Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane defended playing Eden Hazard for their Champions League defeat to Chelsea.

Zidane gave Hazard the nod, but the Belgium international didn't deliver and the Frenchman believes that his player needs more games to rediscover his form.

Hazard couldn't help his team at Stamford Bridge against his former side, who dominated and took a 2-0 win to progress to the Champions League final.

“He needs a run of games. Eden has to play, he has to recover his confidence and all that, but by playing games. It's a gradual process. It's his second game in a row and we have to get him back playing," said Zidane.

“The formation was very clear. We played with three at the back and two wing-backs. We play lots of games like that. It didn't come off for us because we lost a lot of duels and we were lacking something, that's true, but we did our best and that's football.

"Having said that, these are demanding games and we started off with some chances, if you get a goal things can change. But it went the other way and it was difficult because they had a lot of opportunities to score. They deserved the win and that's that."