It is likely that he still has another toad to eat this season: giving way to Barcelona at the Camp Nou for the League title in two weeks or for the Catalans to achieve the championship mathematically right under their noses that Sunday, May 10. If Hansi Flick’s team wins this Saturday in Getafe (16.15), they will be 11 points ahead with 15 remaining. The next day, the whites go to Cornellà and the culés, to Montilivi.
The closing of this Friday added more ground on top of a depressive course for the meringues, who began the day by announcing the non-inclusion of Dani Ceballos in the list “due to a technical decision”, and ended it tied in the 94th minute and with Kylian Mbappé heading to the locker room in the 81st due to an “overload in the ischium of his left leg”, according to the club.
After the tie in La Cartuja against Betis, Álvaro Arbeloa vented his anger at the referee, something that is now becoming the norm. The coach complained about a possible penalty in the first half for a handball by Ricardo Rodríguez after a shot by Brahim, and about a possible foul by Antony on Mendy in the last play, the one from Bellerín’s goal. “I think we have a problem and many of those who must decide these types of situations do not know or understand,” denounced the visiting coach. “The penalty is very clear, with the hand open, which is not even attached to the body. There is not much else to see, just like the last one [acción]. Mendy has won the position. They just touch your arm a little… It’s something very basic and it’s not the first time something like this has happened to us. “They are two decisions that greatly influence the game,” added Arbeloa, who has made his referee complaints about specific plays and references to the game a constant in recent weeks. Negreira case.
Ten games conceding, the worst streak since Queiroz
The look at the referee, César Soto Grado in this case, provoked the longest responses of Arbeloa’s press conference, frustrated by another goal against at the bell. Albacete kicked him out of the Copa del Rey in the 94th minute, Osasuna beat him in the 90th, Mallorca in the 91st, he left him without extra time in the 89th and Betis equaled him in the 94th. “If we had a clear reason, we would correct it. When you have such close results, situations of this type can happen and we are not having much luck either,” the white coach tried to explain, who has not obtained victory in the 40% of the matches he has directed against Madrid (he has been left without it in nine of the 23 matches). In the last 10 games, the whites have always conceded (13 goals), the worst streak without keeping a clean sheet in a single competition campaign since May 2004, with Carlos Queiroz (20 games, 36 goals), a season that ended with a huge collapse.
He was much more laconic when he was asked twice in a row about the absence of Ceballos on the list due to a “technical decision,” as the club stated at midday. “I always bring those I consider appropriate,” he repeated when they asked him for a justification for a very unusual measure in these times when the calls fit everyone. He did not want to give more explanations, but the entity did not hide the case or mask it under a medical report. Ceballos, whose contract ends in 2027, is one of the players who could leave this summer. Another whose continuity is still not resolved, Dani Carvajal, did not even warm up.
