Following a painful defeat which knocked Real Madrid out of the top eight of the Champions League, coach Álvaro Arbeloa reflected on the 4-2 loss to Benfica by insisting, “I’m responsible for this defeat, just like in Albacete. I feel totally responsible when things don’t go well. But we haven’t been eliminated from the Champions League, we have two matches left. And we’re going to face those two matches.”
Arbeloa on whether he regrets saying forwards don’t have to defend
“I don’t regret anything I said, it’s what I believe. If the conclusion is that we lose because the forwards don’t run, I completely disagree.”
“We were far from what we want to be, from the demands of the opponent, from the atmosphere, from what was at stake… We weren’t able to perform at the required level for 90 minutes. We knew we had to work hard, we’re aware that there’s a lot to do. We have to look ahead. To win these games, you have to do a lot of things right for 90 minutes.”
“It’s not the first time a goalkeeper has scored against me. They had to take a risk, we were down to nine men, we had to score too. They took the risk and they won.”
“I wasn’t surprised, I said yesterday that the demands of the match were going to be maximum. I knew the level of the opposition and their manager. I told the players that. I wasn’t able to get the players to perform at the level I wanted them to. If the team doesn’t perform at the level I want, the responsibility is always mine. I wasn’t able to get them to approach the match the way I wanted them to.”
Arbeloa on Cestero playing ahead of Ceballos
“It was a technical decision. We needed to avoid the situation that happened with Asencio, everyone in defence had a card. I wanted to protect the team a little, I knew they could beat us in an attack. In the end, they took it out on Raúl. I have a lot of confidence in Cestero, he was very good for us. That’s all there is to it.”
Arbeloa on a lack of intensity
“We lacked a lot of things. A lot of things. It was a Champions League match against an opponent who was playing for their lives in front of their fans. They played with intensity and attacked very well. There’s no single reason, we lacked a lot of things to beat Benfica today.”
Arbeloa on whether he’s angry
“Of course. We’re not happy. We knew what we were coming into and how difficult it would be. They got the better of us.”
Arbeloa on what went wrong
“I’d like to say it was just one thing and that I’m clear about it. A lot of things were missing. We’re a long way from the version of ourselves we can be. There’s a lot to improve on and I still think that.”
“Frustration, for not being able to control their emotions at times. That’s how it is.”
“Well, I think today I’d rather not talk about the referee, given the performance of my team, for which I am responsible. I’d rather not comment.”
Arbeloa on playing Benfica again
“We’ll have to wait and see who we get.”
