MADRID -- Zinedine Zidane gets a chance to keep Real Madrid's momentum going in a home game against struggling Sporting Gijon in the Spanish league this weekend.
After routing Deportivo La Coruna 5-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Zidane's debut as his head coach on Saturday, Madrid plays an opponent that has lost seven of its last eight games, including the last four.
Sporting hasn't won a match since early December and is only 18th in the 20-team standings. It has a game in hand, but it's against Barcelona. To make things worse, the team just found out that it will be without defender Bernardo Espinosa for about seven months because of a knee injury sustained last weekend.
Madrid, meanwhile, is boosted by the arrival of Zidane, who breathed new life into the Spanish giant after it struggled under coach Rafa Benitez.
Another victory under the command of the former player will keep fans satisfied and can move the team closer to the top of the table. At the halfway point, Madrid is third with 40 points, two less than Barcelona and four less than Atletico Madrid.
Zidane has had a full week to train the squad and try to reinforce his playing style, which is based on trying to retain ball possession and avoid long ball transitions from the defence to the attack.
The only bad news for the former France great going into Sunday's match at the Bernabeu is that captain Sergio Ramos is nursing a lingering shoulder injury that forced him to be substituted at halftime against Deportivo last Saturday.
