Rafa Benitez accepted partial responsibility for Real Madrid’s Clasico defeat to Barcelona and said the players have to take some blame too.
Barca routed Los Blancos at Santiago Bernabeu and Benitez was asked at his post-match Press conference if the decision to name an unusually-attacking team was forced upon him.
“I try to manage my group the best I can. In this case the players have enough quality to do better,” he replied, AS reports.
“In the end we are all responsible and we must look for a solution as a group and to give joy to the fans.
“I think in the opening minutes of the second half we went forward and had chances. It’s not the time to analyse individual mistakes. We must reflect, be together.
“We made mistakes and we paid against a team that has top quality. We lost the ball against the opposition. It’s important to recover as a group.
“We wanted to push forward, to attack, to get the ball forward and we paid for not recovering. We wanted to use players with personality but it hasn’t gone well.
“Our idea was to squeeze possession and to take advantage of having players with experience.
Benitez elaborated on the chances his side had after the break, pointing to one in particular as crucial to how the game developed.
“It’s not a question of attitude. We talked about improving at half time. We faced a good team. The chance for Marcelo was a key point. If that had been a goal, we could have gotten into the game. We paid for our mistakes and it was increasingly difficult.
“Whenever we win or lose we are all part of it and obviously it hurts a lot to lose and to lose this way. I worry about the team recovering emotionally for the next game.”
