It’s been very well documented that Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid had a very poor overall showing on their exhibition tour of the United States. Sure, it’s just preseason and you can’t read too much into it, but winning just one match in four, even in friendlies, doesn’t quite fly when you’re the most powerful football club on Earth.
“The sensation overall is not good,” the Madrid boss said in his postgame news conference following his side’s penalty kick shootout win over the MLS All-Stars in Chicago.
“We got this result but the sensation overall is not positive. Winning only one out of four games something is obviously up,” Zidane continued.
“Tonight we can not be fully happy but now the tour is done, we have four days now to go and prepare for the Super Cup; which is our first official match and surely there some things that we need to work on.”
Real were tied 1-1 with the MLS All-Stars at the end of regulation and extra time, but triumphed 4-2 in the penalty kick shootout. The MLS All-Stars got a lot equalizer from Dom Dwyer. The Meringues’ lone regulation goal came from game MVP Borja Mayoral. Earlier on the tour, the two time reigning champions of Europe lost to Manchester City in Los Angeles and an El Clasico in Miami.
Zidane’s side also lost to Manchester United, on penalties, in Santa Clara. The Frenchman referred to the UEFA Super Cup, which is only just five days from now as: “the big game coming up, the official game come up.”
United defeated Sampdoria 2-1 earlier today to finish their slate of international friendlies with six wins out of seven.
Asked what he needs to see improve in his team before the two sides clash in Skopje, Macedonia, Zidane said:
“Overall it’s nothing in particular, just an overall feeling.”
“(It’s) a little bit of everything, we started poorly, especially with results, sometimes you get on a bad streak and it was four matches in total, but I want everyone to get back home, have a little bit of a rest and then think about what we have to do to get ready for the 8th. Rest and start preparing.”
Of course, Real Madrid was without Cristiano Ronaldo for the whole trip, and that obviously had a huge negative impact on their performance, but Zidane said that CR7 will be back with the team on the 5th. Asked whether or not Ronaldo will play against United, but he dodged the question a little bit.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV.
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