Zidane: "I'm responsible, I'm the one who has to find a solution"
Zidane assumed the blame after Madrid's defeat to Shakhtar: "The team wasn't playing how I wanted it to and when that happens, it's the coach's fault".
A sombre and serious Zinedine Zidane took questions from the media following Real Madrid's 2-3 defeat to Shakhtar in the team's first Champions League outing of the new season. The coach said that he is responsible for the result and that he is the one who needs to find solutions to the team's problems
General overview of the game: “It was a bad. The first half... Not so much for the players - they are the ones out on the pitch and who do the running. But I didn't see the kind of team performance that I wanted to see and when that happens, it is the coach who is to blame. At least we were able to mount some kind of reaction in the second half because they didn't deserve this, they are champions and that annoys me. I'm responsible and I have to find solutions because this cannot happen. That is what I will try to do. They are the ones out on the pitch and they need solutions”.
What was lacking? “Confidence, we didn't enter the game as we know how to and suddenly we found ourselves in a difficult moment. We responded, the players reacted. We were unable to level the score. Now I am going to reflect on what happened and do some thinking”.
Changes to the starting XI: “Yes, that was for the accumulation of games because some players don't get any time at all to rest. We have a game every three days. But there is no excuse. These are decisions which I have taken and I have to find what will make us strong again and get us back winning. I've only got a few days to do that”.
Saturday's game against Barça: “We'll see. Now we have to look at what went wrong in this game then start preparing fr the next one. We know it will come around quickly, we'll see what happens before Saturday”.