Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane says he is baffled by his side’s dip in form in the last few matches.
Los Blancos were beaten 2-1 at home by Manchester City in the teams’ Champions League last-16 first leg on Wednesday night and now face a fight to save their season after losing their lead in LaLiga and also crashing out of the Copa del Rey this month.
“It’s not a physical problem,” Zidane said. “It’s more about concentration because at the end we made mistakes and mistakes form part of football.
“The only thing we can do is to look at it, try to analyse it well. I can’t say any more. The 10 minutes at the end were very difficult, but before that wasn’t.”
Madrid went ahead through Isco after an hour at the Santiago Bernabeu, but City came back thanks to a Gabriel Jesus header and a Kevin De Bruyne penalty late in the game. Real also finished with 10 men after Sergio Ramos was sent off in the closing stages.
Prior to their 4-3 loss to Real Sociedad early in February, Zidane’s side were unbeaten since October in all competitions.
“For three or four months we did really well and now we have had three difficult matches. But it’s a bad run," he said.
“We have to be more together and keep working.”
Los Blancos are back in action on Sunday in El Clasico and defeat would see them five points adrift of Barcelona in LaLiga.
“It’s an opportunity to change things,” Zidane said. “I hope the fans come and support us, because we need to move forward.”
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The Frenchman refused to blame a possible push on Sergio Ramos in City’s first goal. “The referee told me there was nothing,” he said. “He decides and that’s that.”
And ahead of the return leg in Manchester, for which Ramos will be suspended, he said: “We have to go there and win. We know the situation. We have lost an opportunity here, but there is still another we can change.”