Real Madrid dropped two more points in the title race on Friday night, continuing their poor run of form and handing Barcelona a potential 11-point lead in the standings.
Vinicius Jr. opened the scoring on the night in the 17th minute, opening up a cushion that the team tried to build on.
Unfortunately, however, they could not find a second goal and continued to defend their lead as Real Betis mounted the pressure after the break.
Eventually, the hosts found a goal via Hector Bellerin and stole a draw.
Arbeloa’s analysis
Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa spoke to the media after his team’s draw against Real Betis on Friday night and admitted that the result was a disappointing one for his side.
“It is clear that we took another disappointment in the last minutes, as has happened to us many times, and it is a result that I think we did not deserve because we have had opportunities.
“There is also a very clear penalty in the first half that I think we could have closed the game,” he added.
Elaborating on the potential penalty incident that he felt his side was hard done by, Arbeloa explained how it was a blatant foul.
“It’s a clear foul on Mendy for Betis’ goal. The problem is that the referees need to understand football, but sometimes they don’t understand it.”
Arbeloa was not happy with the refereeing decisions. (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
The coach then went on to blame the referee for the defeat, claiming that the poor decisions and officiating cost the team two points.
“For me, it is something very basic in the world of football, but it is not the first time that something like this has happened to us and I think there are two decisions that mark the game a lot.”
Arbeloa was then asked about Kylian Mbappe, who left the field in the 81st minute with discomfort, and admitted that the player felt a niggle.
“Mbappé coming off? Kylian has had some discomfort, I don’t really know what it is. We’ll see in the next few days.”
He then made a massive statement when asked why Dani Ceballos had not travelled with the team, indicating that the Spaniard had fallen out of favour.
“Why did Ceballos not travel? Is there a problem? I always call up those I consider appropriate.”
Finally, Arbeloa was asked about his side conceding a goal in virtually the last kick of the game, to which he disappointedly said,
“We don’t have a clear reason why this is happening to us in the final minutes; if we knew we would have already corrected it.”
Source: Real Madrid website
