Real Madrid wrapped up their preseason tour of the United States with a penalty shootout win at a sold out Soldier Field over the MLS All-Star Team in Wednesday's 2017 MLS All-Star Game, presented by Target.
Head coach Zinedine Zidane, aiming to prepare his side to repeat as La Liga champions and to go for a third consecutive European Champions League title in the coming season, took a few moments to reflect on the tour, soccer in the US and MLS after Wednesday's match.
"MLS is a really good level [of soccer]," he said in the postmatch press conference."We’ve seen really good players tonight. We saw a good game. The fans enjoyed it and that’s the most important thing."
Real Madrid youth product Borja Mayoral scored his side's only goal on the night, and won All-Star Game MVP honors. While Zidane lamented his team's inability to pick up more results on the US tour, he indicated the trip has been good preparation for the season ahead.
"We are happy to be here. The truth is that we would have liked to have better results but we’re happy. We’re happy with the tour and the work we did physically. I’ve said it and I repeat myself a lot, I think that in the end this has been the success for us. We had 2-3 weeks to work and after that I think it’s important to be here."
Above all, the All-Star Game is meant to be a fun occasion, a point not lost on Zidane.
"For MLS, today we played [against] a really good team with international players. The fans enjoyed it and I hope that in the future the MLS will continue to grow."
