Zidane has got Real Madrid back playing with the swagger their fans demand

Rarely can a draw at the Bernabeu have been so well-received.

Real Madrid threw away two points in the last nine minutes of their meeting with Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday but in his press conference Zinedine Zidane was asked how he could explain the remarkable improvement in his team.

Back in September Madrid had been beaten 3-0 in Paris and he looked close to the sack.

A draw with Bruges in the following home game gave his team too much of a mountain to climb to get back to the summit of the group but Tuesday night’s performance had such style and swagger that Zidane grinned broadly through his post-match interviews knowing what advances have been made.

‘I would gladly sign for playing like that in every game,’ he said. And when he was asked if it was so important to be top of the group he said: ‘No. The important thing is that we are in the next round. It was over before the start of the game. Nothing changed.’

That was a reference to Madrid knowing they were through before kick-off and Zidane was pleased with the intensity of the display in spite of that. Madrid also knew they were almost certain not to finish top because PSG play Galatasaray in their last game.

It was all about putting on a show and right from the first mazy Eden Hazard run to the last kick of the game which was Gareth Bale’s free-kick that came back off the post, that is exactly what they did.

Bale’s run-in with the supporters seems to have brought him closer to his team-mates. There is a sense that they have closed ranks around him understanding his situation better than any of the spectators who whistled him so vociferously on Saturday.

There were whistles again on Tuesday but there was also applause. He did not stay to clap the supporters from the centre-circle at the end of the game. But the situation seemed a little less unsustainable than at the weekend.

Zidane and Bale both know that they have to work together until the end of the season so they might as well make the best of it. The club will not sanction a move to China in January because they still cannot accept not receiving a transfer fee.

Bale will be important in the coming weeks with the Clasico against a currently below-par Barelona looming on the December horizon; even more so because of Eden Hazard’s ankle injury that is likely to rule him out of at least this weekend’s trip to Vitoria to play Alaves.

Next summer that must change. Until then he is a part of a side who suddenly look the in-form side not just in Spain but in Europe. Liverpool or Manchester City would still be a nasty draw for them. But it would also be bad news for Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola.

Madrid will be hard to play against in the second half of the season. The return to fitness of almost all his players has given Zidane a wealth of options. On Tuesday night he played Isco at the top of a midfield diamond and enjoyed the luxury of a bench that included Luka Modric, Bale and Rodrygo Goes.

‘We are working hard,’ said Zidane. ‘The players here are very good. We just needed to be patient.’