Zidane moans: Playing against Madrid is the game of the year for other teams
The French coach says the opposition always lift their performance levels against Los Blancos
Zinedine Zidane moaned on Saturday that teams raise their performance levels when they play against his Real Madrid side.
Despite his team leading the table and having a game in hand, the French coach said on Saturday: "For the teams who play against Real Madrid, it's the game of the year. And that's normal, it's an extra motivation, it's something we have to take into account."
Zidane felt that was the case on Wednesday, as Valencia beat his Madrid side 2-1 as they missed the chance to extend their one-point lead over Barcelona.
"It was an opportunity that we let slip," he admitted, "but you shouldn't keep coming back to it, it's not something that can be fixed any more. We just have to think about the next game. What happened, happened. We know that we can and should improve, always."
There's no rest for Madrid who now face Villarreal -- who have the league's best defence -- away from home on Sunday.
"They're a very good opponent, well organised defensively," Zidane said of Villarreal. "It's good for us to play [on Sunday] after the defeat on Wednesday, so we can try to put it behind us."
