Real Madrid were held to a goalless draw against Real Betis in the Spanish La Liga earlier tonight.
Los Blancos seemed uninterested with their performance tonight and they struggled to pick up the three points.
The likes of Karim Benzema had a couple of impressive chances score the only goal of the game but the Frenchman was lacking his usual sharpness tonight.
The draw will come as a blow to Real Madrid’s title aspirations and it will be interesting to see if they can close the gap with league leaders Atletico Madrid in the remaining weeks of the season.
They are now two points behind their cross-town rivals having played an extra game.
Zidane will be unhappy with his players tonight. The Real Madrid players were sluggish while playing out of the back and they lacked the energy to press continuously and win the ball back from Real Betis.
Furthermore, the Real Madrid midfielders struggled to read the passing lanes and disrupt the Real Betis build up consistently.
The only reason Los Blancos managed to come away with a draw was because of how poor the Real Betis attack was. A better team would have taken advantage of Real Madrid’s lacklustre performance tonight.
The likes of Guido Rodriguez and Borja Iglesias missed quality opportunities for Real Betis.
Absence of Vinicius Junior
Real Madrid struggled in the absence of Vinicius Junior tonight. The Brazilian is one of the few players at the club who carry the ball and dribble through the opposition defence.
Real Madrid were in desperate need of someone who could break the lines tonight.
Someone like Eden Hazard could have been exceptional for the Spanish giants in a game like this as well. Both players came on in the second half but they should have started the game.
The likes of Rodrygo failed to make an impression after being given the chance to showcase his talent. The 20-year-old failed to create a single quality chance for his teammates and he was lucky to hit the crossbar with an unintentional cross.
Isco and Asensio
The two midfielders were expected to break the lines and create goalscoring opportunities. But they struggled to do so and Los Blancos were toothless up front.
Tactical changes did not work out
Zidane tried to gain more control in the second half by switching to a back three but Real Madrid never recovered.
The players continued with their slow pace and they were lacking in urgency.
Real Madrid will now host Chelsea on Tuesday for the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals and it will be interesting to see if they can bounce back strongly and secure a healthy advantage against the Premier League side.
We dropped two points, but defensively we played well. In attack, we lacked a lot. We lost the ball too often. We were not very clinical in attack
Zinedine Zidane
He looked good. I’m happy. He’s going to bring us something extra between now and the end of the season and we are going to make the most of that
Zinedine Zidane on Eden Hazard
Line-ups
Real Madrid
Thibaut Courtois, Eder Militão, Raphaël Varane, Nacho, Dani Carvajal (Alvaro Odriozola), Casemiro, Isco (Marcelo), Luka Modric (Antonio Blanco), Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio (Eden Hazard), Rodrygo (Vinicius Junior).
Substitutes
Mariano, Andriy Lunin, Diego Altube, Arribas.
Real Betis
Claudio Bravo, Víctor Ruiz, Aïssa Mandi, Juan Miranda, Emerson, Sergio Canales, Andrés Guardado (William Carvalho), Guido Rodríguez, Borja Iglesias (Lorenzo Morón), Joaquín (Aitor Ruibal), Diego Lainez (Juanmi).
Substitutes
Álex Moreno, Rodrigo Sanchez, Sidnei, Martín Montoya, Joel Robles, Marc Bartra, Yassin Fekir, Paul Akouokou.
