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The French coach took full responsibility for his team’s major defeat and refused to use the missing players as a motive.
Zinedine Zidane took full responsibility for a terrible loss to Valencia on Sunday when Real Madrid conceded four goals in a La Liga match for the first time under the guidance of their champion coach.
Valencia were left without winners 4-1 at Mestalla after Carlos Soler became the first player to score a hat-trick from penalties in a single La Liga game in the 21st century.
Soler’s triplet, the first by a Valencia player in the top flight since September 2017, was added to an own goal by Raphael Varane, which deflected a Maxi Gómez cross past Thibaut Courtois. The Madrid goalkeeper had initially saved Valencia’s first penalty, which was retaken for an infraction by Yunus Musah.
Madrid got off to a brilliant start and led Karim Benzema’s brilliant first goal, but conceded four goals in a league game for the first time since a 5-1 loss to Barcelona in October 2018, a result that cost him his place. Julen Lopetegui.
Zidane, who was replaced by Lopetegui, accepted the blame for Madrid’s performance, acknowledging that he must solve his defensive problems after conceding 14 goals in seven games in all competitions since he returned from the international break in October.
“Three penalties, an own goal, is too much,” said Zidane, who is fourth, four points behind leader Real Sociedad.
“The fault is mine because I am the coach and I have to find the solution. I cannot justify what happened. It is a bad day, there are no excuses. We must improve defensively.
“I don’t think Valencia have been tactically better than us. The only thing is that we started well and everything changed after the goal.
“This is difficult to understand. But yes, the maximum responsibility is mine. We must find solutions after the goal they scored.”
– LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) November 8, 2020
While Madrid’s defense endured a collective nightmare, with Varane scoring his second own goal in the space of five appearances in all competitions, playmaker Isco was equally disappointing on the other end.
Starting for the first time in La Liga since October 17, when Madrid lost 1-0 to Cádiz, the 28-year-old had only one shot and created just one shot before he was taken off in the 83rd minute. Isco has played two meager key passes all season.
Zidane defended the player, however, saying: “Isco has tried, he has done well like everyone else. In the end, everyone loses, there is not a single culprit.”
Madrid was left without holding midfielder Casemiro who, like Eden Hazard, isolates himself after testing positive for coronavirus.
The champions have won just one of the six La Liga games in which Casemiro has not started since the start of last season, but Zidane insisted the Brazilian’s absence is no excuse.
“We can look for a thousand things, you don’t have to look for excuses,” he said. “They are all Madrid players.”
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