‘We did everything wrong’: Zinedine Zidane admits ‘there’s no excuse for how we defended today’ after Real Madrid slipped to their heaviest LaLiga defeat in over two years at Valencia
Zinedine Zidane has offered a blunt reflection of Real Madrid’s performance after they suffered their heaviest LaLiga defeat in over two years.
Carlos Soler scored a hat-trick of penalties past Thibaut Courtois as Valencia stunned Los Blancos beating them 4-1 at Mestalla.
Despite striker Karim Benzema firing Madrid into the lead, Zidane’s side then crumbled as Valencia piled on the pressure as the scoreboard got worse.
Zinedine Zidane has offered a blunt reflection of Real Madrid’s 4-1 defeat to Valencia
It is Madrid’s second LaLiga defeat of the season as they were beaten heavily at the Mestalla
The manager admitted that they did ‘everything wrong’ once they conceded their first goal.
‘We started the first half-hour well,” said Real coach Zinedine Zidane.
“After the goal we fell apart and changed the dynamics. Everything happened to us; three penalties, an own goal. It is difficult to understand.”
‘After their first goal we dropped our level a bit and stopped doing everything we had been doing well. We did everything wrong, it’s difficult to try and understand our performance.
‘There’s no excuse for how we defended today. After the first goal our heads dropped and our problems kept building. Right now we are not defending as well as we used to.
Carlos Soler scored three penalties as Valencia stunned Real Madrid by four goals to one
‘I don’t think Valencia were better than us tactically today but I’m the one who needs to find solutions.’
Madrid remain fourth in the LaLiga standings after also suffering a rather embarrassing defeat to Cadiz earlier in the season.
Title rivals Barcelona have also endured a slow start to the campaign under new boss Ronald Koeman as they sit eighth in the table with eleven points from seven matches.
Reports have suggested that Zidane is plotting a summer swoop for Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba for a reduced fee of £53million, despite the Frenchman’s contract ending in the summer of 2022.
