Zinedine Zidane Insists Catching Atletico Is Real Madrid's Domestic Target After Derby Draw

Zinedine Zidane insisted that despite failing to make up ground on Atletico Madrid during the 1-1 draw with their city rivals on Sunday afternoon, Real Madrid's overall domestic target remains catching Diego Simeone's men.

Los Blancos controlled proceedings from the outset but were only able to make their dominance count in the second half as Cristiano Ronaldo's 650th career goal, which came via a beautiful volleyed finish, put the hosts ahead. 

However, it took Atleti a mere four minutes to find themselves back on level terms as Antoine Griezmann rifled home from around 12 yards after Keylor Navas had been dragged away from his goal line in an attempt to close down Vitolo. 

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The result leaves Real Madrid still four points behind second-placed Atletico Madrid, but despite failing to take their opportunity and reduce the deficit to a single point, Zidane insisted to Marca post-match his side are still as motivated to catch their neighbours. 

"We want it and we will try to achieve it", the Frenchman said after the stalemate. "Against Atleti we had many chances, we did many things to win but the goal is always the same, try to cut the deficit and reach second place."

Ronaldo once again found the back of the net for Los Blancos, his 24th since the turn of the year. And with the Portugal international's finishes becoming increasingly important as the business end of the campaign approaches, similarities have been drawn on the dependency of the 33-year-old's for the Spanish capital side and Lionel Messi at Barcelona. 

However, Zidane believes his attacking ace is no more or no less important to his side than he has been throughout his time at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. 

"I don't think like that", Zidane continued when probed about the comparison. "Cristiano is Cristiano, he's always been like that, there's no one else like him."

Real Madrid now turn their attention towards the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final showdown with Juventus on Wednesday. And with the Spaniards currently holding a comfortable three-goal advantage, the 45-year-old is wary of complacency. 

"Everybody thinks we've won and that's what we don't want to think about", he added. "Everybody is saying we are going to win, but we're going to suffer a lot. We have to do everything to qualify and be focused on what we have to do."