Real Madrid: Zinedine Zidane can’t hide frustration after blowout loss to Atletico
By Ben Sundock
Real Madrid was simply crushed by rivals Atletico on Friday night in East Rutherford, New Jersey losing 7-3. Los Blancos trailed 5-0 at halftime and saw Luka Jovic leave after just a half hour of play with an injury. Here is what manager Zinedine Zidane had to say following the poor performance from his squad.
In a highly anticipated match, Real Madrid failed to show up. The 13-time Champions League winners didn’t seem to care that they were playing rivals Atleti in the United States for the first time ever.
Yes, it is still the preseason, but come on! Where was the motivation? Where was the passion? Where was the intensity? Zidane was quick to comment on that lack of drive when he began his press conference at MetLife Stadium.
"“What happened is, we started the game very poorly. In a top-level match such as this, we had a very bad start. We were 2-0 inside eight minutes and didn’t show signs of changing anything at all. It was a very tough first half, we never got into the game. We just really lacked the intensity you need at this level.”"
Two things have remained constant throughout Real Madrid’s three matches in the US: slow starts and early defensive mistakes. Nacho received a second yellow card and was sent off inside of 10 minutes against Arsenal and against Atletico, Los Blancos trailed 2-0 within eight minutes.
The media pressed Zizou as to whether or not his players are motivated enough and if they will actually be ready to start the La Liga season on August 17th. The French boss was clearly frustrated with the question and snapped back, saying, “I’m convinced I’ve got a team here that is going to compete at the top level. We need to rest up a bit and start thinking about [the start of the season].”
After allowing 12 goals and managing to net just six, I think it is safe to say there are more worries and questions now than before the preseason matches kicked off. In the last two matches alone, Real has lost Marco Asensio, Ferland Mendy, and now Luka Jovic to what looks like serious injuries.
Jovic was forced to the bench after a nasty run in with goalkeeper Jan Oblak after again making little impact on the attacking end.
Despite all of this, Zidane is doing his best to remain positive.
"“I’m not concerned, but I’m hurt. You don’t play to lose. But we can’t be looking backwards, it was a bad game and now we have to focus on what went wrong so we can try and make sure it doesn’t happen again in the next match.”"
Next. Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard will feature on the cover of FIFA 20. dark
The two positive takeaways from this match were that Karim Benzema was finally able to score a goal – albeit from the penalty spot – and Castilla player Javier Hernandez was able to bag himself a senior team goal as well.
There is plenty still to work on before the league season gets underway in three weeks. The good news for Real Madrid is that they still have three or maybe four preseason matches to keep practicing.