Dani Carvajal has had a season to forget at Real Madrid. Physical problems have been compounded by the lack of confidence he has had from Alvaro Arbeloa in the final stretch of the season, when he was already recovered and looking for minutes to regain his place in the white team and also in the Spanish national team, where it is difficult for him to go to the World Cup.
Against Alaves, Carvajal was not in the starting line-up either. The Real Madrid coach preferred to give continuity to Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is also in question in the England team with Thomas Tuchel who does not seem to be willing to include him in the final list for the next World Cup. In the 63rd minute, Arbeloa brought him on in place of the former Liverpool full-back.
Arbeloa's personal motives with Carvajal?
Carvajal's situation, who is out of contract this season and has not renewed, has not gone unnoticed by Santiago Canizares, former goalkeeper of Real Madrid, Valencia and the Spanish national team. In his current role as a commentator on Tiempo de Juego (Cadena COPE), Canizares was blunt in showing his personal opinion on Arbeloa’s management of him.
"Honestly, Carvajal does not deserve the treatment he has received this season. He does not deserve it, because he is a Real Madrid legend,” he recalled. "I don't know if it's a grudge on the part of the coach or what he has, because, well, in the end he played in his position and was the one who took his place and told him, ‘you, to the garage, that I’m going to be here right back and also more brilliant,'” he said.
"I think resentment lasts longer than yogurt, especially when we’re all a little bit proud,” he said. “I repeat, if he's lame, mutilated, let him play so that everyone can see it, but let him have the opportunity, at some point, to prove it, not a few minutes every month,” he said.
"Carvajal does not deserve it, he is too important a figure for Real Madrid not to have even a little bit of decency with him,” he said.
