Xabi Alonso said Real Madrid were “angry” after their 2-0 LaLiga defeat to Celta Vigo, criticising the referee’s performance after two red cards, and calling on the team to react in Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Manchester City.
Williot Swedberg scored twice at the Bernabéu, while Madrid lost centre-back Éder Militão to a first-half injury, and defenders Fran García and Álvaro Carreras were both sent off.
The result leaves Madrid four points behind Barcelona at the top of LaLiga, and increases the pressure on Alonso, having picked up just one win in Madrid’s last five league games.
“We’re angry, it wasn’t the game or result we wanted,” Alonso said in his post-match news conference. “The injury to Militão hurt us, and it was hard to recover.
“We tried to adjust things, but it wasn’t the game we wanted. We have to move on as quickly as possible, there’s a lot of league left, and on Wednesday we have the City game in the Champions League to react, and remove the bad taste from our mouths.”
Madrid looked to have bounced back from a run of three consecutive LaLiga games with a midweek victory at Athletic Club, but the loss to Celta is a significant setback.
“It wasn’t what we hoped for,” Alonso said. “We planned to play with a good rhythm, and we lacked things…We were almost at our best with 10 men. At the start it didn’t go as we wanted. We have to show a different face on Wednesday.”
Alonso said was unhappy with the work of referee Alejandro Quintero, who sent off Garcia after showing him two yellow cards in two minutes, and later dismissed Carreras in added time for dissent.
“I didn’t like the [refereeing] performance,” Alonso said. “With the card for Álvaro [Carreras], I don’t know, that was very debatable. [The referee] was quick [to do it]. I didn’t like that, it got out of control.”
Alonso, who took over from Carlo Ancelotti as Madrid coach last summer, refused to blame his players for the team’s disappointing results.
“We all take the blame, we’re all together,” he said. “It’s everyone’s responsibility, not just the players, the coaches, we all have to do things well.
“It’s three points, it hurts, we’re angry, we wanted to be higher up [in the table] than we are, but there’s a long way to go.”