Spanish champions Real Madrid suffered a shocking 1-0 loss at home to promoted Cadiz on Saturday, their first La Liga defeat in over seven months.
Honduran forward Anthony Lozano put Cadiz ahead in the 16th minute, darting between Madrid defenders, Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane, to meet a cushioned header from Alvaro Negredo and lifting the ball over keeper Thibaut Courtois into the net.
“This is a historic win and we want to celebrate it,” said match-winner Lozano.
The shocking victory took Cadiz up to second in the league, level on 10 points with Madrid who visit Barcelona next week in the Clasico.
“If you concede an early goal against a team like this you really struggle,” Madrid keeper Courtois said after his team suffered their first league defeat at home in more than a year.
“The first half was very bad, we conceded two or three chances, we had a serious discussion at halftime and made a few changes but couldn’t find the goal because they were very organized and defended very well.
“We weren’t at our best today and if you aren’t at your best you can’t expect to win games,” he said.
“There’s no explanation. We have to accept the defeat,” Zidane said. “We can’t be happy, we aren’t happy, but it can happen in football. We didn’t start well; it was hard for us from the beginning.
“In the second half we were a bit better, but in the first half they could have scored two or three goals. When you can’t get into a game things get complicated and that’s what happened tonight. There are no excuses,” he added.
Meanwhile, Barcelona fell to their first defeat in La Liga under new coach Ronald Koeman as they lost 1-0 at Getafe on Saturday in a match that saw United States youngster Sergino Dest make his debut start.
Getafe forward Jaime Mata sent Barca goalkeeper Neto the wrong way from the penalty spot to score the only goal in the 56th minute after visiting midfielder Frenkie de Jong had been penalized for treading on Djene Dakonam’s foot.