Real Madrid: Three takeaways from the beatdown at the Mestalla
By Ben Sundock
We are as confused as you, Zidane
I have never in my four plus years of covering Real Madrid seen a press conference quite like Zinedine Zidane‘s after the loss.
The legend and undisputed leader of the first-team said exactly what all we fans were thinking after the final whistle.
"“We played well for the first half hour but after the goal we crumbled and the dynamic of what we were doing changed. That was a turning point as after that everything went wrong for us: 3 penalties, an own goal…. It’ s a bit difficult to explain our performance today. We started well and after the equaliser everything has changed.”"
It is difficult to explain, I agree, because after the first 27 or so minutes, referee Jesus Gil took over the match. He awarded Valencia four penalties, gave out five yellow cards, and called 27 fouls.
It’s rather difficult to judge a team’s quality when the head official is that involved in the proceedings of a match. Real Madrid was bad, that’s for sure, but it’s clear from looking at the chances created – 4 for Valencia and 13 for Real Madrid – that the scoreline was not fair to the visitors.