Real Madrid begin crunch month after passing on January transfers

Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane, whose Real Madrid side go to Levante this weekend, will soon find out if he was right to refuse to add to his squad in the January transfer window. There were no new arrivals at the Santiago Bernabeu, with a move for the Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga the most notable transfer that didn't happen in La Liga. Kepa signed a new long-term contract in Bilbao after Zidane insisted that he did "not need a goalkeeper".

Instead he will stick with Keylor Navas, who faces his former club on Saturday. Madrid appeared to be in a full-blown crisis after they were dumped out of the Copa del Rey by Leganes, but they have won their last two games in La Liga, scoring 11 goals in the process. A 7-1 defeat of Deportivo was followed by a 4-1 win at Valencia last weekend, when Cristiano Ronaldo scored two penalties as Real moved to within two points of third-placed Valencia with a game in hand. "A crisis for Madrid is losing one game but nobody doubts their quality.

All the small teams want to go through the crises that they have," said the Levante coach Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz, whose team drew 1-1 at the Bernabeu in September. Ronaldo, who has scored four goals in two league games, has been struggling with a calf knock. However, he is expected to play as Madrid begin a month that will be shaped by their Champions League last 16, first leg against Paris Saint-Germain on February 14.

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