Zidane confident Ronaldo will remain at Real Madrid

Madrid, Dec 9 (IANS) Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said that he believed Cristiano Ronaldo would end his career at the club.

Speaking the day after the Portuguese striker received his fifth Balon d'Or at a time when his form in this season's Liga Santander has been well below his normal level and with rumors this could be his last campaign in Spain, Zidane backed the player who will be 33 years old in two months, reports Xinhua news agency.

"There are no more words to describe him. A player could spend 15 years here and never achieve what Cristiano has. He's made history at this club and I hope he continues in the same vein until he retires here," said the coach, who replied "forever" when he was asked how long he expected Ronaldo to remain at the club.

"I think he's going to finish his career here; he's happy at Real Madrid, he's at the best club in the world and there's no doubt," commented Zidane.

Zidane also confirmed that Gareth Bale will miss Saturday's league game at home to Sevilla, but was optimistic the injury prone winger would soon be available.

"The plan is for him to be with us at the Club World Cup, and we'll see if he can play the first game," he said, adding that the club would appeal against the decision taken by UEFA to give defender Dani Carvajal a game's suspension for deliberately time wasting in order to force a yellow card away to APOEL Nicosia with the aim of going into the knockout stage of the Champions League free of cards.

"It wasn't his intention. We're going to appeal and hopefully they'll take the match away. It wouldn't be fair on us," he said.