Real Madrid suffered a major setback in the La Liga title race as they were beaten 2-1 by RCD Mallorca at Son Moix earlier today.
It was a disappointing performance from Real Madrid as they went behind in the first half thanks to Manu Morlanes' strike. An equaliser came in the 88th minute from substitute Eder Militao, but Vedat Muriqi struck in stoppage time to win it for the hosts.
The Merengues are already four points behind leaders FC Barcelona , who can now stretch their lead to seven when they face Atletico Madrid later tonight.
Following the disappointing defeat, Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa addressed the media in his pre-match press conference, trying to explain what went wrong for his team on the afternoon.
"For me, it's much easier to see the difficulty of the match, of the opposition. It's easy for me to see that; the tricky bit is getting the players to understand that today, without giving 200%, we weren't going to win,"he said.
Talking about the performance on the day, Arbeloa noted: "Even though we were the better side in the first half, a single lapse cost us a goal.
"Here, you lose focus for a moment, you don't adjust properly, you lose your mark, you don't track him, and it costs you a goal. When you're not clinical in front of goal and the opposition are, you end up paying the price, because this is the elite.
"Not having played a much better second half than we did is what hurts me the most of all."
On whether this loss means the La Liga title is out of their reach, the Real Madrid boss remarked:
"It's tougher than it was before the match started. We've got eight games left and, as I've told the players, whatever the league situation, our next objective is to win all eight of them.
"And to do that, we have to play better than we did today and perform at a much higher level. It's all more difficult, but our objective has to remain the same."
On whether they will now hope for a favour from Atletico Madrid tonight, he added: "That's not my concern. I'm focused on my team and preparing for Tuesday's match. I don't waste time on that."
Real Madrid suffered a shock defeat to Mallorca . (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Touching upon the poor performance from the team in the second half compared to what was on display in the first period, Arbeloa explained:
"It's surely the context, the anxiety of seeing ourselves trailing on the scoreboard, the patience we had to have… They closed down the spaces on us more and had more energy once they saw the result going their way.
"We lacked both that patience and what we'd worked on during the week: being able to turn them and create more one-on-one situations out wide. We were missing a lot more in the second half. We needed a second half with more energy and clearer ideas."
On being asked if the loss was more on the players than the coach, Arbeloa assumed total responsibility for the result, saying:
"This defeat is on me, entirely and absolutely on me. What I need from them is for them to be focusing on Tuesday's match already.
"I'm the one who makes the decisions, and this defeat is entirely down to the Real Madrid manager; I need my players to believe they can win Tuesday's match. When they come out of the dressing room, they must think of nothing but Bayern."
The Real Madrid coach also touched on the situation of Jude Bellingham , who did not start and failed to spark a comeback after coming on in the second half.
"That's normal. He's been out for many weeks. He played 20 minutes against Atlético. The idea is for him to keep building up his match fitness. He can't be at his best without playing matches. We need to be patient with him, of course,"said Arbeloa.
Concluding, Arbeloa insisted that he did not believe that today's defeat will affect the Real Madrid fans ahead of their crucial home game against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
"Not at all. I know what my players are capable of. I know they understand the importance of Tuesday's match. There are days when it's just not your day, when things don't go your way.
"On Tuesday, the demands will be at their highest and I know the support the Real Madrid fans will give us. With them, everything is easier,"he concluded.
Source: AS
