Real Madrid was left with another poor performance. Two weeks after its draw conceded at home in the derby against Rayo Vallecano, the Merengue club was in fact forced to share points again on Sunday during its trip to Elche.
And given the scenario, the Madrilenians got off lightly. Xabi Alonso’s men were in fact led twice, Dean Huijsen and Jude Bellingham allowing Real to equalize and preserve the essentials despite the two new points lost to FC Barcelona, who are only a short distance from the Merengue at the top of the La Liga standings.
“It’s football. We had good momentum, today we had a string of results that didn’t suit us. We’re not happy because we still want to win, but there are still a lot of matches left.” reacted Xabi Alonso.
“A blatant fault”
On the Elche side, despite this point taken against the Madrid ogre, anger predominated. “It’s a blatant mistake”enraged Eder Sarabia, the coach. If the promoted player was furious, it was because of Vinicius’ foul on goalkeeper Inaki Pena before Jude Bellingham’s equalizer. The former Barça goalkeeper also ended up with a bloody nose and was left to receive treatment for a long time on the pitch.
However, neither the referee nor the VAR found anything wrong with the action. Nor the first interested party for that matter. “He shoots, I stop the ball, and with the momentum, he hits me in the nose. No luck. It’s part of the game. It was just a move, nothing more.”confided Inaki Pena to the microphone of Movistar after the match.
“Inaki Pena didn’t see the action, and when he does, he will see that he cleared the ball and that Vinicius hit him in the face, which explains the condition of his nose”whispered Eder Sarabia. And in the mixed zone, the goalkeeper had actually changed his mind. “Everything is different from the ground, he explained. He shoots, tries to regain the ball, but on the second action, he prevents me from participating by hitting me. For me, it’s a foul, but if the referee consults the VAR and decides that there is no foul, there is nothing we can do about it. »
The vision was different on the referees’ side. “It was a complex action, indicated referee Melero Lopez on the microphone of the show El Chiringuito. We analyzed the impact. It was an accidental collision, part of the game. It was not a dangerous tackle. It’s a typical football collision. »
