Second division side knock Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey with 3-2 victory
After playing with much of the first team absent, new Real Madrid head coach Alvaro Arbeloa fell to an embarrassing defeat to second-tier Albacete in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
Madrid went into the tie without Jude Bellingham, Thibaut Courtois, Alvaro Carreras and Aurelien Tchouameni, who were rotated out, and Kylian Mbappe, Rodrygo, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Eder Militao, Antonio Rudiger, and Ferland Mendy, who are all injured.
Six Real Madrid Castilla players were in the squad, but the La Liga heavyweights still had more than enough firepower to do the job, with Vinicius Junior, Gonzalo Garcia, Franco Mastantuono, Federico Valverde and Arda Guler all in the side.
With Alonso ruthlessly dismissed on Monday just seven months into the job and Castilla coach Arbeloa surprisingly handed the reins, nothing could have been more important than to kick off with a win, and nothing could within reason have been more disastrous than to crash out in the Copa del Rey against a side from the second division.
But Madrid did. Despite controlling most of the possession and ending the night with 78 per cent of the ball, they created very little. Madrid had five shots on target, but so did Albacete, who led on a foggy night courtesy of Javi Villar’s first-half header.
Arbeloa looked ice cold on the sidelines, deathly in his black coat, dark hair and pale face. If this was not enough of a difficult job already, it certainly is now with a defeat that will only attract further pressure on the 42-year-old.
It was made worse by the fact that Albacete, the 17th-best team in Spain’s second tier, 35 places below Madrid on the Spanish football rankings, did not park the bus or get into a lucky lead they then defended to the death. Instead they played with freedom and arguably had the better chances, always going back ahead even as Madrid tried to drag themselves back into the tie.
Mastantuono fired Madrid level just before the break from the rebound after a header from Dean Huijsen, ensuring both sides restarted level in the second half, but Jefte Betancor made it 2-1 with eight minutes to go in normal time.
Garcia levelled again for Madrid in stoppage time, seemingly denying the impressive and determined home side a historic win, but Bentacor was barely challenged three minutes later, given time and space to dink the ball over Madrid players and into the bottom corner.
