Madrid's sensation is not good - Zidane reflects on limp US tour

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane maintained his trademark calm amid concerns over the LaLiga champions' wretched pre-season form.

Zinedine Zidane lamented Real Madrid's poor pre-season form after the European champions scraped a 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory over the MLS All-Stars in Chicago.

Madrid were pegged back to a 1-1 draw after Dom Dwyer's late equaliser cancelled out Borja Mayoral's deflected opener.

Zidane's son Luca saved Dwyer's spot-kick and Giovani dos Santos hit the crossbar to hand Madrid the first success of their US trip, having been defeated on penalties by Manchester United before losing 4-1 to Manchester City and 3-2 against rivals Barcelona.

"The sensation overall is not good," said Zidane, whose team face United once more in the UEFA Super Cup next Tuesday before a Supercopa de Espana double-header with Barca.

"It's good that we got the result, but the sensation is not positive overall. We only won one out of four games.

"The tour is done, now we have four days to go back and prepare for the Super Cup, which is our first official match, and obviously we have some things to work out."

Zidane is keen for an upturn in performances and results before Madrid begin their LaLiga title defence and he was unable to identify any standout reason for the slump.

"It's a little bit of everything," he said. "We started poorly, especially with results, and sometimes we hit a bad streak in those four matches.

"What I want and what everyone wants is to get back home and have a little bit of a rest."

One man who should be physically well-rested is star forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who sat out the tour on the back of his exertions with Portugal in the Confederations Cup but is now appearing in Spanish court to respond to charges of tax fraud.

"He needed to rest and have his holidays," Zidane added. "It was important after a long year."