Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has explained leaving Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench for last night's rout of Dinamo Zagreb.

Mourinho felt Ronaldo needed the night off.

He explained: "Cristiano played two games to the death in the playoffs with Portugal, and he gave a good performance in Valencia. He's worked very hard and it's normal to give him the day off. We spoke before the match and I told him we couldn't afford to lose this match and that I intended to play him 45 minutes if the outcome was still doubtful by half-time, but that my overall intention was that he didn't play tonight.

"As soon as we scored our first goals he told me himself he knew he wouldn't play."