Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale has heaped praise on the impact manager Zinedine Zidane has had on the club since taking over.

The former three-time World Player of the Year was handed his first senior managerial role in January, replacing Rafael Benitez at the Bernabeu after a brief and unsuccessful stint for the now-Newcastle United boss.

Zidane has since won 21 and lost just two of his 26 games in charge, taking the club to within one point of the La Liga title and still having the chance to end his debut campaign with Champions League glory.

"He's been great since he's come in. Everyone respects him as a football and a man and now as a coach. He's just got that aura about him. Whatever he says everyone really just drools over the words he says. Whatever he says you trust in what he's saying. He knows football obviously from when he played. I think he's just given us that belief, that joy just to go out on the pitch and enjoy yourself," Bale told BT Sport.

"If you don't have to worry about certain things you can just go on and express yourself on the pitch you tend to get performances out of players. He's just given that to the team that we can go out and play and enjoy ourselves. He's similar to how he was as a footballer. When he needs to say something he will say it. He's a firm believer in our need to keep calm.

"We need to be patient even if it's the 80th minute and we need to score. He'll say "be patient, it'll come, it'll come," and not to rush things. Obviously when something needs to be said he has said it... in Spanish which is a little bit difficult to understand. It's been good and I think it's just give the confidence to everybody just to go out and express themselves and I think we've been thriving off that."

Real will take on local rivals Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final on Saturday.