The Spanish manager stood by his players after a poor performance and conceded the buck must stop with him

Zinedine Zidane took responsibility for Real Madrid’s “worst game of the season” after a 2-1 loss to Real Betis in La Liga on Sunday.

Former Barcelona forward Cristian Tello struck in the 82nd minute as Madrid stayed two points behind their rivals, despite having triumphed in last week’s Clasico . 

Zidane accepted blame for the result, which came despite Karim Benzema’s penalty cancelling out Sidnei’s opener in the first half.

“We didn’t get anything today, and I’m to blame for it. I have to look at what happened; we’re going to fight the league to the end,” Zidane said post-match. 

“I am with my players till the death. I am responsible here. We will analyse what happened and move on.

“We played badly,. Many mistakes. We lacked everything, play, possession, aggression, our worst game of season. Didn’t deserve to win. We can’t be happy. We started badly, and could not correct it. I’ve no explanation at moment, we just lacked a bit of everything.

“I am to blame as motivation, This is my responsibility. We didn’t generate anything today. We’ve lacked everything, especially ball possession, we never lose so many balls, that’s been our main problem tonight.”

With 11 games remaining in La Liga, Madrid – whose last league title came in 2017 – are now two points adrift of Barca, who needed a Lionel Messi penalty to squeeze past Real Sociedad 1–0 on Saturday at Camp Nou.

While backing his players, Zidane also said they would be made aware of their deficiencies.

“I will defend my players, if I have something to say I will tell them,” he said.

“I don’t point fingers. We’re all in this together. None of us was good enough today. It wasn’t just defensively, but we were poor offensively and didn’t create any runs to disturb their back line. What irritated me most was how we lost the ball so many times.”

Real Madrid next host Eibar in La Liga on Friday night before backing up against Manchester City on March 17 in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with Los Blancos losing 2-1 in the first leg.