The French manager downplayed his superstar's reaction after leaving the pitch, which showed Ronaldo's discomfort and prompted all kinds of opinions about it.

Zinedine Zidane never imagined the controversy his decision to sub Cristiano Ronaldo would generate. With that in mind, and considering how many videos about the incident have emerged, the French tactician decided to put an end to all of those comments and tackle the issue prior to their UEFA Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund.

"Cristiano isn't the only player to be mad when he gets subbed off. Every player gets angry when something like this happens, but our only focus is playing Tuesday's game. I'm not stupid and he's quite bright, we're all in this together and that's it," Zidane stated in Monday's pre-match press conference.

The Portuguese ace has only scored twice for Los Blancos this season, once in La Liga, the other against Sporting Lisbon.

Zidane justified his policy to rotate players, despite having drawn the past couple of league games against Villarreal and Las Palmas.

"If a player doesn't have enough minutes, he will not be 100% fit when you need him the most. If you give them minutes every now and then and keep rotating your squad, you will have all of your players available and fit whenever you need them to step up. I'm not dumb, I'll start whoever's fittest for each game," the coach added.

 

 

Match details, result and original broadcast info

Borussia Dortmund 2 - 2 Real Madrid

September 27, 2016 2:45pmSignal-Iduna-Park (Dortmund)

This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.

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