I warned you about Ronaldo!' - Zidane hails Ballon d'Or winner after Real rout
The Portugal star, who won his fifth Ballon d'Or this week to draw level with Lionel Messi in the all-time standings, was inspirational to his side's demolition of the visitors in the first half at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Ronaldo scored twice and was otherwise a menace to Eduardo Berizzo's side as Madrid scored all five goals before half-time, with Nacho Fernandez, Toni Kroos and Achraf Hakimi also on the scoresheet.
Zidane has defended Ronaldo's performances this season during a relative goal drought in La Liga, and he believes the 32-year-old's showing vindicated his support.
"It could be this is his perfect week and I hope he continues in this rhythm," he told a news conference.
"I already said – I didn't say it for nothing – because I know him and I know his ambition every day in training, I knew he was going to score.
"Sometimes he doesn't and nobody is happy, but you always have to be careful with him."
"Hopefully we can keep on scoring, that's two games and eight goals and we have to continue like this," he said, with Madrid having also beaten Dortmund 3-2 in the Champions League this week.
"We're growing in every aspect. We're happy, we did really well and it was important to help us prepare for the game on Wednesday. There's no easy match but it's better to travel with this result.
"I don't think it was our best 45 minutes but, with goals, yes it was. On a playing level, I think we've had some good games, against Real [Sociedad] and Dortmund in the Champions League, for example.
"It's a good feeling; we scored five goals against a team it's not easy to play. To keep a clean sheet and score five, we're happy, but it's not the best."
