Madrid (Spain): Zinedine Zidane may have scored, but he was still disappointed with his final game for Real Madrid.
Zidane, who is to retire after the World Cup, scored a 72nd-minute goal at Sevilla on Tuesday but couldn't prevent a 4-3 loss at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.
Despite Madrid's eighth loss in 38 league games this season, Zidane's team finished runner-up behind FC Barcelona and qualified for the Champions Lead.
Valencia lost 2-1 at Osasuna on Tuesday, missing the chance to finish second.
"It was a bittersweet farewell because we lost but I'm satisfied with second place. It's a shame we didn't get the three points which would have ended the season a bit better," Zidane said.
"My goal doesn't matter, that's not what is important. What interested us was to win this game and in the end we weren't able to do so."
The France midfielder had joined Madrid from Juventus for a world record transfer fee of US $ 65 million in 2001.
"At least we finished second, which isn't the best but it was what we were fighting for this match. And we reached the Champions League without having to play in the preliminary round in August," said Zidane, who also scored in his final match at Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium on May 7.
However, he acknowledged that his team was continuing to disappoint. Madrid hasn't won major silverware for three years, its worst streak since the early 1950s.
"I know we haven't had a good season," he said.
Zidane, who was named world player of the year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, announced on April 25 he would hang up his boots.
He said his teammates didn't try to persuade him to carry on after Tuesday's game. "All my teammates gave me their congratulations, simply that's all they said," he said.
The midfielder, who helped France win the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, has to turn his attention to the World Cup in Germany.
"Now we have to rest for a long as we can and then begin to think about the World Cup," he said.
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