Real Madrid: Zinedine Zidane 'a little worried' with 12 point gap to Barcelona despite Las Palmas victory

Ramos opened the scoring for Madrid, Jose levelled for the Las Palmas and Casemiro struck the winner in injury-time

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane (Getty Images)

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane says he is “a little worried” after his side could only scrape past Las Palmas on Sunday afternoon courtesy of Casemiro's late winner.

The Spanish giants are now 12 points adrift of bitter Catalan foes Barcelona in the La Liga table but nonetheless secured a crucial three points on the Canary Islands to keep their slim hopes alive.

“I go away happy with the result, but a little worried with what I saw in the second-half,” said the Frenchman, who isn’t guaranteed to stay at the Santiago Bernabéu next season.

“We gave the ball away an incredible amount of times and if we want to achieve anything this season we have to play better, that's clear. We won't get anywhere playing like this.”

Zidane is refusing to admit that Real’s season now hinges on their success in Europe despite former players and pundits saying it represents their only chance of silverware after a difficult season which saw Rafael Benitez dismissed in January.

“We aren't thinking about the Champions League. The players were thinking about what they had to do in the game today, but the truth is we gave away the ball an incredible number of times.

“If we want to aspire to something in the future, we have to play better. That is clear because playing like this we won't go anywhere.”

Sergio Ramos, who was later given the 20^th red card of his career, opened the scoring for Madrid before Willian José levelled for the hosts with three minutes remaining. Casemiro, however, struck in injury-time to save Zidane’s blushes and keep them within five points of second-place Atletico.