Zinedine Zidane plays down James Rodriguez reaction

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has claimed that he understands why James Rodriguez reacted angrily to being substituted in Wednesday night's La Liga clash with Leganes.

James opened the scoring in Real Madrid's 4-2 victory, which saw the Madrid giants return to the top of the table, but he was substituted just past the hour mark.

The Colombian international was noticeably angry when he was hooked in the second period, although Zidane has insisted that nothing should be read into the reaction of the attacking midfielder.

"It's to be expected that he gets angry because they all went to play a full game," Zidane told the club's official website. "These things happen and what I take away with me is his performance because he played very well.

"I haven't got anything against James, quite the opposite. I bring him off a lot, but that's because he's an attacking player and he works very hard. There's nothing more to it."

Zidane made nine changes to his team for the trip to Leganes, with the likes of Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos all being left out ahead of this weekend's capital derby with Atletico Madrid.