Real Madrid suffered. Enormously. This Sunday, the Madrilenians snatched victory at the last second against Rayo Vallecano. It was the inevitable Kylian Mbappé who scored the winning goal from a penalty, giving Alvaro Arbeloa his 4th victory in 6 games on the Merengues bench. A timid but respectable record for the former right-back, who took the place of Xabi Alonso on January 12.
Despite everything, his two defeats are a stain, whether at Benfica in the Champions League (4-2) and against the modest Albacete team in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey (3-2). Arbeloa, however, is not panicked. “I’m not Gandalf the White either,” he said at a press conference in a funny reference to the wizard from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
“Regularity is essential”
The Spaniard is, however, aware of his team’s lack of consistency. “I see what I expected from my players: commitment, attitude. But it must be understood that quality alone is not enough, he said. Consistency is essential, and we will work to achieve it. Because this is Real Madrid, and to beat Rayo Vallecano we have to do more than any other team in La Liga. Just like when we have to do it in Valencia. »
Alvaro Arbeloa also returned to the success of the day. “It was a hard-fought victory, a real battle of wills,” he said. We needed the supporters. Without their support, we would not have succeeded. We deserved to score early, and I’m very happy with the players’ effort. It wasn’t easy, but we managed. »
