Zidane remains calm as Real have chance to go top in Spain

With just nine games to play, Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane refuses to get carried away by his team's La Liga title chase, reported Xinhua.

Arch-rival Barcelona's 0-0 draw away to Sevilla on Friday night means Madrid can overtake Quique Setien's side on goal difference if they win away to sixth-placed Real Sociedad on Sunday night.

"Nothing is going to change, we have a game tomorrow, which is the third since the restart - we talked about 11 finals and we have another one of them tomorrow," said Zidane, adding that his side was "going to prepare with the thought of playing flat out and giving everything."

Real Madrid returned to action after the three-month lay-off from football with a 3-1 win at home to Eibar and followed that with another home win on Thursday when they defeated Valencia 3-0 in the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium.

"I think that after these two games, where we played very well, we aim to carry on as we have done so far. We want to prepare well and we know this is our first away game and we are up against a very good team, who are doing really well," explained the coach.

Both of Madrid's wins have seen some controversy as the opening goal against Eibar appeared to come after an offside, while on Thursday Valencia had what would have been the first goal ruled out for a controversial offside, by VAR.

Barca captain Gerard Pique made veiled comments about referees favoring Madrid on Friday night, but Zidane didn't want to be drawn into controversy.

"All I am interested in is the game on Sunday, I have my opinion, but I'm not going to say anything," he commented, before saying he didn't believe referees helped Real Madrid.

"I want to win on the pitch by playing well and I'd rather not give my opinions about one thing or another: everyone is free to have their opinion," he concluded.