Zidane urges Real not to ´go crazy´ amid barren run

Zinedine Zidane has urged his Real Madrid team not to “go crazy” after slumping a fourth successive draw across all competitions against Eibar on Sunday.

Fran Rico’s early opener spelled danger for the home side at the Santiago Bernabeu and, although Gareth Bale did equalise soon after, Real never fully recovered and rarely looked like prevailing against their Basque opponents. 

The stalemate added to draws against Villarreal and Las Palmas in LaLiga and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, but Zidane was keen to add some optimism to the debate, dispelling any suggestions of a “crisis” as nonsense.

“I am responsible as the coach of this team, I must look for solutions,” he said. “We must change this.

“This is not a crisis, we are only in October. We cannot go crazy. 

“But something is wrong for sure; three draws in a row in LaLiga. We will analyse things again and when they come back from the international break we must change. We cannot continue like this”

“We did not play in the first half; Eibar did play. The second half was much better, which is something we’ve been saying too much recently.

“I believe in hard work and the quality of this team. If we put in hard enough work then the quality shows.”

To make matters worse for Zidane, two key players could be forced into spells out through injury, as Karim Benzema and Raphael Varane were withdrawn at half-time.

“Both substitutions were because of injury,” the Frenchman confirmed. “Karim felt something in his knee and needs to have some tests. 

“For Varane it was just a knock, a strong knock.”