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Zinedine Zidane

MADRID. – Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane joked yesterday that he was “jinxed” as his team comes under attack for their misfiring start to this season’s Spanish La Liga soccer campaign.

“So now I’m jinxed, am I?” the Frenchman said two days after Real suffered a shock 1-0 defeat by Real Betis. Before I was the shining star . . . No, no, I’ve always been a shining star, don’t worry.

“I’m at this club and I make the absolute most of being here. I don’t think about bad luck, that’s part of football and the good news is that we have a match tomorrow. We have the chance to be able to change that quickly and we’ll do it.”

In the space of just five games Real Madrid have gone from red hot La Liga title favourites to trailing rivals Barcelona by seven points ahead of today’s trip to Alaves. When Madrid swept a crisis-ridden Barca aside 5-1 in the Spanish Super Cup last month, Zinedine Zidane’s men were expected to romp to the title.

Instead, disappointing home draws against Valencia and Levante were compounded as Real failed to score for the first time in 74 games when Real Betis became the first side other than Barca or Atletico Madrid to win at the Santiago Bernabeu in La Liga for six-and-a-half years on Wednesday.

“We have dropped seven points in a small number of games but there is a long way to go and we can’t throw everything we have done until now in the bin because of two or three average games,” insisted Zidane.

“I know that many people don’t like this work when things go wrong, but we have to accept it and be calm.

“The league is very long and we will stay calm within the group because we will lift ourselves and we know we will have better days.”

Going on the road this weekend may come as a relief to Real as they have shone on their travels this season in wins at Deportivo la Coruna and Real Sociedad as well as beating Barca and Manchester United in the Spanish and UEFA Super Cups respectively.

“It seems like if we don’t score early at the Bernabeu we start to get anxious,” admitted midfielder Isco.

“It is something we have to improve and it is better that it happens now at the start of the season when there is more room for error.”

And while Real have endured a rough start to their title defence, Alaves are suffering a nightmare start to the season themselves as they have lost all five matches so far and already sacked coach Luis Zubeldia.

“We need to turn the page and think about the next game,” said Real captain Sergio Ramos.

“We have come back from many points behind to win the league before. We need to stay calm because they are many games and points still to play for.”

– AFP.