Zinedine Zidane does not understand why his Real Madrid players do not get the respect they deserve and says he is “tired” of their victories being attributed to refereeing decisions.
Madrid won their seventh consecutive game as they subdued Athletic Club de Bilbao 1-0 at Nuevo San Mames on Sunday (July 5). Madrid’s goal on 73 minutes arrived after a VAR review highlighted Dani Garcia’s trip of Marcelo.
The Atletic Bilbao captain, Iker Muniain then spoke about his frustrations with the match officials for failing to award the hosts a penalty of their own following a similar incident at the other end. Muniain’s comments came on the heels of comments from Barca’s Gerard Pique, who suggested the officials were making it difficult to stop Madrid winning the title.
Zidane did not hold back as he discussed the accusations stating that such comments reek of disrespect.
“I am tired of being told that we won because of the referees,” Zidane said after Sunday’s game which saw his side go seven points clear at the top of the Liga.
“This is not going to change. But the players deserve respect.
“Nothing is going to take away from our goal.
“Our strength is what I like the most. We are showing our strength and our balance when we lose the ball.
“We are doing very well.
“We have lacked brilliance in attack and we can improve, but most important is our defensive strength.
“[The problems in attack are due to] a little bit of everything. It can be something physical, too. We play every three days.
“But I don’t think it is our own thing; I think it is something for all the teams. There is a lot of difference between the beginning and the end,” he stated.
Talk is turning towards when Madrid might clinch the title, with just four games to play and Barca struggling for form. But Zidane is not getting ahead of himself, stating that there would be no celebrations until his charges mathematically get noses over the line.
“Until it is mathematically won, we cannot relax and think about the title,” he outlined.
“We have shown our strength and our solidity, but I am not going to talk about it, even if you ask me every day, because I already have a lot of experience in my career, also as a player, and all the games are difficult.
“What I can say is that winning seven games out of seven is impressive,” he concluded.
