Zidane surprised by Real's slow start

Jan 20, 2017 06:00 am

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane admitted he was surprised by his side's slow start as they slumped to a second defeat in four days, 2-1 at home to Celta Vigo in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final yesterday morning (Singapore time).

Zidane's men hadn't lost in a Spanish record 40 games stretching back to April last year before conceding twice in the final five minutes to lose 2-1 at Sevilla on Monday morning. And the Frenchman believes the European champions suffered a hangover from that disappointment in a first 45 minutes against Celta devoid of goalmouth action at a frigid Santiago Bernabeu with temperatures plummeting below zero degrees.

"It was a strange game, especially the start," said Zidane. "We have to analyse it, something is wrong for sure. We didn't do what we had prepared to do, especially the intensity."

Iago Aspas opened the scoring for Celta in the 64th minute but Marcelo equalised five minutes later only for Jonny Castro to seal the win a minute later. - AFP