Arbeloa: Albacetazo Incident Explained

Chamartín’s team, which lives from improvisation to improvisation, with no credible plan in sight, has squandered two different competitions in four dark days, has cut off along the way a prestigious coach who could have modernized his script and has exchanged it for another without service in the elite that starts off in a bad way.

Two goals from Jefté and another from Javi Villar buried a Madrid without soul and with a terrible game that had no choice but to cling to the epic in the absence of greater arguments against a Second Division rival and who could not even manage to stay afloat. All the alarms are ringing in Chamartín. The Arbeloa stage is born breech.

The new Real Madrid coach, who had three injured players and three others injured, also left four heavyweights fallow, Courtois, Carreras, Tchouaméni and Bellingham, thereby decapitalizing a good part of that midfield that was so deficient under the aegis of Xabi Alonso, although with the duel against a Second Division opponent as an alibi.

He rebuilt it by betting on Cestero, the “best six in Spain” according to the Spartan, escorted by Valverde, again a midfielder, and Arda Güler. At the back, another nod to the youth team with the presence of David Jiménez on the right side, while up top he gave a reel to Mastantuono, who went from being a frequent winger to a residual one as Xabi Alonso transitioned from revolutionary to scapegoat, as a complement to Gonzalo and Vinicius.

If it weren’t for the fact that their new boss was facing his first day in the office, for Real Madrid the fight at the Carlos Belmonte could well have been just another day in the office. For Albacete, on the other hand, the event acquired the status of a state visit, which did not prevent its coach, Alberto González, from rotating thoroughly assessing the La Mancha team’s league difficulties.

The locals applied the predictable script, closing ranks behind and granting command to Real Madrid, who had to be patient to make their way through a forest of legs. Discipline against quality, order against hierarchy once the fog was lifting, which overshadowed a start with little chicha beyond a whip from Valverde who took a reverse curve to the Uruguayan’s purpose. Dani Bernabéu replied, with the fog already dissipated, with the same luck. Lots of noise in the stands, few nuts on the grass.

Until a corner once again brought out the colors of Real Madrid’s anti-aircraft defenses, inoperative again. Mastantuono missed the mark and Javi Villar finished off alone to put Albacete ahead in the crescent. The outlook was bleak for Arbeloa’s team, which achieved pardon through the same means of crime. Arda Güler served from the corner, Huijsen headed against Lizoain’s gloves and Mastantuono finished. The Argentine’s goal, with the discount already fulfilled, raised Carlos Belmonte, who went from ecstasy to fire, and relieved a Real Madrid team just as weak as the one left by Xabi Alonso.

From bad to worse

The first part showed recurrence of several of the sins that buried the Gipuzkoan. Arbeloa, despite this, kept the deck intact at halftime and his team continued with the same tone. The negligent visitor performance emboldened Albacete, who began to filter poisonous passes. Smelling danger, Arbeloa finally intervened. Alaba, episodic center back, and Camavinga, orthopedic left back, came on in Albacete as he did in so many fields with Ancelotti, without any of those replacements disturbing an insipid Real Madrid. He also called up Carvajal and Palacios, Castilla’s ‘killer’. His entry did not stop the nonsense either.

Far from improving with the changes, Chamartín’s team became even more upset. Cestero set a trap by losing a ball on the edge of his area and immediately after two failed clearances by Asencio and Gonzalo served the goal on a plate to Jefté. The drama was served.

Real Madrid threw themselves into desperation, managing to tie in stoppage time. Once again with a set piece, an emergency resource when football is nowhere to be seen, with Arda Güler taking the corner and Gonzalo executing with his head. Real Madrid accepted the purgatory of extra time as the lesser evil, but they incurred the sin of laziness and Jefté shot to put a very brave Albacete in the quarterfinals and sentence a shameful Madrid.