Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said Tuesday night's 3-1 friendly defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in Ohio "should not happen," although he had taken some positives from the game.
Zidane named his strongest available XI for his side's first preseason outing of the summer, but PSG youngster Jonathan Ikone opened the scoring after less than two minutes, while Thomas Meunier added two more goals on the Belgium right-back's debut for his new club.
Madrid replied through Marcelo's penalty, after a handball by Serge Aurier, just before half-time. And the game petered out after the break with both teams making many changes, including Zidane's son Enzo getting his first senior game in a Blancos shirt.
The Frenchman told his postgame news conference at the Ohio Stadium that the performance from his side was not really acceptable for any Real Madrid side, even given they were still in an early preparation phase ahead of 2016-17, and Unai Emery's PSG side had two games under their belts already.
"This result should not happen, not even in a friendly," Zidane said. "We are Real Madrid. We can't have this result happening again, but what we have to do and what we're trying to do, is to give our all when we play. We're currently in the preparation phase and we've got to get up to speed, that's what preseason is for. We know that the La Liga season is a very long one and that we've got to make a strong start."
Zidane said his team had not put enough into their challenges during the opening 45 minutes, while saying that his players creativity on the ball had been a positive to take from the game.
"We were a bit lacking in terms of aggression against strong opposition, particularly in the first half," he said. "As for the positives, I look at our play because we kept the ball and had chances to score. We're still in the preparation phase and it's to be expected that we're lacking in some areas. We've got to work more and make things come as second nature, that's something that will happen gradually."
Next up for Madrid is another International Champions Cup showpiece friendly against Chelsea in Ann Arbor on Saturday, followed by a game against Bayern Munich in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Wednesday.
Then the team fly back to Europe, ahead of the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla in Trondheim on Tuesday Aug. 9.