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Zinedine Zidane said he “has no explanation” for Real Madrid’s inconsistency after Alavés lost 2-1 at home on Saturday to three winless games in La Liga.
Madrid struggled early on, with Lucas Pérez scoring an early penalty and Eden Hazard forced out injured, before Joselu doubled Alavés’s lead in the second half and Casemiro scored a late consolation goal.
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Zidane’s team was beaten 4-1 in Valencia and drew 1-1 at Villarreal earlier this month, but appeared to return to normal after an impressive 2-0 Champions League victory at the Internazionale midway through. week.
“We played a bad game, especially at the beginning, and we couldn’t change it,” Zidane said. “I am the coach and I take the blame, as always … We have to get out of this. We have another game on Tuesday. We played very well against Inter, and today we did not. There are no excuses. We should not single out a player or other.
“We could not change the dynamics within the game and that bothers me. At the moment, consistency is the problem we have. We have also had many injuries. We do not look for excuses, but it is reality. The game we played three days ago in Milan, and then today … I have no explanation. “
Hazard was replaced after just 28 minutes, with what early reports suggest is a thigh injury, and will undergo further testing on Sunday.
“Right now we don’t know exactly what he has,” Zidane said. “I hope it’s just a hit, like he said, and not a muscle injury. I hope so.”
Hazard had only returned to action this past weekend after testing positive for the coronavirus and before that he was out for a month with another muscle problem.
His debut season at Real Madrid was severely interrupted by injuries, with two ankle fractures that limited the Belgian international to just 16 La Liga appearances and one goal.
Madrid have already been left without the majors Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and Dani Carvajal due to the defeat of Alavés.
His next two La Liga matches are a tough road trip to Sevilla, among the top four contenders, coached by former Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui, followed by a derby with Atlético de Madrid in the form of Diego Simeone.
