Pre-season woes continue for error-prone Real
Another defeat ahead of the new campaign raises more questions about Zidane’s side
MUNICH: Real Madrid’s disastrous pre-season continued on Tuesday as they lost 1-0 to Tottenham in Munich.
“Our defeat was well deserved,” Real midfielder Toni Kroos told German TV after the match. It’s true that we’re not quite in good shape.”
In the second match of the evening, Bayern Munich thrashed Fenerbahce 6-1.
Champions League runners-up Tottenham were scheduled to play Bayern in Wednesday’s final, while Real were to take on Fenerbahce.
For Spurs, Harry Kane scored the only goal of the game with a deft finish after pouncing on a disastrous pass by Marcelo, who was trying to prevent a throw in, after 22 minutes.
Humiliated 7-3 last week by Atletico Madrid, Real could thank goalkeeper Keylor Navas, starting in place of injured Thibaut Courtois, for preventing a heavier loss against an enterprising and more aggressive Spurs team.
Madrid survived some goalmouth scares in the first half. After the break, Dele Alli went close twice and 17-year-old Troy Parrott hit the inside of the post.
Zinedine Zidane’s team have conceded 13 goals and lost three of their four warm-up games.
“We started off very badly, the opponent took advantage of our mistakes,” said Kroos.
With Gareth Bale, the source of turmoil in recent weeks, left out of the squad for the trip to Munich and James Rodriguez yet to start after returning from Bayern, Real rarely threatened. Star summer recruit Eden Hazard was invisible.
After Wednesday’s game against Fenerbahce, Zidane’s men travel to Austria to face Salzburg on August 6, then to Italy for a match against AS Rome, the last friendly before starting their Spanish league campaign away to Celta Vigo on August 17. BALE NOT FIT
Meanwhile, Zidane said that unsettled Welsh star Bale did not travel to Munich as he was not fit. “He didn’t travel because he wasn’t fit,” Zidane told reporters after the match at Allianz Arena.
“After speaking with the doctors, the best thing was for him to stay in Madrid. He stayed back and is training there. It was a joint decision between the player, medical staff and the coach.”
Bale, whose proposed move to China’s Jiangsu Suning collapsed after a disagreement between the clubs over the transfer fee, appears to be out of favour at the Spanish club and manager Zidane. GENEVA: