Article by Aurelian Botezatu – Published Monday, 08 December 2025, 08:20 / Updated on Monday, 08 December 2025 08:21
The coach of Real Madrid, Xabi Alonso, explained what were the reasons for the failure suffered on Sunday evening, in front of Celta Vigo (0-2).
Real Madrid had a dark night with Celta Vigo. In front of a very disciplined team, “waterproof” in their own half and with a safe Ionuț Radu between the sticks, Xabi Alonso's stars had great problems in creating opportunities.
Real Madrid finished the match in nine!
The situation got even more complicated from the 53rd minute, when Swedberg opened the scoring. Nerves also appeared later, and Fran Garcia (min. 64) and Alvaro Carreras (90+2) were eliminated, before the same Swedberg established the final result: 0-2.
Coach Xabi Alonso stormed into his post-match press conference and blamed defender Eder Militao's injury in the 24th minute and referee Quintero González.
Xabi Alonso: “I didn't like the referee's performance”
“It wasn't what we expected. We wanted to play with pace and we were lacking in certain areas. Militão's injury messed up our plans. It's bad news. We're struggling with injuries. It was hard for us to react.
The best moments were when I was left with ten people. It hurts, we are angry and we understand why people are angry,” said Xabi, who then took on the “central” of the party.
“The referee's decisions frustrated us. The elimination, I didn't like his performance… The card for Álvaro was very questionable. I didn't like it and that confused us a bit. I didn't like the refereeing,” said the Basque coach.
Xabi Alonso: “We have to turn the page as quickly as possible. The game against City is coming and we can react”
The journalists also reminded him that Real Madrid has only two wins in the last 7 matches played. Alonso's reaction: “We are all furious. We have to turn the page as quickly as possible. There is still a long way to go in La Liga. And we have the Champions League game against City to react and get rid of this bitter taste.
We are all united and we know that we can change things. There is still a long way to go and you can have a bad game at home. We know what the requirements are at this club. Defeats hurt a lot, but we have to look ahead”.
