Zinedine Zidane has lamented Real Madrid’s ‘worst game of the season’ as they crashed to a limp defeat at Real Betis on Sunday night.
It continued a recent run of costly defeats for Los Blancos – they have now lost four of their last seven matches in all competitions and have won just once in their last five outings.
That itself followed on from losing just one game across 21, but the past five weeks has seen them exit the Copa del Rey, go to the brink of elimination from the Champions League and twice lose the lead at the summit of La Liga.
A late goal from Cristian Tello confirmed the latest defeat for Madrid – Karim Benzema’s penalty cancelled out Sidnei’s opener but in truth the visitors were second best for most of the clash.
“I believe we played a bad game, from beginning to end,” Zidane told reporters after the match, as cited by Marca.
“It’s a shame, because we had the chance to play a good game and we didn’t. We didn’t play at all. I don’t have an explanation.”
“I’m the Coach and when things don’t go well, or we don’t do what we’d talked about, I’m responsible.
“It was our worst game of the season. Defensively, offensively, our energy, we didn’t have enough mobility to cause the opponent problems. We conceded two goals, but what annoys me most is what we did with the ball.”
It was also a significant result in terms of the title race as it saw Barcelona restore their lead at the top of the division, despite losing El Clasico in the Spanish capital 2-0 last week.
