Zinedine Zidane apologizes to Real Madrid fans after poor showing on Sunday
By Ben Sundock
Lackluster, boring, and all around terrible is how I would describe Real Madrid‘s 1-0 loss to Rayo Vallecano on Sunday night in La Liga. Manager Zinedine Zidane shared some of those same feelings in his post-match press conference.
“We failed to score, but that wasn’t the only thing. We didn’t produce anything in any department from start to finish,” Zizou angrily pointed out when speaking to the press at the Estadio de Vallecas. We’ve got to apologize for our performance.”
Los Blancos laid yet another egg in league play as they continue to limp down the stretch. In the same weekend FC Barcelona captured the Spanish league title for the fourth time in five years, Real lost to the worst team in the top division without scoring a goal.
The last several weeks have been so awful, in fact, no other player than Karim Benzema has scored since the 3-2 win over Huesca nearly a month ago! To make matters worse, Zizou has not won a road match since his return to the club with two draws and two losses. But is the manager to blame here?
Absolutely not.
When asked if there were any positive takeaways from the match, he simply said:
"“There are none. We’ve got three games to go and the season will be over and that’s that. In the Getafe game there was something there, we created a bit of play and some chances. We did some good things against Athletic, but there was nothing out there [Sunday night], zero.”"
This rapid fall from grace Real Madrid is experiencing is a collapse that will not soon be forgotten. A litany of problems and poor form from players who have been consistent for several years have led to this point and it is truly depressing to see.
It’s hard to believe that watching Real Madrid play a match is becoming more of a chore than a hobby. Zidane mentioned that he is happy to be back at the helm of the club and his influence will not start to really take effect until the summer transfer window opens.
The wheels have come off the Real Madrid machine and fans should be incredibly angry with the way in which the club has handled itself since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.
I have no doubt Zinedine Zidane has been lecturing his players about their lack of effort and goal output, but there is only so much he can do from the sideline. I’m sure many fans – including myself – would entertain the idea of the former number 10 lacing the boots up again and getting on the pitch.
At this point, it would only help. Maybe he could score a goal unlike the rest of the first team players!
The future is incredibly bright in the Spanish capital, the board just needs to make a few tweaks to the lineup and make sure there is no dead weight heading into the 2019/2020 campaign.
I am glad Zizou took the time to bash his players in his press conference. They truly deserved it.