There were long faces and there was tension in the Real Madrid dressing room following Real Madrid's 3-2 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday night. Club president Florentino Perez saw that first hand, as he stopped by to see the players following their second defeat in a row.
It's normal for Perez to visit the dressing room following a match, but this time his visit was much briefer. As such, he was only there for three minutes as this wasn't a night for casual conversations.
It was perhaps a positive for Real Madrid that there were no fans present, as such a defeat in front of a full Estadio Santiago Bernabeu could have heightened the tension further. Instead, they were at a near-empty Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano as they fell to defeat because of a dreadful first half performance.
They also lost there to Cadiz on Saturday and the Real Madrid directors can't understand how another similar loss followed so soon. The blame is shared by the players and by Zinedine Zidane, who admitted he has work to do in his post-match press conference.
Up next are two difficult away matches as Real Madrid will face Barcelona in El Clasico on Saturday and then Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany on Tuesday in the next matchday of this Champions League group that is already complicated for Los Blancos.
Real Madrid have overcome crises like these before, though. Just last season they started their Champions League campaign with one point from the first two matches and they also followed that October international break with a LaLiga Santander loss, that time falling at Real Mallorca. They managed to stay alive in Europe and went on to win the Supercopa de Espana and the LaLiga Santander title. They'll aim to turn things around this season in a similar way.
SH2008
667
florentino gave real madrid a spanking of a life time
Chelsea™4™Ever
564
in the el clasico messi and Marcelo be like
TheClashOfTitans
441
We are coming soon 🔜😍
suleiman_zakari
364
Real Madrid Defence With Out Ramos Be Like
SH2008
288
florentino to zidane 1 more lose and ur going out
FemiBalogun
271
Perez to zidane and his players:::: 1 more loss and you are all dead
real_ultras
154
Take the blame on yourself Perez. Zidane left because he wanted to keep Ronaldo and sell Bale. Zidane knew what would happen if we let Ronaldo go. He had the vision. Perez never listened. Lopetgui wanted Thiago, Perez didn't listen. Zidane knew before joining second time that our team is getting old with no hunger so he wanted Pogba, Mbappe and Hazard. Zidane knew our attack is not clinical, our midfield is getting old. Perez didn't listen. Here we have a coach who knows what is wrong but is helpless to get a backup from management. Now Zidane is being pressurized to play Perez's another choice Jovic who in no way fits into Madrid's system. Result is in front of everyone. And here we are blaming the manager who knows exactly what's happening but is helpless to improve. As far as to those who are shouting about Ronaldo. Of course, Ronaldo is the best in the world. But even the best can't do it alone. We had Ronaldo for 9 years. Did we win it every year? Ronaldo at Juventus, is it possible to do it alone? Undeserved disrespect for Zidane. I pity us.