Zinedine Zidane quiet on Gareth Bale future after latest Real Madrid snub

"I'm the coach, I have to pick the team and that's all there is to it," Zidane said of his decision to leave Bale out in quotes published on the club's official website.

"You can interpret it as you wish. I need to pick a squad of players and some are going to miss out."

Real bounced back from a stunning 1-0 defeat at lowly Rayo Vallecano last week and Zidane added: "We played much better than the other day and I feel much happier now, as do the players.

"We won the game at our ground and I'm pleased. It was a rather end-to-end game and when you're 3-1 up you shouldn't be letting them score, but we did. It's a variety of things, tiredness, the heat,  but we didn't finish the game brilliantly."

The home side took the lead after just two minutes when former Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla dawdled in possession deep in Villarreal's half, allowing Brahim Diaz to nip in and tee up Mariano, who got between two defenders to stab home.

Moreno equalised in the 11th minute but Vallejo restored Real's lead before the interval and a brilliant cross from Dani Carvajal gave Mariano an easy close-range finish for his second goal of the game early in the second half.

Speaking about Mariano's performance, Zidane added: "Of course he's not had too many opportunities because he's been injured, he's been out for a long time. Mariano got his chance to play today and he's scored twice, I'm happy for him."

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