Zinedine Zidane refuses to defend Real Madrid players after shock defeat to Rayo

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane refused to defend players after his side's humiliating 1-0 defeat away to bottom-placed Rayo Vallecano in La Liga on Sunday. Spanisg giants were dominated by Rayo, who began their weekend at the bottom of the standings.

During the post-match presentation, Zidane said, "I am always going to defend my players but today I can't. It's just the reality of today. We simply can't play like this."

He added, "It's not only the players. I am also responsible. I am the one that makes the team, I am the one that talks to them and prepares the matches and in the end we all did the opposite of what we discussed so this is something that I am going to have to reflect on as well."

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Zidane also said that the players underperformed in the match, he said, "We did nothing today on any level, from the first minute until the last."

"Sometimes you are not able to score but today we didn't even create chances, we did nothing well. We have to all be angry with our performance. I am angry because we gave an awful image of ourselves," he added.

The result lifted Rayo off the foot of the table and condemned Zidane to his second league defeat since his return to the club.

The loss also leaves Real Madrid in third place in the table, and nine points adrift of city rivals Atletico with three games remaining.

Atletico will need just one point from their remaining three matches to finish above Zidane's side ahead of what is expected to be a summer clearout at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Real's arch-rivals Barcelona were crowned champions on Saturday following a 1-0 win at home to Levante.