Zidane laments Real's awful start, lack of consistency

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

VIDEO SHOWS: NEWS CONFERENCE WITH REAL MADRID COACH, ZINEDINE ZIDANE, STILL PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE MATCH

SHOWS:

MADRID, SPAIN (NOVEMBER 28, 2020) (LA LIGA/MEDIAPRO - PART FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES)

1. REAL MADRID COACH, ZINEDINE ZIDANE ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE

2. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REAL MADRID COACH, ZINEDINE ZIDANE, SAYING: (ACCORDING TO OFFICIAL TRANSLATION) (SOUNDBITE BEGINS ON SPLIT SCREEN WITH JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION)

REPORTER, ASKING (Spanish): "We're all a bit surprised really that the fact in the same week the team is able to play such a serious and very good game away in Milan and then another one that's quite bad today against Alaves. I'd like to ask you if there's a reasoning behind these two different teams?"

"No. There's no explanation to be honest because in the end we trained very well for this game. We know that games like today can happen but when you concede a goal three minutes into the match you know that we have time to come back into the match and it seems like that really made things complicated for us today because like the other day in Milan we had a very good game and today three days later we struggled really at our game being played at home but that's the reality of it. It's the reality we have to live today and we just have to keep moving forward to try and improve this today. We have to try as well to get back all of our injured players and improve our dynamic. It's obvious as well that we don't have consistency in our games at the moment, neither in our results."

3. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

4. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REAL MADRID COACH, ZINEDINE ZIDANE, SAYING: (ACCORDING TO OFFICIAL TRANSLATION)

"I don't think today it was a question of attitude for our result. It was more a question of football because if you play and watch the game that we had three days ago you know that we can play better than we did today. I think the way that we started the match today was what cost us dearly and it was our worse start to a game this season and it's very complicated for us because we didn't change or we couldn't try to change the game based on how the result was going against us and that's really the thing that annoys me and the players as well."

5. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REAL MADRID COACH, ZINEDINE ZIDANE, SAYING: (ACCORDING TO OFFICIAL TRANSLATION) (SOUNDBITE BEGINS ON SPLIT SCREEN WITH JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION)

REPORTER, ASKING (Spanish): "Precisely, this is a competition of consistency and if the team is lacking that do you believe that Real Madrid will have a very serious problem to try and fight for the league title because the team hasn't had the best start to the season or this game?"

"Yes, I believe that's the problem we're having at the moment; our consistency. That's why we have to try and improve. We've had a lot of injuries and we're not going to try and find excuses but that is the reality and hopefully we can get back players for our next game and hopefully we can improve the squad dynamic overall because we have to change it because in three days we play two completely games. The difference between Milan and today is enormous. I don't really have the words to describe what's happened but I know we're going to analyse the game today and then we're going to have to already start thinking in changing things for our next match-up. There's no other option than to try and think now on Tuesday's game (away to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League."

MADRID, SPAIN (NOVEMBER 28, 2020) (REUTERS PICTURES - ACCESS ALL) (MUTE)

6. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF REAL MADRID COACH, ZINEDINE ZIDANE LOOKING AT THE GROUND DURING THE MATCH AGAINST ALAVES

7. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF REAL MADRID MIDFIELDER, EDEN HAZARD

8. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF HAZARD RUNNING WITH THE BALL

9. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF REAL MADRID MIDFIELDER, LUKA MODRIC

10. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF REAL MADRID'S MARIANO DIAZ (LEFT) REACTING DURING THE MATCH

11. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF ALAVES' JOSELU CELEBRATING AFTER HE SCORES HIS TEAM'S SECOND GOAL

12. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF JOSELU CELEBRATING WITH TEAM MATE

13. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF ALAVES COACHING STAFF CELEBRATING AFTER THE MATCH

STORY: Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he was concerned about his side's inability to turn matches around after they were beaten 2-1 at home by Alaves in La Liga on Saturday (November 28) after what he described as their worst start to a game all season.

Madrid should have been feeling confident after beating Inter Milan 2-0 on Wednesday in the Champions League but they fell behind in the fifth minute to a Lucas Perez penalty.

The champions should have conceded again soon after when Perez beat the offside trap but the forward was foiled by Thibaut Courtois.

The keeper made a terrible error early in the second half by sending a stray pass to Alaves forward Joselu, who scored easily.

Real were missing six players including Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema and lost Eden Hazard to injury, although Zidane said he believed the Belgian had only sustained a knock.

The Frenchman said he expected his side to improve once their injured players returned.

Real Madrid next play Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in Kyiv on Tuesday (December 1).

(Production: Tim Hart)