Alvaro Arbeloa spoke to the media after Real Madrid’s 2-1 loss to Osasuna on Saturday evening. He was asked about their intensity, to which he said: “I’ve said that we always have to match the intensity of our opponents. I don’t know if I’m saying things differently or if I’m not expressing myself well. It’s true that we haven’t been able to string together games, even though we were coming off three good wins. But this is a day-by-day situation. We can’t get stuck after the fourth game. That’s what
we’re working towards.”
Arbeloa on what this defeat implies
“I hope it’s nothing serious, because we’re fighting for our lives again in four days. A team shows its strength in adversity. What we can’t allow is doubt. I believe in my team. We need to maintain that level of performance over time. We’ll keep working, pushing ourselves, and getting the best out of every player, because we need them all.”
Arbeloa on whether the team was ‘too slow’
“I didn’t say we were too slow, but rather that we needed to move the ball faster and create more danger. It’s a matter of concept, knowing what we want to do and what we want to provoke. We have to keep working on it, to see what we did well on Tuesday and not today. There are many more matches to play. We have a lot of room for improvement. If you’re not at 100%, anyone can beat you. Our opponents prepare very well for their matches.”
Arbeloa on the result
“Nobody likes to lose, least of all us. This is going to be a long season; I said it hadn’t even started yet. And I still think so. We had control of the first half, but we lacked speed. Against any deep defensive block, we need to move the ball faster. We need to create chances on both flanks. We focused a lot on the left wing, which is normal, but that makes us easy to defend against. We have another game on Wednesday, and we need to approach it in the best possible way.”
Arbeloa on Fede Valverde’s substitution
“He’s been putting in a lot of effort playing many games in a row, and he’s been dealing with a lot of discomfort. He’s been feeling it for the last few weeks. And I preferred not to risk Fede. It was more about not taking any chances, in case he got injured.”
Arbeloa on the refereeing
“From what little I saw, there could have been a foul in the previous play. Two very close offside calls went against us. We didn’t play well; we need to play much better, with more intensity. It’s not easy to do that Wednesday-Sunday, but that’s what’s expected of us. This is Real Madrid. I knew they were demanding, and I wasn’t wrong.”
Arbeloa on Kylian Mbappé’s fitness
“He rested last weekend; he didn’t play against Real Sociedad, which wasn’t just any team. When we think he’s not fit, we’re not going to take risks. It’s not something I decide alone; I do it with the doctors. He felt ready to play, and as I said, he didn’t play against Real Sociedad.”
