Los Blancos trail Barcelona by four points having themselves been five points ahead at the start of November
Xabi Alonso said he and his players were “angry” and needed to respond “as quickly as possible” after they lost at home to Celta Vigo on Sunday to crank up the pressure at the capital.
Celta’s Williot Swedberg scored twice in the second half at the Santiago Bernabeu, the second coming at stoppage time after indiscipline had seen two Real Madrid players sent to an early shower.
Fran Garcia and Alvaro Carreras were both dismissed in quick succession, the former shortly after the hour mark, and the latter in stoppage time.
The evening had started on a grim note when Eder Militao went down before the half-hour mark to compound Madrid’s defensive problems. Antonio Rudiger was brought on in his place.
The loss leaves Madrid trailing Barcelona by four points having themselves been five points ahead at the start of November. They have now managed just one win from their last five league games.
“We’re angry,” said Alonso. “It wasn’t the game or result we wanted. The injury to Militao hurt us, and it was hard to recover.”
Madrid had hoped their midweek win at Athletic Club and their first home game after six successive games on the road would help with an upturn in fortunes, but the manner of the defeat to Celta will now only intensify the scrutiny around Alonso. The manager admitted the performance fell well below the level he had expected.
“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.”
He also criticised the referee and then urged his players to show a reaction when they face Manchester City in the Champions League this week.
“I didn’t like the [refereeing] performance,” Alonso said. “With the card for Alvaro, I don’t know, that was very debatable. The referee was quick to award it. I didn’t like that, it got out of control.
“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.”
