Zinedine Zidane Says Real Madrid 'Lack Some Motivation' After Valencia Defeat

Zinedine Zidane said his Real Madrid side are lacking motivation after they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Valencia in La Liga on Wednesday. 

Real were largely outclassed at the Mestalla Stadium, and Karim Benzema's stoppage-time goal was a consolation after Goncalo Guedes and Ezequiel Garay had put the hosts 2-0 ahead.

It was Los Blancos' first defeat since Zidane's return to the dugout in March, but it was their ninth loss in the league in 2018-19:

The 2008-09 season was the last time Real lost as many matches in the Spanish top flight. 

Zidane said that, with Real out the title race, his players are lacking some drive to put in their best performances, as they are also in no danger of dropping out the UEFA Champions League spots, per Jamie Smith of Goal:

"They will try to finish the season in the best possible way. We are going to spend a few months in which we will talk about many different topics. It's true that, maybe in these games we lack some motivation. But these players are professionals, and when they put on the shirt of this team they know they have to go for it and they do it."

Zidane was never going to have an easy task on his hands to guide Real through the remaining games of 2018-19 given they have nothing to play for.

He was appointed in the wake of Madrid's exits from the UEFA Champions League and the Copa del Rey within a week, and they were already 12 points behind La Liga leaders Barca.

After the Blaugrana's remarkable 4-4 draw with Villarreal on Tuesday, Real had the opportunity to get back to within 10 points of their archrivals:

But that seemingly did not give them much motivation, understandably given there are only eight games left of the season.

Zidane asserted again after the match that he is not using the final games of 2018-19 as an audition for the first team next season, per Smith: "This is not an exam at all because these people are Real Madrid players. We are going through a complicated moment. We must also live the bad moments, it will not change anything."

The side that started against Los Che was arguably Real's strongest, with the likes of Raphael Varane, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric returning to the squad after being rested in Sunday's laboured win over Huesca:

For Valencia, it was a crucial win because it put them to within a point of the top four and next season's Champions League.