Real Madrid suffered a late sucker punch against Valladolid having gone ahead late in the game as well and Zinedine Zidane has expressed his frustration after his men failed to shine at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Two goals within the last ten minutes brought the match to a stalemate – the first from Benzema to give the hosts the lead and the second a fine Sergi Guardiola snatched a point for the visitors.
An unhappy Zidane afterwards lamented his team’s inability to find the back of the net despite dominating possession and creating loads of chances.
“It’s left a bad taste in my mouth because we did the most difficult thing, which was scoring in the second half, which wasn’t the best,” Zidane said as quoted by Marca and observed by Soccernet.ng
Valladolid pegged Real Madrid back with a late equaliser after Toni Kroos had given the ball away but Los Blancos boss refused to single the German out for blame.
“After scoring, they equalise… The first half was good, but we lacked the goal.
“The problem wasn’t losing the ball, that can happen.
“We were out of position. Then the ball, it’s true, we should’ve sent it the f*** out of there.
“We have to improve and play [for] 60 minutes.
“You have to be practical in the 84th minute. But it’s like this today and you have to accept it.
“Any team can beat you. But we have to play for 90 minutes.”
Zidane handed James Rodriguez his first Real Madrid appearance in over two years and the Frenchman was impressed with the former Bayern Munich midfielder’s display.
“James played well. Then he came off because he had a knock so Vinicius came on.
“The second half was worse for us.”
Luka Jovic was sent on as a second-half substitute to play alongside Karim Benzema in attack as Real Madrid searched for the opener but the French manager watched his forwards struggle under pressure without much help from the fans, something he would like to change.
“Jovic’s first shot hit the bar, Karim scored… This [lack of goals] has to change.
“We could play 4-4-2 in more matches.”
“I’m seeing that the team are under more pressure for what happened last year,” he said.
“The crowd too. I’m asking the fans. We need the fans. We need to get involved as well.”
After a positive first-half performance, Real Madrid faded in the second half and Zidane insisted that it wasn’t a physical issue.
“The heat isn’t an excuse,” he said
“We weren’t as convincing going into the second half.”
“Our team wasn’t fluid and when it’s not fluid you have problems.
“But it’s not a physical problem.”
