Soccer Football - La Liga Santander - Villarreal vs Real Madrid - Estadio de la Ceramica, Villarreal, Spain - May 19, 2018 Real Madrid's Gareth Bale celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Heino Kalis
MADRID (Reuters) - Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane praised Gareth Bale for his fine turnaround in form after the Wales forward scored in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Villarreal but said he did not field the Wales forward as a trial run for the Champions League final.
Zidane has rotated his squad heavily in order to keep his side fresh for the final against Liverpool on May 26 but he started an almost full-strength side for their final La Liga fixture, even though nothing was riding on the game.
