they've never seen anything like it from the Portuguese.

It appears that a lot of this is down to Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane, both of whom asked the club to allow Coentrao to remain, despite being second choice behind Marcelo.

The French coach didn't appear bothered that a serious injury prevented his player from taking part in matches since April, preferring to set himself a personal challenge of getting the best version of Coentrao back into contention for a first-team start.

Zidane is convinced that the left-back can again be one of the best in the world and has personally told him that he will get opportunities during 2016/17.