Zinedine Zidane believes Real Madrid’s 1-0 win at Leganes in the Copa del Rey was the start of his side regaining their confidence.

Real have struggled to keep pace in their LaLiga title defence this season and are currently fourth in the table, 19 points behind leaders Barcelona, after last weekend’s 1-0 home defeat to Villarreal.

But Real responded to that disappointment to secure only their second win of 2018, Marco Asensio’s late winner giving them a 1-0 victory in their quarter-final first leg.

“This is a long season, we have to get the winning feeling back and not concede,” Zidane told Marca.

“We cannot say that we played a great game but we got an important result in a knockout round.

“Hopefully we can be back to normal, by scoring and not conceding, soon.

“We played a serious game and the result is very good for us. It’s true that it cost us to find our normal play, but in the second half we were better and scored.

“I liked the delivery and we defended well, there was a lot of balance.”

Asensio netted the only goal of the game in the 89th minute when he volleyed in Theo Hernandez’s cross from close range.

Despite the goal, Zidane has called for improvements from the Spain international.

“He can do better, like everyone, but he scored the winning goal,” Zidane added.