Alvaro Arbeloa urged Real Madrid to move on from their shock 2-1 defeat to Osasuna on Saturday and make the necessary improvements in their upcoming matches.
Los Blancos title hopes suffered a huge dent on Saturday after they fell to a disappointing defeat, giving Barcelona the chance to overtake them at the top of the standings.
Osasuna had not beaten Madrid at home in 15 years, but they banished that demon with an important win that moved them up to ninth on the standings.
“It wasn’t a good game for us”, Arbeloa reacted during his post-match interview.
“We can do a lot more, we can play much better. It isn’t easy to do it in midweek and then a Sunday, but those are the demands, this is Real Madrid. We knew how difficult it would be to come here.
Nobody wants to lose of course, but it will be a long season. There’s a lot left. In the first half we had quite a lot of control, but we lacked speed in our game, we have to move the ball much more quickly”, the interim head coach added.
Ante Budimir put the host ahead in the first half from the penalty spot, sending Thibaut Courtois the wrong way.
However, Vinicius Junior equalized for Real Madrid in the second half, sliding home from a Federico Valverde cross.
However, Raul Garcia scored a stunning winner in stoppage-time, given after a VAR review as Osasuna snatched a late victory.
“We have to keep working, we have to open teams up on the wings. We’re playing a lot down the left, but we have to do it on the other side too, otherwise we’re too easy to defend”, Arbeloa continued.
“We know we did good things last Tuesday [against Benfica] that today it wasn’t so easy to do, we have a lot of room for improvement, and when we aren’t at 100% any team can beat you, we’re aware of that.”
Real Madrid will shift their attention to their midweek Champions League playoff second leg clash against Benfica, with a one-goal advantage from the first leg.
Olakitan is a young writer with a strong passion for sports, having gained experience with IndyPress and Nimelssa Press. His enthusiasm for sports inspired him to cover events both within his school and beyond. With a deep understanding of the game and a refined skillset, he brings sports coverage to a broad, global audience in a way that’s engaging and accessible.
