Zidane: “There are no excuses for this defeat”

Real Madrid have lost for the first time in the 2020/21 season, falling to a 1-0 defeat at home to newly promoted Cádiz. While international break fatigue may have been a factor in the sluggish performance, Zinedine Zidane didn’t want to make any excuses.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Zidane said: “They had more rhythm and desire. We have no excuses for this defeat, it was a bad game. We must congratulate Cádiz. We’re not happy, but this can happen in football. We found it tough from the very beginning and it wouldn’t have been a surprise if they’d scored two of three in the first half. There’s no excuse for that.”

It’s concerning that this loss came now, at the start of a huge week for Real Madrid with the return of the Champions League and El Clásico. But, Zidane doesn’t think there will be a hangover from this defeat. On that, he said: “No, I don’t think this will affect us going forward. We’ve clearly had a bad night, but we’ll try to change this.”

Sergio Ramos suffered an injury in the first half of this game and Zidane was asked about the captain too. “He had pain and we’ll now work out exactly what he has,” the coach said.