Zinedine Zidane: Real Madrid not dependent on Cristiano Ronaldo

Real Madrid are not depending on Cristiano Ronaldo says Zinedine Zidaneis as he prepares to welcome him back to his squad ahead of Champions League clash with APOEL.

Ronaldo has missed Madrid's opening three La Liga matches due to a five-match ban passed down to him for pushing referee in first leg Supercopa de Espana win over Barcelona. 

Los Blancos draw their last two league games which lead to suggestions that they are dependent on the Portugal international, but Zidane does not believe that this is the case, though he is happy to have the 32-year-old back in his squad for the visit of APOEL on Wednesday night, as his ban does not include European games.

"You know who Cristiano is," he told reporters.

"We cannot talk about a dependency, but I always want him to be with us. What interests me is that everyone can play.

"Cristiano brings not only goals, but is a leader as well and he always wants to win. He transmits that [to his teammates]. We are all happy that he is with us.

"He's very focused on what he has to do. In addition, he is very happy to play again because it is what he likes, what makes him happy. And we are happy too, because he is mentally very well, physically very fine. I am very happy to see him on the pitch again.

"He's going to play tomorrow (today), but we're not going to have him on Sunday. I hope Sunday is the last game of the season that he is not here."