Football
ESPN staff 9y

Real Madrid's future secure thanks to Zinedine Zidane, says Carlo Ancelotti

Carlo Ancelotti has paid tribute to the work Zinedine Zidane has been doing for Real Madrid's B team after Real Madrid thrashed UE Cornella 5-0 in the Copa del Rey on Tuesday.

Six of the 11 players that finished the match for Los Blancos were products of the Bernabeu youth program, although Ancelotti still had almost 200 million euros' worth of talent on the pitch from the outset -- including a World Cup winner among five full internationals.

"We completed the match with six home-grown players, and that's good for the club," the manager told journalists after the match.

"Zizou's work has been very good, he has charisma, the players listen to him and he's growing [as a coach].

"He is doing great work and the youth academy players are improving under him, and we are going to benefit from that, just like we did tonight.

"We get players that are ready to go like [Alvaro] Medran and [Diego] Llorente. [Javier] Munoz was also very assured. The work carried out by the youth academy is important."

Jese Rodriguez scored on his return to action after 259 days out injured, and thanked everyone at the club for helping him thorugh.

"I'm very happy to have made my return and scored my goal," he said. "It has been many months of suffering.

"Everyone has helped me a lot, the fans, the president, my teammates. The fans love me a lot and I love them too.

"You go through a difficult time when you're out, because it's many months away from the pitch. I have to keep on working to improve physically. I missed being with the team and scoring goals. I dedicate this to the fans, because they have supported me a lot, and to the doctors and physios."

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