Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 8y

Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane after Las Palmas draw: 'Football is cruel'

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said his side didn't deserve to lose after a late equaliser saw their lead over Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table cut to one point thanks to Saturday evening's 2-2 draw at home to Las Palmas.

A very open first half saw Marco Asensio on target for Madrid and Tana soon hitting back for the home team. With 25 minutes remaining, Zidane sent on an extra attacker in Karim Benzema, and within four minutes the Frenchman bundled a shot to the net after Cristiano Ronaldo's effort was saved by home goalkeeper Javi Varas.

Ronaldo was then substituted as Madrid appeared to begin thinking about Tuesday's Champions League game at Borussia Dortmund, only for a late twist as substitute Sergio Araujo equalised for the Canary Islanders.

Zidane's side have now dropped four points in four days following their midweek 1-1 draw at home to Villarreal. They remain top of the table -- but now just one point ahead of Barca, who had earlier on Saturday won 5-0 at Sporting Gijon.

The Los Blancos coach told reporters after the game that the result was undeserved as his team had been in control of the game

"We deserved to win," Zidane said. "We controlled the game, but you have to play until the end. In general I cannot complain about the game we played. Playing like that over the 90 minutes we will be at the top. I have no doubt about that.

"Sometimes football is cruel. We played against a good opponent. They are up near the top of the table, playing good football. When we score late to win we are happy, today I will not complain."

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