Zidane injury casts a shadow
AFP, Tokyo
France's Zinedine Zidane was injured as glamour Spanish club Real Madrid whipped J-league side Tokyo Verdy 4-0 to wind up their tour to Japan on Sunday. Zidane was forced to leave the field with a bleeding left foot in the 60th minute after Verdy's Kentaro Hayashi stamped on him. "I was trampled on my foot really hard," said Zidane, 32, who is rumored to be set to finishing his career with the French national team. "The doctor is now treating him. We must see how it is in a few days," said Real coach Jose Antonio Camacho. It was one of two pre-season friendly matches in Japan for Real Madrid, who overpowered another J-League club JEF United Ichihara 4-1 on Thursday. They were to leave here Monday. Real goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez Dominguez appeared satisfied with the clean sheet, saying it was an improvement on last year when the club's defense collapsed and it finished fourth in the Spanish league. "I'm very happy that we didn't let in a goal as we lost goals in our previous two games. Real can score many goals, but our defense didn't work very well last season, letting in so many goals," said Sanchez. "That is what we must adjust for this season." Camacho agreed, saying he considered sorting out the defense as the team's most important task. "Defenders should do what they should do. They were a bit blunt today. They need to improve further to react to the movement of the ball more quickly. But they played 90 minutes very well despite jet lag, lack of sleep and humidity," Camacho said. The crowd of 49,542 were satisfied with their overwhelming attacking force started with a skillful goal from Zidane in the eighth minute. Brazilian striker Ronaldo and Portugal's Figo added another two in the 34th and 77th minutes, before some spectacular passing work between Raul and Guti led to the last goal, scored by Fernando Morientes in the 80th minute.
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