Alonso: Refereeing Criticism & Calls for Consistency

Without Carreras and Fran García, both suspended, and Mendy, injured, Xabi Alonso was forced to debut a young 19-year-old left-back (Valdepeñas) when traveling to Alavés and Real Madrid won 2-1, remaining four points behind LaLiga’s isolated leader, rival Barcelona.

However, the Spanish coach didn’t like the refereeing and made a point of talking about the penalty that wasn’t awarded in favor of the team. meringues about Vinícius Júnior. «I’m going to talk about the play, not the referee. It seemed like a clear penalty to me. Vini comes very quickly, there is contact and it really surprises me that they don’t even use VAR. That said, it doesn’t surprise us. And we have to continue”, he began by saying, at a press conference, also downplaying the pressure to obtain results, with the Spanish press stating that he has to win the next two games to avoid dismissal.

«It is clear that Celta’s day was not a good game, there were many things missing and today there were positive things. Things that we need to have in every game and others that we have to improve to win and continue winning games. We need continuity, constancy; It’s the League and, well, if that’s anything to learn from, let it not fall into oblivion. We are all in this together, in the good times and the not so good times. Today the team competed very well, with the conditions we had. Unity is fundamental. It’s the only way for the solidity of day-to-day life to provide us with the improvement we want”, he explained, focusing on the last two games of the year, in addition to talking about Valdepeñas.

«We are very focused on our work. Very united, preparing a game every three days. Today I give a lot of credit to the victory, because we came with many casualties, with players suspended, as I said before, Valdepeñas made his debut and I congratulate him from here. Not only for his debut, but for the game he played. He competed and was a very stable player. And making your debut for Real Madrid is always a special day. And then… we’re all in this together. The dynamics… one game is not enough, now we have the Cup and then the home game against Sevilla. There is still a long way to go and it was an important moment, but we have to continue the good things we did today», he concluded.