Zidane shows anger with Real Madrid head of communications

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane tried to avoid questions about the controversial penalty awarded to his side against Juventus and the club's campaign against "antimadridismo" when he was grilled by the media in a press conference on Tuesday ahead of Real's game against Athletic Bilbao.

Zidane has said once and for all that he has already spoken about the issue, which he did after Champions League quarter-final second leg and before their Liga game against Malaga.

He admitted the players are continuing to talk about it, but that he won't engage in any conversation with them about it. In other words, there has been no message from the dressing room about the alleged "antimadridismo" the club keep talking about.

Zidane effectively sent out a message to Real Madrid's head of communication, who started a campaign defending Madrid's honour against the supposed increase of "antimadridismo".

"Antimadridismo has always existed," Zidane said in the press conference.

"But the problem is the opposite. For me, every day there are more and more Madrid fans around the world. I believe this, we are the best club in the world and we have the best fans, and every day Madrid increases its fan base. It's better to talk about the positives than the negatives."

Zidane recognised that everything gets amplified on social media these days, but he insisted "the thing that interests me more is that there are more Madrid fans in the world than ever before".