"I'm not contemplating Bale leaving Madrid"

Zinedine Zidane began his press conference talking about the important role of the fans for Real Madrid prior to the derby with Atletico Madrid. 

"It's a special match, it's a derby, we always like playing in front of our own fans at the Santiago Bernabeu. We want our supporters to be behind us and that is what will happen," the French coach commented. 

With regards to the starting XI, Zidane was tight lipped. "There are 25 players, all of them are very good. I have to choose. The good thing is that they all concentrate when they have to play. They give everything. That is the most important thing. And it's difficult for me to choose. I'm not going to say who will play. The players must be prepared. We will see after the training session. 

"It's the most complicated thing for me, leaving players out. They train all week and they want to play. They are all very important and I have the best. There are lots of games. The players know that and I'll count on all of them," 'Zizou' added. 

Zidane made his opinion on the Welsh striker clear. He shot down rumours linking Bale with a return to Spurs: "Gareth is with us. I'm going to count on him. I'm not contemplating him leaving Real Madrid this January. I'm not going to talk about the transfer window."

Zidane also referred to the pre-season match in July. "We are not looking at that game nor the Super Cup one. Saturday's game will be different to both of those. We know that we are going to have a very difficult game. They will as well. We are expecting to see a great match."

The Real Madrid coach concluded by calling Simeone "one of the best" coaches and said that Hazard has a very good chance of being fit for the fixture, but that he will not be risked if he is not fit.