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MADRID.  — With Zinedine Zidane facing his third crisis in his second spell with Real Madrid, his players must once again fight for their coach on the pitch when they visit Alaves in the Spanish La Liga football today, smarting from a shock Cup defeat to tiny Alcoyano.

The 2-1 extra-time defeat on Wednesday to the third division, semi-professional side followed a 2-1 loss to Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup and left last year’s LaLiga champions with one win in their last five games in all competitions. Zidane, who knows the pressures of Real as well as anyone, did his best to play down the Alcoyano defeat and insisted it should not be classed as an embarrassment, vowing his side would not lose their heads as a result.

But Spanish media showed no such restraint. “No-one can escape this debacle,” said the front cover of newspaper Marca, while daily AS described it as a “disgrace”, adding Zidane’s status had been affected.

The French coach was in the same position less than two months ago after defeats to Alaves and Shakhtar Donetsk and his players provided the perfect remedy with a winning streak of five matches in the league.

He also faced fierce criticism in September 2019 following a hefty defeat to Paris St Germain but rode out the storm to guide the team to the Spanish title. — AFP.