Cristiano Ronaldo Praises Zinedine Zidane, Talks Champions League Final and More

Cristiano Ronaldo has hailed Zinedine Zidane for the "fantastic job" he has been doing as Real Madrid manager since taking over from Rafael Benitez in January and said he is eager for the Frenchman to stay in charge.

Wednesday saw Real claim a spot in the UEFA Champions League final against Atletico Madrid with a 1-0 aggregate defeat of Manchester City in the last four, and there is still a chance Los Blancos could win La Liga as they are one point back from leaders Barcelona with two matches to go.

Zidane has sparked an impressive turnaround at Real after they endured some tough times under Benitez—including a 4-0 home defeat to Barca—and Ronaldo, 31, said he hoped the Frenchman would be in charge for some time, per Marca's Alex Ayala: "Zidane is doing a fantastic job. He is helping us learn and we are helping him learn. We are really happy with his as our coach and I hope he continues to coach us in the future."

It is a sentiment team-mate Gareth Bale would no doubt agree with having also praised Zidane's management, per the Champions League Twitter account:

May 28's clash at Milan's San Siro against Atleti will be the second Champions League final in three years to be fought between the two sides from the Spanish capital.

In 2014 Real prevailed 4-1 after extra time, but they were given a lifeline by Sergio Ramos' equaliser deep into stoppage time that forced the match into an additional half hour.

Similarly small margins are likely to decide this year's contest, and Ronaldo was non-committal in making any bold predictions for the final, per Ayala: "It is a final, pure and simple. We played them two years ago which just shows the high quality of the Spanish Primera Division. In terms of who will win, we will have to wait and see."

Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe and Dean Jones have utilised their crystal balls, though, and neither are predicting Ronaldo to have a very successful time in the final:

The Portuguese superstar has, thus far in his career, contested three Champions League finals, two with Manchester United and one with Real.

He won two of them—2008 and 2014—scoring in both, while the one final in which he has not netted was United's 2-0 defeat to Barcelona in 2009.

His influence will be huge for Real against Atleti, as it was against City in Wednesday's second leg.

Although he did not score—a Fernando own-goal was the deciding factor in Real's 1-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu—his return from the injury that ruled him out of the first leg gave the hosts a significant boost, and Ronaldo said he is now in good shape physically, per Ayala:

"

The press really doubted that I would stay healthy and really believed I would relapse. However this didn't happen because I worked hard and recovered properly. 

Physically, I felt really good, but what is important is that we are in the final. When we played in Manchester we deserved to score a goal, so I think we deserve to be in the final.

"

It could yet be another magnificent season for Real and Ronaldo as they look to secure an 11th European Cup triumph.

As the key man for Zidane, Ronaldo's role will be vital when the final comes around later this month, and Real fans will hope he can step up and produce a match-winning display.