Zinedine Zidane’s halftime talk helps to lift Real Madrid against Real Betis

Sunday showed the managerial ability of Zinedine Zidane yet again as he rallied his players to a second-half turnaround against Real Betis in La Liga play. Down 2-1 at the half, Real Madrid came out of the locker room in the second half a different team, prevailing 5-3. Here is what Zizou had to say post-match.

All quotes come via the Real Madrid official website.

Opening Statement

"“It was a real end-to-end affair, a bit of a frantic game, but I enjoyed it. That scoreline shows that our opponents, who are in great form, played very well and dominated proceedings for some spells. I’m not going to focus on the three goals we’ve conceded, but rather the five we’ve scored.”“I recognize what a good performance it was from Asensio, his two goals, and his overall contribution, but, as always, it’s a team effort. We got off to a very good start, then I don’t know quite what happened. We dropped deeper and the whole complexion of the game changed.”“After the break, we did the total opposite: we produce a stunning second-half performance and I’m happy with how all of them performed out there. You’ve got to recognize the job that Marco did and the same goes for Lucas Vázquez, who performed very well on the other flank.”"

More on the performances of Vazquez and Asensio

“It’s not a case of them deserving more opportunities from now on, they’ve always been deserving of more. Whenever they do play and have to do the ugly side of the game, they do it and show real character. They’re doing very well. When you consider that we were up against opposition that can cause you problems in wide areas and bearing in mind how we set up, the pair of them did a really good job.”

“These things stay in the dressing room. I did speak to the players and we performed much better in the second half. They wanted to do more as well, they knew things had to change because we were not playing at all well in the closing stages of the first half.”

Update on Marcelo’s injury

“I hope it’s nothing serious, we’ll have to assess it tomorrow. He told me he feels like it’s just a knock, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

Thoughts on Cristiano Ronaldo’s play

“He’s looking good and we’re thrilled to see him scoring and chasing things down up top. We’re heading into the business end of the season and every game is vital. To see all the players looking so sharp is fantastic and I’m very pleased.”

My thoughts

Zidane did a great job giving compliments to three of his players and realizing that his team did a good job righting the ship in the second half, however, I think he should be focused on the three goals that his team conceded.

While Real Betis have become a team known to score in almost every match in league play, it is worth noting that they managed to score three on virtually the same back four and goalkeeper who allowed just one goal against PSG on Wednesday.

Both Betis’ first-half goals saw a clear breakdown in defensive structure and the team looked confused and slow to react to a Betis team that sits middle of the table in Spain.

I have to agree with Zizou in his praise of both Vazquez and Asensio as they were clearly the two best players in the starting lineup in this match. Both of Marco’s class were, of course, pure class while Lucas was much more active on and off the ball and provided two picture-perfect assists.

Next: Real Betis 3 – Real Madrid 5: Tactical review

This performance from Marco definitely intensifies the debate as to whether or not he should be a regular in the starting lineup as he has yet again proven he can compete with some of the best in the Champions League and get it done domestically.

With his brace Sunday, Marco is now tied with Gareth Bale for second on the team in goals in La Liga play with six, only behind CR7’s 12 goals thus far.