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Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa has told the media that his job is not to motivate his players, which is part of the demands they should make of themselves. He also gave an update on the fitness of Eder Militao, after he went off on Tuesday with an injury.
One of the criticisms of Real Madrid this season is that their players seem to have upped the ante in the Champions League, but have struggled to show the same vivaciousness in La Liga. Arbeloa was asked about how he intends to fire his side up for the final stages of the season.
“My main objective shouldn’t be to motivate a Real Madrid player; they have very high standards for themselves. My objective is to prepare them for what awaits them on the pitch.”
‘Others things to blame for defeats’ – Arbeloa
Nevertheless, it was put to him that at times this season, it seemed Los Blancos were clearly lacking in that regard.
“Other things must have happened, there are many things to do well beyond that. There will be other reasons that we haven’t won games, and I can’t remove responsibility from myself for that. You have to be very well prepared, tactically, football-wise, at every level and do a lot of things.”
Real Madrid’s academy involvement
One of the positives of Arbeloa’s tenure so far has been the progress of several academy players, most notably Thiago Pitarch, who started both legs of their Champions League Round of 16 tie with Manchester City. Yet their involvement has declined somewhat with the return of Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham from injury.
“The lads have helped, they’ve shown they can do it in the first team. It’s one of the most positive things about this season. We’ve seen they do very well, the other day with the Youth League, also with Castilla… My confidence in them will always remain intact.”
Kylian Mbappe likes Mourinho and Eder Militao fitness
Meanwhile it made headlines that Mbappe had liked a post on Instagram which positioned Jose Mourinho returning as the new manager of Real Madrid next season. Earlier he had reiterated the message that he was not thinking about his future in the job.
“Man, no [it doesn’t worry me]. I don’t care mind if he likes Mourinho, Julia Roberts or whoever.”
There was more concrete concern over Eder Militao on Tuesday, after he limped off against Alaves before half-time. There has been no update on what his injury may be.
“He’s going to have a scan now, but it doesn’t seem serious. We’ll see what the results of this test show.”
Los Blancos travel to La Cartuja on Friday night to face Real Betis in La Liga, when they will try to reduce the gap to Barcelona down to six points before their clash with Getafe.
