Clasico draw against Barca ´not good enough´ for Real Madrid boss Zidane

Zinedine Zidane said Wednesday’s 0-0 Clasico draw between Barcelona and Real Madrid was “not good enough”, even though he was impressed with his players.

Gareth Bale saw a goal correctly disallowed for offside in the second half of the stalemate at Camp Nou, which leaves Barca and Madrid level on points atop LaLiga.

Madrid managed 12 shots in the first half, the most they have managed in the opening 45 minutes of an away game against Barca since at least 2003-04, but they could not find a breakthrough to avoid a first league goalless draw with their fierce rivals since 2002.

Zidane was frustrated with the result given the chances his side created early on, but the head coach was not displeased with his players’ efforts.

12 – @realmadriden mustered 12 shots in the opening 45 minutes against Barcelona, their highest total in a first half at Camp Nou in #ElClásico in all competitions since at least 2003/04. Brave. pic.twitter.com/2Vk6EC3f9S

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) December 18, 2019

“The result isn’t good enough for me,” Zidane said to reporters. “We could’ve done something more, but that’s football.

“If you have chances, you have to score them, and this is what we were missing in certain instances.

“We played a serious match, we were focused for the 90 minutes. It was a good Clasico, a good football match. It only lacked goals.

“We have to be happy with the match because it’s against a very good opponent.”

Bale was something of a surprise inclusion in the first XI and Zidane was very happy with the Wales star’s performance given it was only the eighth league game this season in which he has started.

“Everyone played well,” he said. “Bale hadn’t played much and he had a great game.

“[Toni] Kroos and Fede [Valerde] in his position, Raphael [Varane], Sergio [Ramos]… everyone [played well].

“The team put in a great shift. When you play a game like that in this stadium… we deserved a bit more.”