Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 7y

Real Madrid vs. Club America in Club World Cup is 50/50 - Zinedine Zidane

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has said that complacency will not be an issue for his side in Thursday's Club World Cup semifinal against Mexican side Club America at the International Stadium Yokohama.

Champions League holders Madrid are huge favourites to win the Club World Cup, although they must first see off CONCACAF champions on Thursday to go through to Sunday's decider against either Colombia's Copa Libertadores winners' Atletico Nacional or Japan's tournament hosts Kashima Antlers.

European clubs have lifted nine of the last 10 Club World Cup trophies, with Madrid sailing through their semifinal and final on their last appearance two years ago, scoring six goals and conceding none, but the Blancos coach told the pregame news conference that he and his team saw Thursday's match up as a 50/50 game.

"We are not favourites, we do not feel pressure that way," Zidane said. "Maybe many people think Madrid will have it easy against this team. But I do not think like that at all. They are a very good team, know how to play, and can make it difficult for us. It is a 50/50 game, it is always like that before the game. Every game you must go out and fight and battle to win it. For sure we will have problems tomorrow, but they will too, for sure."

Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos will miss the game with a knock, Zidane said, but otherwise he plans to put out his "best team possible" for the semifinal, with newly crowned 2016 Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo available.

"Tomorrow Ramos will not play," he said. "It is not a serious problem, but he felt something after the journey. And like always we will take no risks. But otherwise we are all ready to play, Cristiano too. We have many options, but I will put out the best team possible. The rest we will see from Thursday, if we are in the final."

Zidane, who won the Ballon d'Or in 1998, said that Ronaldo would not lack motivation playing in the Club World Cup, while saying that what the Portugal captain had achieved at Madrid was unlikely to repeated, ever.

"The motivation [Cristiano] has is tremendous, like always," he said. "He could be playing a friendly, but he always wants to win, even in training. I am not concerned about his motivation. No player will ever come to Madrid and achieve what Cristiano has achieved, never again I believe. Four Ballon d'Ors is something to take your hat off for, it is not easy. It is very difficult to do what he is doing. And he can win the Ballon d'Or again."

Madrid arrived in Tokyo on Monday after a 13-hour flight from Spain, but Zidane said his team had recovered sufficiently from the travel already.

"The most difficult is to get over the jetlag, and recover after the journey," he said. "We are feeling good now. We arrived a bit tired after the journey, but two days later we are ready for the game we have tomorrow."

Club America would be well prepared by their Argentine coach Ricardo La Volpe, Zidane said, adding that he had studied the opposition and knew what to expect.

"I know him by name, not personally," the Frenchman said. "He is a good coach, with experience, and has very good experienced players. We know that Mexican football has talented players who can make it difficult for you. We expect a difficult game tomorrow. We know them. We do not need months for that. The players too. In these three days we have spoken a bit about them. Tomorrow we will talk about a few more details. Tomorrow we will have to battle, to play well, to win. I am convinced of that, and the players are convinced too."

Madrid set a new club record of 35 games unbeaten when coming from behind to beat Deportivo La Coruna 3-2 in La Liga last weekend. Zidane said that having passed the previous mark did not mean any release of pressure, as his club always had to go out to win every game they played.

"We always have pressure -- you can win 35 games, but if you lose number 36 you feel annoyed," he said. "We know nothing has changed. You can win 45, 50 games, but the next game you must do the same again. Tomorrow is just about getting through to the final. It is a competition we want to win, like all of them. We will do everything to try and win this competition, starting with tomorrow's game."

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