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Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane praised his team's patience after a late Alvaro Morata goal brought a 2-1 win at home to Athletic Bilbao and sent them top of the La Liga table, while promising to give the Spain international more playing time in the future. Madrid seemed set for a straightforward victory against an injury-hit Athletic side when Karim Benzema shot them ahead on just six minutes, but the visitors equalised through Sabin Merino just before the half-hour mark. Cristiano Ronaldo had another off-night in front of goal and it seemed his side were set for a third straight home La Liga draw -- before substitute Morata converted Gareth Bale's cross with just seven minutes of normal time remaining. Athletic's Inaki Williams missed a golden chance to equalise at the end, and the Los Blancos coach told his postgame news conference at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu that his team had suffered but come through. "It was a tough game, difficult, they made it hard for us," Zidane said. "But I am happy, in general. There are no easy games, especially against an opponent like that. This is about suffering, you can get it right more or less, but the players gave everything on the pitch. We never drop our hands, and today, with patience, and cold heads, we got the three points. There are no easy games, in Spain, or in other leagues. You can't win titles without hard work." Ronaldo had 11 shots on goal, just two on target, and has now gone four games at the Bernabeu without scoring for the first time in his Madrid career. Zidane defended the misfiring galactico, while claiming he was happy that his team were continuing to make many chances in each game. "Ronaldo lacked very little today," he said. "He had chances, which is the most difficult in football. We should have patience, if he does not score today, he will tomorrow. If we scored all your chances -- then it is four, five, six. But things don't always go like that. Everyone can have their own opinions, but I am happy with my players. The Bernabeu fans whistled Zidane's decision to remove Isco when sending on Lucas Vazquez with the game at 1-1, but the Frenchman said that he had been happy with the young playmaker but wanted to change the shape of the team. "It was tactical, nothing against Isco," he said. "The fans were happy with how Isco played, but we wanted to go with four [in the middle] and two up front. We also wanted some stability in the middle." Zidane showed irritation when local reporters repeatedly pressed him on why Morata and Lucas Vazquez do not start more games [an indirect way of suggesting some bigger names are dropped]. "Morata will get more playing time," he said. "We should be patient, keep working together, keep what we are doing, and he will get minutes like everyone else. Alvaro and Lucas play well whenever they come in. They will start games too. But this is difficult. The season is very long and we will need all the players. That's the only thing I can say." The La Liga weekend ended with five teams within three points at the top of the table, and Zidane predicted things would remain tight from now until May. "It will be like this all season," he said. "There are no easy games, and we will suffer until the end. That is what I tell my players. Today we kept going, in difficult moments, but we kept cold heads until the end and scored the goal we needed. That is what we must do -- 38 games to win La Liga. We will keep focusing on our day to day work, and keep battling."
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