Zinedine Zidane Insists Real Madrid Did Not Deserve to Lose After Late Espanyol Winner

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane felt his side were unlucky to suffer a last minute 1-0 defeat to Espanyol on Tuesday, but admitted that he also believed Los Blancos did not deserve to win the match.

Gerard Moreno's 93rd minute strike handed Espanyol a first victory over Real in 22 attempts, to leave Zidane's side 14 points adrift of league leaders Barcelona, and seven behind city rivals Atletico Madrid.

ESPN quote Zidane as telling his post match press conference: "We did not deserve to win, but not to lose either.

"We began very well in the first half, had chances to score, but didn't take them. The second half was worse, we did not find our play, the things that lately we have been doing well."

Zidane went onto say: "It is a setback, but in the end we did not deserve this defeat. Espanyol had very few chances, but this is football, it's a painful defeat, and I am sorry for the players as it is a bad result."

The result brings a run of five consecutive wins in all competitions for Real, and reflecting on the setback Zidane said: "After five games when we played well and got good results, it did not happen today, above all the second half.

"If we had scored in the first half when playing well, it would have been different. But no, this was a defeat, and difficult to take."

Moreno's winner came with Real defender Sergio Ramos at the other end of the pitch as Los Blancos searched for a winner of their own, but Zidane had no regrets about his captain's positioning, revealing: "When time is nearly up, at 0-0, these things can happen.

"Sergio was further up the pitch. We always look to win, and even worse, we conceded in the last minute. But we do not need to go over that too much."

Next up for Zidane and Real is a hoe clash with Getafe on Saturday, before the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie away to Paris Saint Germain on Tuesday, with Real 3-1 up from the first leg.