Zidane: “I feel sorry for the players”

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane talked to the press after the team’s discouraging 1-0 defeat at Espanyol’s Cornella-El Prat. The French coach acknowledged that his team didn’t do enough to get the win.

“We were lacking a little bit in all departments. We made a bright start and had some chances to score, but our second-half display was worse than the opening 45 minutes. We didn’t manage to play at all or offer any sort of threat in the second half, although we didn’t deserve to lose the game. Espaynol created few chances. It’s a defeat that hurts and it’s a poor result. I feel sorry for the players,” said Zidane.

“At times, there’s no understanding football. We dropped further back for some spells in the second half but you’ve got to accept these tough times. At no point in the second half did we do well. After five good results, today we didn’t manage to extend the run,” he added.

Los Blancos conceded late in the game but as Zidane points out, they just didn’t perform well enough to deserve a goal before Gerard found the back of the net.

“When there’s not long left and it’s 0-0 anything can happen. We always look to go for the win and today we didn’t get it. They scored a goal in the last minute, but there’s no need for us to go over it again. We didn’t deserve to win or lose,” said Zidane, suggesting that the 0-0 draw would’ve been a fair score.