Copa Del Rey: Real Madrid 1-2 Leganes
Real Madrid is out of the Copa del Rey after the defeat in front of the home crowd. With a 1-0 advantage this was not the result the “socios” were expecting. But, the situation is getting more troublesome for the club and his coach Zidane.
Being at a insurmountable gap of 19 points behind Barcelona for La Liga title, and now out of the Cup, Zidane will play hia card against PSG in the Round of 16 of the Champions League. Either it seems the loser of the home and way matchup will lose his job (Emery for PSG or Zidane for Real Madrid).
Zidane won the last two Champions League with Real Madrid but this is past and the reality is the team is struggling mightily.
He comments on the disastrous evening:
“We mustn’t get carried away, but it’s tough to take. We know in a knock-out tie it’s a case of playing two games. We did what was asked of us in the first, but we can’t start a game like we did today. I’m in charge of this team and I got several things wrong. We’ll have to analyze it. We’ll have to wake up tomorrow and turn our attentions to the next game because there’s nothing else we can do. Nobody expected this, but that’s football.
Yes, I face up to what I do, and something was wrong today. After winning 0-1 away, going into the return leg and having a first half like that… I’m angry and I can’t understand it. Now we have to work out how to pick things up again”.
We’ve lost one competition and we’re a long way off in LaLiga. Our objectives aren’t what we’d planned for at the start of the season. All we can do now is think about the remaining games, starting with Saturday, and prepare well for February 14.
“I’m not angry with my players, I’m angry with myself. They give it their all, run hard… I am responsible. They have to accept a degree of the responsibility because they’re the ones out on the pitch. We’re all to blame, but I’m the one who’s responsible.
The key is to keep working hard. I’ll take stock of the situation and continue working as I always have. After two positive results and the first leg win, today was a setback. We’re going to keep going because we have to change this and there are still lots of games in which to do that”.
The problem is today’s performance. You can’t explain the first half, at times things were going well but then at others things just don’t come off. The players give it their best and in the second half we tried hard and we created chances. I’m very disappointed with the first half. We have to think that we have to give more because what we’re giving at the moment isn’t enough. We have to train harder and think about giving more”.
“Obviously, it’s crystal clear. I’m responsible for this, I’m the coach. I have to find the solutions. We found ways through but not enough. I take responsibility for the situation, I’ll continue working and fighting. I’m going to try things to make the team better and that’s it”.
