Zidane: “We lost the game in the first ten minutes”

NEWS | 22/02/2017

“We did some good things with the ball but we lacked a bit of clarity with the final pass”, he added.

Zinedine Zidane appeared in the media room at the Mestalla following his side's clash with Valencia: “We lost the game in the first ten minutes. We moved the ball well, played our game and created chances to score. We made mistakes and they scored twice. We then had 80 minutes to get back into the game, we did that but we were lacking in many areas today. We had the chance to put points on the board and we've not managed to do that. They were very much together in their play, tightened up well and got the better of us up top”.

“We have to stay switched on at all times. If you lose concentration for a moment, they punish you. We need to be a bit sharper and we didn't have our heads in the game in the first ten minutes. We did some good things with the ball but we lacked a bit of clarity with the final pass. Now we have to rest up and think about Sunday's game. We had a chance to put points on the board but we didn't do so. Congratulations to Valencia and attentions now turn to the next game”.

We're not looking for excuses, we simply have to turn our attentions to the next game.

"Had we won here, the LaLiga title race wouldn't have been all over. Things have now become tougher after we failed to get the three points. Valencia were the only team to put points on the board today. We need to bear in mind that we can't win games just by turning up. We're not looking for excuses, we simply have to turn our attentions to the next game".

Varane substitution
"Varane has picked up an injury, he felt some discomfort and that's why we brought him off. We lacked focus when we weren't in possession. Zaza hurt us in that role between the lines. A poor piece of control and they were capable of posing us problems. Such is the way in football, the season is a very long one but we've got to be more alert".

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