
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane was philosophical following his side’s surprise 1-0 defeat to Real Betis on Wednesday night, saying that it was clear that the ball ‘just did not want to go in”.
Betis pulled off a textbook smash-and-grab at the Santiago Bernabeu as Antonio Sanabria netted a 94th-minute winner.
"It's bad," said Zidane. "This is football, when the ball just did not want to go in, this can happen.”
The defeat leaves Madrid seven points behind Barcelona after just five games in what is their worst start at home in La Liga for more than 20 years after draws with Levante and Valencia in their two previous games.
The last time Los Blancos failed to win any of their first three homes games was in the 1996/97 season when they finished sixth.
"We did not have a great game but neither a bad game,” added Zidane. The first minutes of the second half were good, then it's true that we rushed it a little.
"We had 26 or 27 chances, today the ball did not want to go in, especially here, in our home stadium. I love this word, tranquility. We are going to have tranquility. We will be calm."
Madrid hit the woodwork several times, while Ronaldo missed a number of good openings on his return from suspension.
Proof that it wasn’t to be Madrid’s night came in the 75th minute when Betis keeper Antonio Adan somehow managed to palm Gareth Bale’s sublime backheel onto the post.
"It's clear, we have to live with it," Zidane said. "There have been three games, the start of our league campaign here at home has not been good enough.
"We did not think it was going to be like this, but we can not change it.
"What we can change is the next game, which we'll do our best to win. And in the next home game in the league we have to do everything to try to win."
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