Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane praised his side for overcoming a gruelling test against Granada on Wednesday and winning 2-0 to stay on the heels of La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid.

Madrid survived a couple of early scares in the first half and although Casemiro headed them in front in the second period, they were made to sweat on to their slim lead until Karim Benzema clinched victory in added time.

“It was a really hard fought game. We said before that it was going to be very uncomfortable for us and it was,” Zidane told reporters.

“They came to press us very high up the pitch and they did it very well and the first half was very tough. But we were better in the second and we deserved the victory.”

Zidane paid tribute to his players on winning six games in a row in all competitions after a poor run of results in November, adding they had learned to cope with difficult spells in each of the matches during their winning run.