'Annoyed' Real Madrid in bad moment following losses - Zinedine Zidane

Posted Thursday, January 19, 2017 by ESPN

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane admitted that his mentally shaken team were going through "a bad moment" after their second consecutive defeat came with Celta Vigo's 2-1 win at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Wednesday's Copa del Rey quarterfinal first leg.

Following a goalless first half at a chilly Bernabeu, Celta striker Iago Aspas put the Galicians ahead soon after the break. Marcelo quickly equalised for the home side, before the visitors full-back Jonny made it 2-1 with the three goals coming in just six minutes.

Sunday's 2-1 La Liga defeat at Sevilla ended a record 40-game unbeaten run in all competitions, and a second consecutive loss has brought back memories of two years ago when Carlo Ancelotti's side followed 22 straight victories with two straight defeats and their season disintegrated.

The Blancos coach told his postmatch news conference that although his team had not played well on the night he expected them to return to top form quickly.

"It was a pretty strange game," Zidane said. "We did not start the game as we wanted. We did not know how to manage the game properly. Celta are a good team, who for sure can damage you.

"It is a bad moment, we will not hide this. Two defeats in a row, something is happening. We must look at it now and see what we can do to rapidly change the chip. We will come out of this together."

Madrid had been affected by the result at Sevilla on Saturday, Zidane admitted.

'Annoyed' Real Madrid in bad moment following losses - Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane gestures to his players during Real Madrid's 2-1 Copa del Rey loss to Celta Vigo.

"We started badly, which can happen after a defeat, we found it difficult to get into the game," he said. "But we will come through this. We have done good things until now, and the last two games we cannot be happy, above all with the results. We played well at Sevilla, today a bit worse, but there is no reason to be worried."

An upping of intensity and further hard work was now required, said the former Galactico.

"We must analyse now, as something is happening, for sure," Zidane said. "We are fine physically, but maybe in the head the La Liga game [defeat] was tough. It had a negative effect, above all on our intensity tonight. It's true this is not a good moment, two straight defeats, but maybe we needed to lose to find a solution to overcome this situation.

"We must be relaxed, calm. The squad is annoyed at the defeats, but we must be more intense, more energetic, and that will bring us out of this disappointment."

Zidane said there was still a long way to go in the tie and that his team could turn things around in the return game.

"Before the return we have a Liga game on Saturday [at home to Malaga]," he said. "We know we can come through this and we will. There is still the second leg to come, we know we can go there and change today's 2-1 score."

Further trouble for Madrid emerged pregame with news that Dani Carvajal has a torn hamstring and faces about a month on the sidelines. Back-up right-back Danilo was whistled by the crowd after an error-strewn performance and the Brazilian then apparently refused to shake his manager's hand when substituted.

"Danilo played a good game today, I am happy with him," said Zidane as he played down the issue. "He had the chance to play. We will see what happens in the next game."

Dermot Corrigan is a Madrid-based football writer who covers La Liga and the