Zidane: Real had to ‘think a little more’

Ian Watson

Zinedine Zidane accepts Real Madrid were naive to allow Barcelona to win El Clasico in the final minute of added time on Sunday evening.

Lionel Messi rounded off a Barca counter-attack with 10 seconds remaining of two scheduled additional minutes at the end of an absorbing clash at the Bernabeu.

Substitute James Rodriguez seemed to have earned Real a point when he swept home an 85th-minute equaliser, which came after the hosts had been reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of Sergio Ramos.

But Real allowed Sergio Roberto to break from deep in his own half and feed Andre Gomes, who combined with Jordi Alba to tee up Messi with almost the last kick of the game.

Barca’s win takes them to level on 75 points with Real, but Luis Enriques side sit top by virtue of having the better head-to-head record from the two games with Real.

Zinedine Zidane’s side do have a game in hand with six matches to play, but the Real boss was dismayed to slip up at the Bernabeu.

“We cannot be happy,” Zidane said at his post-match press conference. “We made a lot (of chances) during the whole game.

“We had many goalscoring chances, but couldn’t bring the game under control.

“When you don’t kill the game off, this can happen, and it did.

“Messi made the difference for his team, but it is not only Messi.

“That they’ve hurt us is logical in any game.

“We are disappointed with the result, when you get back to 2-2 with 10 men you have to think a little more and defend together.”

Both sides are in action again on Wednesday night – Barcelona at home to Osasuna and Real away to Deportivo La Coruna – and Zidane said their focus must now turn to that game.

“I have to look at the game again but I wouldn’t have changed anything,” Zidane said.

“There is a lot of the league left and we have to think about the next game.”