• February 13, 2025

Zidane visibly upset after Atletico humiliation

zidane-real-madrid

Real Madrid suffered a devastating 7-3 loss to cross-town rivals Atletico Madrid last night at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford New Jersey.

 With injuries piling up the Frenchman didn’t need to watch his side being outplayed in such a way that at one point had Atletico six goals up.

Bad boy striker Diego Costa scored four times for Los Colchoneros before having an altercation with Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal that saw the pair sent off.

https://youtu.be/dnoophsxfAM

Atletico new boy Joao Felix managed a goal as did Vitolo and Angel Correa while Nacho, Karim Benzema and Javier Hernandez Carrera reduced the deficit by pulling three back for Los Blancos.

After the match, Zidane was visibly fuming saying “What happened is that we entered the game very badly.

“A high-level competition, we entered very badly.

“At eight minutes we were down 2-0. There was no response from us to change something.

“The first part was difficult. We never entered the game. We have lacked everything. Especially intensity.”

Zidane continued: “They scored seven goals, it can’t happen. That is also known to the players, who are disappointed. You don’t have to spin it over. It’s a pre-season game. They’ve been better at everything. There is nothing more to talk about.

“We are preparing a season and being calm. We have to be on August 17, with the first league game. For now, we have lacked things for sure tonight.”

Real Madrid’s performance leaves a lot of unanswered questions

Despite a slight glimmer of hope when Real came back to score two goals against Arsenal and secure a draw, last night’s performance in New Jersey leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

Notwithstanding the team’s poor performance, Zidane is convinced that Real Madrid will have a very good season telling reporters:

“We will be motivated. I do not doubt that. Our season is going to be good. I am convinced.”

“Today we cannot be happy. For the rest, I am convinced that I have a team that will compete and very well. That’s it. We have to go back and get some rest.

“It doesn’t worry me, but it hurts. When you lose … you don’t play to lose. But that’s it, we can’t look back. It’s a bad game and you have to think about what we’ve done.”

Real Madrid will now take on Harry Kane’s Tottenham and Red Bull Salzburg before their first match of the season against Celta Vigo on August 17th.

Zidane has a tough job on his hands

For those of us who watched the match its easy just to say that it was a pre-season game of no consequence yet what I saw was a lifeless performance from a team that should be winning every game that they play!

I can’t put my finger on what is wrong, and while I would like to see Paul Pogba arrive at the Bernabeu, I think Real Madrid has a similar problem to Manchester United in that they look more like a group of individuals rather than a team.

Whatever is wrong, Zidane needs to figure it out before the start of the season, because if he doesn’t he might just find himself out of a job.