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Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane blasted his side after a shambolic 4-1 scoreline away at Valencia in LaLiga Santander.
The Blancos, despite an early lead given to them by a stunning Karim Benzema goal, had a night to forget as they conceded three (!) penalties over 90 minutes for the first time in their history. The three spot-kicks were converted by Los Che star Carlos Soler and Raphael Varane's strange own goal compounded further on Real Madrid's misery.
Despite playing a relatively weakened squad with the likes of Casemiro, Eden Hazard, and other star players being unavailable, Zidane affirmed that Real Madrid cannot look for excuses such as a weaker squad or the referee's calls.
'I don't like it' — Zidane blasts Real Madrid after horrific Valencia loss
Speaking on the result after the game, Real Madrid boss Zidane remarked;
"We [Real Madrid] can look for one thousand excuses, and everyone can find any reason they want to explain this. But we should not be looking for excuses, everyone in this squad is a Real Madrid player."
The 48-year-old highlighted in particular that he did not like the way his side reacted to Benzema's opener being cancelled out by Carlos Soler. He continued,
"We played well in the first half an hour but the game changed completely after they equalised. This has happened to us a number of times, and I don't like it. We need to really analyse what is going wrong because any little thing can cause us lots of difficulties. Once we conceded the first goal, we couldn't get back into the game. A lot of things went against us today."
It was Real Madrid's second loss of the Spanish league campaign so far, with the first one coming at home to newly-promoted Cadiz.
While Zidane was of the belief that it was the players' poor reaction to Valencia's response that cost them the game, Thibaut Courtois believed that his side were unlucky.
Assessing their shocking loss to Los Che, the towering Belgian expressed;
"We were very motivated to turn the game around at halftime, but I had to make a save as soon as the second half started, and then we conceded two penalties."
"I think Maxi Gomez fouled Marcelo but Maxi shouted louder and they gave a penalty. There was also a foul on [Marco] Asensio, we were talking about that in the dressing room but you can't change anything in the dressing room. I don't know how to explain it, they didn't create too many chances but we had three penalties go against us and their second goal was very bad luck."
As a consequence of this defeat, Real Madrid have collected 16 points from their eight fixtures in LaLiga Santander so far, and occupy the fourth position on the table. They are set for another tricky away game as Zidane's men are scheduled to travel to Villarreal upon the return of football after the international break.
