Zinedine Zidane has paid tribute to his Real Madrid players as he prepares to celebrate one year in charge of the Spanish giants.

Zidane replaced Rafael Benitez as head coach of Real Madrid in January and led Los Blancos to their 11th European Cup in his first season in control of the first team.

The Madrid outfit are currently in the middle of a 36-game unbeaten run in all competitions, meanwhile, which has seen them open up a six-point lead at the top of La Liga and make the last-16 stage of the Champions League.

On Sunday, Real Madrid will look to win their second Club World Cup when they face Japanese side Kashima Antlers in the final, and Zidane has said that his success is down to not over-complicating matters.

"My idea was to try to get the team to win matches. I'm positive but it is not always as it seems; everybody expects Real Madrid to win as well. Taking over these players was easy," Zidane told Marca.

Real Madrid have not lost a competitive match since a 2-0 defeat to Wolfsburg in April.